PACIFIC LIFE OPEN

March 12, 2004

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it was a great start. You know, not much to say. I thought I played great. I thought I moved well, hit the ball well. That was that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, I really felt like I was going for the right shots. You know, they were going in today. Some days that happens. Got to have fun with it when it's happening.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, for sure. I know she did well at the Australian Open. She's a good young player. First game, you know, was kind of a long game, a couple deuces, was able to get the early break, then never looked back. You never know. If you don't start off well against a player like that, she can get more confidence. But today was one of those things where they were going in.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was feeling good earlier in the day, but that match went so long, waiting for a long time. There's always a chance you're a little overanxious, or you start off flat or you're just tired from waiting around. After I got off to a good start, I was feeling confident.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I've only done it once before a long time ago. I'm normally not the best at concentrating through 12 straight games. Normally it waivers for some games in there. Yeah, it's not something that happens to me a lot. It happens to a lot of other girls a lot more frequently.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't. Today it never really crossed my mind. I don't know if that means I'm...

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. "When should I lose the game?" (Laughter).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Honestly, it's probably my favorite tournament to go to all year. It's so nice out here. I'm staying with some friends in a great house. I have a lot of friends and family in the area. You know, tomorrow I have off, get to be just by the pool with some family members, friends. I love it. Winning here has given me confidence. I felt like the last six months I've worked probably the hardest I've ever worked in my whole life, and just really excited to get out on the court today and have the opportunity to try and do well here again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it's tough to say. I think Serena is battling a very, you know, serious injury. She doesn't really talk to the media a lot. I don't think anybody really knew last August maybe how bad her injury was or how major of a surgery she had. And I think that she's probably close to coming back, but just not ready yet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We exchange e-mails, not specifically about her knee injury, per se. You know, when I had mine, I was out seven months. I think she's right around that time now. So I don't think she's been out too long. I think everyone just misses her quite a lot, so it seems like she's been out a while. Venus, I don't know. I mean, Venus hasn't been battling as serious of injuries as Serena has, but always seems to have little problems here and there. I'm sure losing their sister didn't help them at all. You know, it could really only make it all that more difficult for them.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm sure in their lives, and in their everyday family life, it's a huge factor. The public has probably gotten over the shock of it. But when it's someone close, it probably really takes a long time to get over the pain of that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's personal (laughter).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I can tell you we don't talk fashion.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I haven't. I haven't seen her since the Championships, the fashion show. So, no.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I just -- after I had my foot surgery, you know, I was just deciding really what I wanted to do about this year. Last year was really disappointing. So I think as you get older, you definitely want to spend less time on the court. We've spent so many hours standing on the baseline, I thought, I'm going to try to work harder off the court to really keep the time on my court to a useful hour and a half a day, whatever. I hired a great new trainer. He's been making me do things I never thought I'd do before. I was pretty inspired last year actually by Justine. I think that she had a very good tennis game, obviously, but knew that she was not going to make it, and you could just see physically how hard she was working. And really that was the reason, I think, last year she had as good of a year she did. Now I work out four or five times a week for a number of hours every day on speed and stuff I've never done before.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: His name is Todd, his last name is Norman.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm doing a lot of like sprints, like uphill on a treadmill. Never thought I'd do that. Running sprints with like a bunjee cord, doing ladder drills and jumps, and on top of like weight training, and just really concentrating more on my footwork than I ever have in the past. At the same time it kind of gives you some confidence, you know, when you're playing tennis, as well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Probably like the sprints on the treadmill, when they're 20 to 25% grade, at whatever speed, then you just jump on for six seconds and jump off. But after a number of hours playing, working out...

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It is. He hears me complaining quite a bit. But I enjoy it (laughter).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: He used to be the trainer of the Mighty Ducks for a number of years. He trains like in the off-season, he works with Kariya still and a lot of those guys. He's actually here with me for like five days, and then -- just a great guy. Works in Lake Forest.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't think so. I mean, it's a long tournament, a lot of matches. I've played a lot of tennis this year already, a lot of matches. You know, happy to get it over with and play well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I didn't, which was positive. Sometimes I do lapse into bad habits. Today I just kept going for my shots. You know, I've played enough years and enough matches that if I have a tough match or an easy match... I've won tournaments having easy matches all the way through; I've won tournaments having battles all the way through. So I never know what's the right thing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's so great. Had surgery in October. It's made such a difference. I was saying I wish I'd done it earlier last year. I wouldn't have to have played for a few months with it bothering me so bad. Just mentally, it makes me a lot more excited to get up and start playing tennis and working out and doing the stuff I need to do.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Very strange injury to have. There's nothing more you can do to your foot bad. Structurally your foot is fine, it's just dealing with the pain, how long you can go through it. It's just the nerve problem, which wasn't affecting any other area of my body. It was just very annoying.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I haven't. I've talked to Tony, my agent, about her a little bit. I think she moved to New York and doing some other stuff. But I don't -- I haven't talked to her lately.