With her career seemingly in doubt, Capriati returned to the tour in February 1996 and began a steady rise that would culminate in the World No. 1 ranking, but not before several false starts. It was not until May 1999 that she finally won her first tournament in six years, at Strasbourg.

Nearly 11 years after she had started playing on the tour, Capriati finally made her Grand Slam breakthrough. From having gone as long as five years without winning a singles match at a Grand Slam, Capriati, the 12th seed, captured the 2001 Australian Open title, defeating then-World No. 1 player Martina Hingis 6–4, 6–3. Along the way, she defeated then-World No. 4 Monica Seles in the quarterfinals and then-World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals. Capriati followed up by capturing the French Open title five months later, beating Kim Clijsters 1–6, 6–4, 12–10. She reached the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open that year as well, amassing the best Grand Slam singl