Commitment to fitness, winning elevates Capriati.(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

WIMBLEDON, England _ "Storybook." "Fairy tale." The words pour out in a growing number of newspaper stories and television segments trying to describe Jennifer Capriati's surge to the top of women's tennis _ most of them giving the impression that some good witch touched her with a magic wand, and poof _ she won the Australian and French Opens.

In truth, the only thing that has touched Capriati this season has been a commitment to fitness and winning. Those were always going to be the only issues preventing her from taking her place among the top players on the Sanex WTA Tour.

She hasn't changed her strokes. There is nothing new in the repertoire, except perhaps a somewhat meatier serve. One might argue that with age _ she's 25 _ has come a higher understanding of how to construct points. But she always had an affinity for strategy.

Ten years ago she made the semifinals of the French Open, where, because of the length of the rallies, shot selection and point construction is more important than at any other major.

"Everyone that knows her knew she could do this. She always had the game to win a major," said Chris Evert, whose father, Jimmy Evert, was Capriati's first instructor. "Fitness was the only thing holding her back," Evert said. "And commitment," she quickly added.

Commitment is not always an easy choice when you've endured the kind of troubled teenageyears Capriati went through. But it has to be remembered that this season's ascent to No. 4 in the world is not the first, but the second commitment she has made since starting a serious comeback.

And this second commitment, unlike the first, has nothing to do with exorcising the demons of her past. The second commitment was about far more mundane matters _ choosing tennis over romance and fast food. Maybe that takes some of the Cinderella glint off the Capriati story, but that's the reality.