PILOT PEN TENNIS

August 25, 2005

Lindsay Davenport

Q. Talk about the second set.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was really happy with the way I started out today, that I was ready to go from the first game and was hitting good shots and on my toes and looking for balls and then just as soon as the second set started, I seemed to just go into a little bit of a lapse where I lost serve, like doublefaulting two or three times and got down an early break 3-Love. Fought my way back, started playing better and then just again just started, I felt like doublefaulting and making some quick errors but in the end pulled out a really tight set. I felt towards the latter stages I wasn't playing my best but was able to pull it out and I think that's all about getting back here and playing matches and getting back into it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. I just don't feel like I have my rhythm back yet serving. That was one of the last things I started to do in practice was hit serves. Obviously the extension and the kind of torque that goes into it so while it doesn't hurt I think that's the part of the game that's just coming back the slowest.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Didn't know that. Not important. Obviously the seedings and the draws is done for the US Open. At this point of the year I think it's more important to focus about end of the year. We have got a tight race going on regardless of what the rankings show. Kim obviously has had a great year. I just think we'll kind of settle it once and for all at the end of the year.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: A little bit. It's just not something that I at this age can really focus on being where I don't feel like I can play as much as some of the younger girls can play. Unfortunately, while our Tour does reward quality, it also rewards quantity. I feel like I am at a disadvantage where I don't feel like I am going to ever play as many tournaments as the other top players and I feel like no matter how my schedule goes, it is always about trying to win Grand Slams and win and play well at tournaments I want to play. So having said that, I skipped most of the clay court season in Europe; there's some huge tournaments there I wasn't able to play at all this summer. It's hard to really go after your ranking when you are skipping parts of the year. So right now my attention is focused on obviously this tournament and then doing well at the Open, and we'll see how it goes after the four Slams are done.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yesterday I felt worse than today. (Laughs). I just felt a little bit tight and stiff yesterday. Was happy to have that day off. Then today I felt really good. Right now I feel like my body feels a lot better than it did Tuesday night. I don't know why that is, but, you know, looking -- I think I have until tomorrow night until I play again. Physically I don't think there should be any problems.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It wasn't physically. It was all mental. I think I played well for my spirt of time; then that's probably when my practice normally ends, was after the first set (laughs). For me now it is about staying out there and continuing to play well over longer periods and keeping my concentration and getting just the rhythm back of everything.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was just joking.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, day matches are great. US Open, though, you have got to win day and night matches, so no, I was just joking because I was second night match. Night matches are normally an exciting time it play, but as a player you always practice during the day. I look forward to tomorrow night's match though. It doesn't matter when it is. I just want to go out and keep improving.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I did. I would have liked to have served it out obviously at 5-4 she came up with some good shots; I was missing some first serves. But it is important in the tiebreak to regroup. I was down 5-4 in the tiebreak and was able too kind of keep my calm, win the last few points. She gave me a few errors which always helps. It was a great set to pull out. That's why I am here to try and get back into that kind of match and playing the close matches hopefully learning how to pull them out.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I wanted to change what happened the other night where I got off to a little bit of a slow kind of lackadaisical start so I was really ready to go today although I kind of Petered out with that. I do think that she started serving excellent in the second set and was holding serve and at the same time I was struggling a little bit with my serve, but really encouraged by how the first set went and at the same time I got a really tight set under my belt and you get nerves whenever a match gets close, so that was nice to experience that again. Hopefully like I said, I will be able to stretch it out a little longer with better tennis.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Didn't know there was a helicopter.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't recall what you are saying. I was probably mad that I got aced again. (Laughs).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Exactly, you never know what to expect.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I can tell with the motion. Sometimes you can doublefault and miss serve but hit it really well and you know, just feels like it's just a rhythm thing and hopefully the more I serve and the more I practice it and the more I do it in matches it will come back. It's one of my biggest weapons. I am not scared that it's gone away. Just is a matter of me being able to hit it more and like I said, I haven't been serving for all that long after a pretty extensive break, so I am not concerned that I can't get it back.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I do. I am not very experimental so I have my couple of restaurants that I really like to go to. I very much like more mediterranean or Cafe Adulis is more African, I really enjoy that kind of food and been going there I think tonight I might try the Cuban restaurant, Roomba. But no, it is excellent, it's really a lot of fun to be able to look in the passport and get all types of foods and really kind of experiment and go to some new cuisines.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, you never know what to expect these days, but yeah, I mean, with the way women's tennis is going there be been so many great players, it's rare to play someone that you don't know so late in the tournament, but she obviously must be playing very, very well. There is a few kind of pullouts in that section of the draw, but it's the semifinal of a huge tournament, I've got to be ready to go no matter who is out there; no matter what they are ranked, it's a great opportunity for me to keep playing well and trying to advance.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know. I had heard that that was more for spectators on TV to be able to see the ball. It doesn't really affect me either way. Once you kind of get used to it the first day or two it kind of fades away from your recognition, but I don't think that it's hurting anything.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it's about playing matches. I think it would be wrong of me to expect that I can come out after seven or eight weeks and be perfect. So there's always going to be aspects of my game that need to be worked on and stuff that you can really only get from playing matches. And that's like hitting a good serve and getting ready for the ball to come back. It's someone hitting a second serve return really hard and you are trying to dig that out. That comes from playing. It also comes from -- important for me is to compete in like tough second sets like today can only help me for the US Open.