US OPEN

September 7, 2005

Lindsay Davenport

Q. How frustrated, disappointed are you?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Just annoyed. You obviously want to play a little bit better than what I played in a quarterfinal match. Then, you know, had a lot of chances in the third, then, you know, coming back in the tiebreak, getting up and then losing three points in a row. Just kind of the whole match was up and down. I mean, she's played well against me a lot of times. I just wished today I found a way to play just a little bit better some different games, just been a little bit more consistent.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I was trying. I mean, some days you go out there. I mean, that's tennis. I mean, if you don't go out there playing your best, you've got to try to find a way to turn the match around and hang in the match. I was able to do that. I felt like for a while there I couldn't have played that much worse, like it was not good. And I hung in there and found a way. Then right in the third, whenever I had some chances to turn it around, I wouldn't play well, then get down, come back. You know, I did everything that I could playing the way that I played and still almost won. Obviously, it's hard to come back in the tiebreak and get up and then end up losing it. But bottom line is you got to play better than that in a quarterfinal.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, it happens like that. You get just so many different speeds and stuff. I mean, I've played her enough times to where that's not a huge shock. I mean, you get some in the 60s and you get some in the 90s. You just never kind of know as a returner what to expect. More importantly I should have been holding on to my own serve more often, in the third especially. I got broken a couple of times and really that's what I need to concentrate on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I wish I could say that. Unfortunately, no. I mean, I feel fine. I just played bad at a big time.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, she doesn't. I mean, she's a phenomenal competitor. With the amount of setbacks she has with her serve in other matches, she always hangs in there. She's a huge fighter. She manages to stay very positive in some bizarre circumstances in matches. No, I didn't think she would go away. She plays well down, and worse when she's up. You know, so I knew when I was down I had a chance to come back and hang in there. I was able to do that a couple times down a break in the third, but you know, I would have preferred to have gotten on top of her and been able to get up a break once in the third.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, she handles it well. She moves well. When she's on, her ground strokes are very tough. They're very flat and hard and deep. I've seen her make more errors than she did tonight, or spray a few more balls. But she was hitting them pretty well. I wasn't really able to get, you know, inside the baseline or really couldn't control a lot of the points.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, jeez, she hit a return really deep off a first serve. I mean, it's hard to kind of recover. Didn't get it in very deep, and there's the end. Went by so fast.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I would never make a rash decision over something, over one match. From here I know I'm going to Bali this weekend, so look forward to that, with my husband. Then maybe kind of figure out the rest of the fall out when I get back from there. I don't know exactly. The fall has never been a particularly exciting time for me to play, so I'm not sure how much I'll play there. Then, you know, hopefully feel ready to go and start training for Australia at some point. I hope that I have that desire in me when the time comes around.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think there are some stuff (smiling). I don't know. I mean, I am supposed to play one or two tournaments, so I'll see what happens.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, it sucks (smiling). I think that I've never been too influenced by other people's predictions and what they think. I mean, last summer I was obviously playing probably the best and the most confident, so I would think that I thought, "Okay, this is my year." I've learned you never know what to expect. I knew it was going to be tough, in the fact that I hadn't played many hard court matches. But then winning New Haven and coming through the first couple rounds, playing better and better as the tournament went on, I certainly didn't expect to come out and play the way I did tonight.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, it was definitely both. You know, I feel like I'm very honest with that and I can say, you know, Wimbledon I played my heart out and played really well and I totally got beat. Today I felt like a lot of it had to do with me. Not to say she did not play well, but when you're -- I just felt like I was just making errors on balls I didn't need to make errors on. I was never really in control of points. You know, just didn't play the type of tennis I would have preferred to play. Having said that, I mean, she didn't allow me to, so that has a lot to do with it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm sure. Great number (laughing).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I was trying. I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, you come out and physically when you feel well, you try and do your best and get out there. Some days things just don't click as easily as other days. You know, she was throwing me off sometimes with some shots. But, you know, I still could have pulled that match out playing the way I did, and sometimes you got to be able to do that in Grand Slams, get through those matches when you don't come out firing on all cylinders. Just didn't happen for me.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, it was good. Yeah. First time he's been. It was nice. I mean, obviously we've had an up-and-down relationship, and it definitely meant a lot to me that he was here. He's obviously extremely proud of me. You know, it was great. My whole family was here, both my sisters, both my parents, and that was a first (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know (smiling).