WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2005

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: A little bit. Yeah, it was a little bit stiff. Not as bad as I thought I'd be. Physically I felt pretty good out there. You know, it was really important for me to try and come back and kind of consolidate this great win I had yesterday and not have a letdown and try and continue to do the best I can. I mean, I figured I'd be a little bit tired. But I thought I handled it pretty well. Most importantly I feel healthy at this point. I have a day off. Hopefully everything will keep going the way it's been going.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was hard. I didn't feel at any point of the match that I really had any rhythm. The points were pretty short. We were both kind of making errors, some big serves. So it was just a totally different match in that regard. I don't think I got nearly as many returns in today as I was able to do yesterday and really work my way into points. So I felt in that regard that it was a much more erratic match, where the points were just going fast, didn't know quite what was going to happen. You know, sometimes that's grass court tennis for you. Yesterday I played really well. Today maybe not as well. But did well enough.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I really at that time felt totally -- I believed in what I said. I hadn't felt like I really contended in a Grand Slam. Even though I was doing okay, I never really believed in the quarterfinals that I was going to pull through and win. I certainly, after experiencing the kind of success I had throughout my career, didn't want to be just out there to make Round of 16, quarters, hope to get a semi one time. You know, obviously was looking forward to, after playing such a long career, of doing some different things, kind of starting a different life. But all of a sudden after I kind of opened my big mouth, started playing a lot better, started believing for the first time in a couple years exactly what I was capable of doing. You know, now it's so far from my mind, I can't even think really right now of stopping. I feel really excited to still be where I'm at. I have a lot of opportunities ahead of me. Looking forward to the challenges that are still presenting themselves.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I didn't. I'm not really like that anyway. But I didn't. I mean, I was -- I was not -- I'm not quite that nostalgic yet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, it's actually both, which is funny. It's going to be a totally different match-up than any of the girls I've played here so far. I'm going to see somebody at the net trying to come in all the time. I'm going to see a lot of slice backhands; I'm going to see some serve and volleys. In that regard, I think I do have to take into consideration how my opponent is going to play. I've always believed that if I can return well and serve well and do those couple things well on grass that I'm going to be okay. I'm going to have to probably aim my returns a little bit differently because she will be coming in. I'm going to have to try and mix up my second serve so she's not always looking at the same return trying to come in. And try and be the one keeping her on the baseline with hard, deep shots and not letting her move her way forward.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it actually might have been a lot of the stuff I was doing off the court. I started working with a different trainer pretty hard like in October of 2003. You know, I spend far less time on the practice court now than I ever have and spend a lot more time in the gym. Just feel like that probably gave me some more confidence. It got me into a little bit better shape. I think that the kind of cutting back on the tennis has made me actually play better and enjoy it more. Obviously, I've played for so long, I don't need to be hitting hours and hours a day. If I can just keep my timing up and work on some stuff off the court, I feel like that's really all I need right now.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, people have said that. But I didn't -- I didn't feel it personally. You know, some people have said, "Maybe just talking about it helped." I don't know. It didn't feel like it did. It made me more sad actually when I got to tournaments thinking about it. I don't know. I didn't -- I don't think so, but I don't know.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Maybe.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, it seems like that. We've had so many great American players the last two decades at the top and winning Slams. You know, if you were to take the three of us out, and Jennifer, even though she's injured, doesn't seem too bright. But, you know, you never know if that cycle can change. Hopefully it will. I just think right now in the States, girls are just picking different sports. And I think it's really important that we get back to getting tennis back out there, in commercials, in little girls' lives. It's funny, because if you look, I mean, apparently all the most famous female athletes are tennis players, but it seems like most of the girls in the United States are now going towards other sports. So we've just got to try to pull them back, have a bigger pool to work from, I think.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I do a little bit. I mean, interesting, I had a conversation with my mom. My mom has run Junior volleyball for 25 years in Southern California. She was telling me that it's 10 times more girls playing between 18s, 16s, 14s, and 12-and-unders than even 10 years ago, the people that she has to organize. I know volleyball is one, especially in Southern California. But I'm sure soccer and the success the Olympic team had drew a lot of fans. Even basketball, softball, just a lot more sports right now.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't think so (laughter). I think that's a joke. That's not really nice.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: They were great. And they're young enough. A lot of times we see players that are already 17, 18. I had a great time with those two at Fed Cup. Very athletic. Very sweet. Very good. I think they can do well. Of course, I haven't been the greatest judge of 13-year-old players. I think they're remarkable. In practicing with them, they were good.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't even know how I was at 13. I have no idea.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I feel like I'm better. I mean, I feel like I have -- I feel like I'm overall a better player. I mean, there's no way the game -- the game is so much better now than it was in the mid to late '90s that I think I've done a good job with staying with all the improvements and being able to improve my game. But there's no question that physically I'm a better athlete, and I believe a smarter player, and so is everyone else.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Never (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Maybe when I'm done. Honestly, I can swear that there's never any videos in the VCR of me playing or any kind of reminiscing quite yet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I think I've done a good job with turning around some of the losses that I've had to some girls. Not sure why. I mean, I feel like I've learned a lot from the losses that I have had, how to try and play these girls a little bit differently. You know, a little bit of confidence, probably a little bit of luck. Hopefully, like I said, just playing a little bit better out there.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I think she's done remarkably well. I think she's improved a lot as a player between now and last year. I think she's kind of in the last year become one of the most famous, for sure athletes, if not personalities around the world. She seems to have handled it really well and is still improving. Still very young. She's playing well. I mean, I watched a little bit of her match today against Petrova. I think she's very good on grass, very confident on it. I mean, I expect her to be a top player for a long time. She seems like she has everything really going for her.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I have no idea. I mean, I wouldn't have believed it at the time. I'm really excited to have another opportunity, be able to go out there and try yet again to get to the finals and go farther in a Grand Slam. I mean, I had such great opportunities last year, and didn't quite work out for me. But to come back again a year later and be in the same position is pretty rewarding.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I do not. That's why we have the USTA and all these other great foundations and corporations. But, I mean, the biggest thing out there is you want to show tennis to everybody. You want to get schools out there watching. You want to be on TV. You want to be in commercials. You want to get the word around, just get people playing more, families playing more, making tennis more accessible to everybody.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We're friendly, but we don't have any deep conversations or anything.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I hope so (laughter). I hope that definitely comes into play. Besides the fact that I'm going to play her, I do believe in her, and I do believe that she is good enough and strong enough to one day come through these situations. I hope it's not Thursday, but... We'll see what happens if it gets close. I'm certainly going to do my best and keep trying and hanging in there even if I'm down against her. But I will say she does seem a little bit more relaxed this year than I have seen her. Having said that, she still hasn't come through. I think she's got a lot of game, and most importantly I'm going to worry about that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That wasn't. As I went into the tiebreak, I was wondering why we were in a tiebreak because I just served for the first set. You know, it doesn't. I was really more worried about my game. I think she's a really great player. She just goes for a lot of shots. I knew she'd come up with some fantastic winners and I knew she'd give me some errors. You know, the first few points of the tiebreak, I thought I played pretty solidly and was able to build a good lead, and that really helped. But she does go for a lot. Especially on grass when it's so quick, you get some bad bounces, I definitely got a lot of free points out there.