AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 27, 2004

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: Over to you, Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'll open it up (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, I started off playing the match really great, and really attacking balls. You know, a few of those games went to deuce. I was able to win them. Then the next three, really tough games. I think I had game points in all of them. She hit some great return winners and great points. Next three games, I lost those deuce games. You've got to try and pull one or two of those out. But, you know, definitely I started making a few more unforced errors, and I think she started getting some more balls back in and getting a little bit more confidence. But, you know, that's a lot of times when the matches turn around, on those really close games. You've got to be able to pull some of those out, and just wasn't able to.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I decided I wanted to go for them. You know, I really wanted to keep, you know, going for my shots. One return I had the wrong grip. I thought I was going to get a forehand. Next one she hit a great first serve. Then, you know, the last one, I ended up getting kind of a shorter forehand and just overhit it. I mean, you know, it's tough. I wanted to play where I was going for it on those points, and just didn't happen today. I mean, I don't really have any regrets. Like I don't feel like a couple points, "Oh, I should have done this." I feel like maybe, you know, just went for a little bit too much.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It wasn't so much the 4-Love. I think it was more being up 5-3 and then, you know, being able to serve for it. I mean, I knew she's obviously a good player, she can come back from a lot of leads. But I think more disappointed in just -- in the end result, not winning the first set. It didn't matter really what the score was. If I had been up 6-5 or whatever. Just disappointed that I had the opportunities there and wasn't able to take them.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Before last year, pretty often. You know, last year in just the foot, I probably played three of the four not a hundred percent. But other than that, I mean, I think I've been pretty healthy throughout the years to play them. I think that's just luck or unluck, you know, whenever those injuries occur. I think it's hard to really time them. But, you know, obviously a more major injury is going to affect you for more Slams than some minor aches and pains.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's a difficult court, yeah. You know, I think sometimes grass is a little bit hard for people to get used to in the beginning. But here you have a lot of other factors, the stickiness of it, how your foot can just stick sometimes. I mean, you see a lot of players go over on their ankles, and not have the ability to push off their feet. It depends on the weather. The court surface changes a little bit depending on how hot or how cold it is. I mean, it's pretty difficult.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it's up to them. I don't know. I've never had a major injury out there, but I've seen some other times it go on. But, I mean, we're used to playing on, you know, a lot of different surfaces.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, I think she's, you know, definitely improved aspects of her game. I really feel like today sometimes it was more me than her. I mean, she has improved her forehand. I think she has a lot more confidence in herself and in her game because of the victories she's had. And she's a great athlete. I mean, she gets a lot of balls back. She's obviously worked very hard at that. And, you know, athleticism certainly helps her.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I wish I knew. I mean, I've had some good opportunities and haven't been able to take advantage of them. So that can get disappointing. It's going to take for me to play a lot better in the bigger matches than what I've done the last couple years.