AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 18, 2006

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: First question for Lindsay, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it was a really tough match. I knew she had definitely the ability to play really well and be dangerous, and that was the best that she's played against me. I think I played her three previous times. But really tough. I felt like I was hitting the ball well, just not quite hitting my spots. So really tough match to pull out. But was able to play well when I needed to and, you know, get through a tough opponent early on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, being the second match of the year, and she hits the ball quite hard a couple times, maybe was just caught a little off guard. But the more aggressive I could be, I felt like the match was in my favor. But a couple times I just missed a few balls, and the balls were flying. It was a little bit quicker than I was ready for. So, you know, made a few errors but was made to work very hard to win and was happy I was able to come through and do some things well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it was great for me. I think that I was able to come through not playing perfect tennis but I still thought I did some things well. I thought she played really well and didn't give me tons of opportunities. She served well and would take advantage when I didn't hit a good shot. And I think everything about the match was a positive for me.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, it was good. I knew that I needed to play well this match. And I knew whatever her ranking is now or however she's played over the last few months, I knew she had the ability to play really well, and I wanted to come through that first set. After being down in the tiebreaker, to come back and play -- construct a few really good points, it was very key to get out of that first set and make sure that didn't let her get a lead with the first set.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I was at dinner. When I came back, it was like 6-1, 4-1. You know, as long as she's winning, I'm sure I'll get a chance to see her play. Everything that I heard in the last like three games I saw, she looked like she played really well. She's always played well in Australia. Her record and history here is very good. It's great she's feeling good and playing well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She always found a way around it before. People have always kind of said that about her. More than anything, the girl finds a way to win and finds a way to get her opponent uncomfortable. I'm sure she has a way to negate power still. We'll see. I mean, you know, she gets through to play Mary, that will be really, really an interesting match and another great test for the other players and the fans to see exactly where Martina is at. Sometimes we have a difference in level between top 10 and then 10 through 20 and 20 through whatever, but so far she's been playing excellent.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Uhm, yeah (laughing). I mean, back then, I mean, you had to make her feel bad about her second serve because it was the first shot you would get and a shot you could definitely take advantage of. She seemed to, if you could attack that, lose more and more confidence on it. Her strategy with me was always to try to get me moving and try to get the first hit. I just found that going for my shots and keeping them deep and not letting her kind of move in, in through the court, always helped me play her. But, I mean, you had to serve well and hold and really attack her second serve.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Easy to hit good second serves up a set and 4-1. We'll see against the better players who are taking advantage of it early on. But, I mean, having said that, Vera is a really good player. Obviously in the beginning of the match she was feeling confident and holding serve. That was a shot at 4-All or 5-All that you know that it was just going to get in. Saying that, too, a lot of times with her first serve, she would just try and get it in. We'll see when it's a big point if she's able to come up with the big serves, which she might be able to.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That was the thing. Like I felt -- I felt good. I mean, I felt within myself. I felt like I was hitting the ball well. I felt like I was just missing some of them. So I wasn't panicked and I wasn't uptight about anything. I had some confidence that, you know, hopefully she'd make a few errors. And she did give me that double-fault to get the break back in the tiebreak. I mean, I was serving well. I was, like I said, feeling the ball well. I didn't feel panicked. But I didn't want her to get that first set, and was happy from the last few points I hit -- played well and played contained tennis. You know, any time someone wins a first set, they obviously can play with a lot more confidence in the second set, where it's a much more uphill battle for her if I can pull out that first set not playing my best. So when I got that set under my belt, I felt a lot better about stuff.