Perry Could Fill Void In U.S. Women's Tennis

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y., Aug. 29 -- The story may sound familiar: An African-American girl learns to play tennis from her father, hones her game at the local public parks, moves to Florida to train year-round and goes on to compete at Wimbledon, where she achieves more than any other U.S. player, male or female.

But the central character in this tale isn't a Williams sister. It's Washington native Shenay Perry, 22, who was the last American standing at Wimbledon this year while compatriots such as Andy Roddick and Venus Williams flamed out the first week.

Perry's Wimbledon run marked her international coming-out party, and it caught her unprepared for the pressure of shouldering the weight of a nation's expectations. As a result, she turned in a shaky performance that didn't reflect her skills, touch or instincts and fell to Elena Dementieva in straight sets in a fourth-round match.

As the U.S. Open gets under way, Perry is far better positioned to seize the spotlight. And the timing couldn't be better, with American tennis desperate for a fresh face -- particularly on the women's side, where the ranks have been thinned by injury, inattentiveness and age.

For the first time in 30 years there isn't an American woman among the world's top 10. Lindsay Davenport is 11th but nearing retirement at age 30 and frequently sidelined by a chronic back injury. Injury and inactivity have also sent Venus and Serena Williams tumbling. They ruled the sport a few years ago, swapping Grand Slam titles and the No. 1 ranking like sisters swapping favorite sweaters. But Venus, who has slipped to No. 31, withdrew from this year's U.S. Open with an injured wrist, and Serena, ranked 91st, needed a wild card just to earn a berth in the tournament.

Amid the Williams sisters' slide and the disappearance of the chronically injured Jennifer Capriati, Perry has steadily climbed the rankings amid little fanfare since turning pro in 2000. She arrives in New York ranked 40th, a career best, and with the benefit of having gotten Grand Slam jitters out of her system at Wimbledon.

"She was surprised of first, being the last American, and then also all the attention she got from it," said Perry's coach, Ola Malmqvist. "That made it worse. She's usually pretty relaxed. The next time she will definitely be a lot more ready for anything like that. It's the same thing as playing on a big court for the first time; it's not easy to go out and play your best. When you start feeling you belong there, it's easier to play your best."

Added Willis Thomas, director of tennis at Washington's Tennis and Education Foundation, where Perry developed her game: "It was a heck of a learning experience. It doesn't happen often when you get up there in those positions at those Grand Slams. The whole country rode on her shoulders, and it was just too much for her."

Perry was scheduled to play her first-round match at the U.S. Open on Tuesday but spent the day waiting in vain, along with headliners Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova, as rain washed out play.

Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison thinks Perry has potential to go far.

"She is so gifted!" said Garrison, who has tracked her progress for years. "Her hands are some of the most talented hands I've seen in a long time. She hasn't quite understood just how gifted she is yet, but she can pretty much get anything and everything back. Shenay is one of those people that makes things happen."

She had a racket in her hand at 4, trailing her father, a Washington firefighter, to the courts every chance she got. At age 5 she caught the eye of Doris Harrison, a longtime Washington area tennis booster, who steered her to the Tennis and Education Foundation, where she blossomed.

Thomas, who was coaching touring pros at the time, noticed her immediately during a clinic he conducted at the foundation when Perry was 6. "You could see the love for the game in her eyes," he recalled.

By 12, Florida tennis academies were dangling scholarship offers, which presented a wrenching decision for her parents, who felt she was too young to leave home. So they moved as a family.

"It was the biggest decision my wife and I faced," recalls Ronald Perry. "It wasn't easy. I took a lot of flak for doing it from people who thought it was kind of crazy to leave my job to go to Florida."

Garrison believes Perry can climb even higher and, in a move that reflected her confidence, named her to the Fed Cup squad that upset Germany this spring. "One thing I really like about Shenay is she is very good in the moment, and that's a great attribute," Garrison said. "She has a nice, laid-back personality, but I want, sometimes, a lot more fire out of her."

Given the dearth of American women, it's an ideal time for Perry to continue her surge.

"She knows that the older players are moving on, and that the younger players have to take hold," Ronald Perry said. "But that's a lot of pressure to put on a person -- to hold up American tennis."