US OPEN

September 4, 2003

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: A little bit. I thought I got off to a good start. You know, everyone's been in the same predicament here of not really being able to hit too many balls for the last three or four days. So I thought that the timing and rhythm might be a little bit off or a little bit -- just a difficult match because no one's been hitting a lot of balls. I thought I handled it pretty well. I started off trying to be pretty aggressive and was able to serve well, and, you know, got better, I think, and more consistent as the match went on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it was funny. I mean, I just was dying to hit outdoors. I can imagine how the crowd feels just to be able just to watch some live tennis.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think that, you know, first of all, she plays defense extremely well - gets a lot of balls back that most girls don't get. At the same time, she's very aggressive and steps into the court, puts balls away. And, thirdly, I think she has probably a very underrated serve in women's tennis. She's got a very, very good serve. I think she, you know, doesn't get broken too many times. She places it very well. She might not hit it as hard as Venus or Serena, but I think it's pretty effective.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, she's a fighter. She seems like no matter what the score is, she always wants to win that point no matter what's going on. Great competitor. I mean, there's no question about it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know about that. I just wanted to play after a while there. But, hopefully. I mean, it felt a lot better today than it did the other day. And, you know, I have until tomorrow night again until I play again. Hopefully, it works out to where it won't bother me again this tournament.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think that's what everybody's been talking about this whole tournament. It seems like that's what people have been living up the -- they want these matchups to occur. So it's pretty exciting. I'm sure, you know, Kim and Justine want to play each other in the finals, and certainly Jennifer and I would love to face each other in the US Open final. But, both of them are very tough matches ahead.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's a funny question.

Maybe more as the summer went on, when I started playing a little bit better. I think that also when I knew I was in the top 4 seeds, I thought that was gonna be a big advantage. Sometimes it's tough when you're 5 or 6 and getting the one or two player, Serena, in the quarters or whatever. As it worked out, it's been a great tournament. You know, sometimes you just have to go where the draws are given. In some Grand Slams you get really tough draws. Other times it really opens up for the players.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: (Smiling). Not necessarily. Not necessarily. I was hoping, and I believed I could. Then it just fell into place.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Maybe a little bit. I mean, it's obviously a much different draw without them in. A lot of players move up in the seedings. You don't have the past champions here. But, you know, for me, I was more worried about my foot when the tournament started. Also, normally I play very well here. Of any Slam, I've probably been the most consistent and done the best here the last few years. I just wanted to keep that trend going, not worry about who I was playing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, it's still so far away. It's probably, you know, the same distance away now as it was before. The matches are gonna be extremely tough to win, to be able to hold a trophy up. You know, Kim's beaten me I think the last five times, so it's gonna be a huge hurdle for me tomorrow night. So I definitely do not look past that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I'm going to have to think of something tonight (laughing). You know, first, I'm gonna have to serve well. I mean, I've got to be able to hold my serve out there because I haven't had a lot of success breaking her too many times. So, I'm gonna have to be able to stay even with her until that opportunity arises. I think, you know, looking to come in, because she gets a lot of balls back to start the rally over. I think I'm gonna have to take my chances and be coming in, yes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Thrilled? I wasn't thrilled.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I mean, I found out Serena would be out during San Diego. I think I was shocked. I didn't know her injury was to the extent that it was and she'd be out a number of months. I was expecting, as I was told, Venus would probably pull out. So I wasn't nearly as shocked when Venus pulled out. But "thrilled" was never in my descriptions.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't -- you know what? I think it's gonna be kind of a weird night. I don't think a lot of the fans were expecting it. I don't know how many are going to come out. Normally, in the Friday afternoon, I remember last year, you know, Amelie was playing Venus and I was playing Serena. It seemed like they were really cheering for the underdogs in those semis. They wanted to see someone else get there. It was really electric, a great atmosphere. I don't know what it's gonna be like tomorrow night. I don't think it's gonna be a typical night match. I don't know how many fans know we're playing tomorrow night.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: The men will have a great atmosphere though (laughing).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I think I am, for sure. I think if you haven't beaten someone this year and lost a lot, I think that goes your way. I mean, that's how it swings.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I got killed the first set. It was just a matter of hanging in there. At 3-all we had an extremely long game, and I was able to hold. Then just kind of won the next few games. I mean, I've just got to try to hang in there, no matter what happens - win the first set, lose the first set, whatever. That was kind of a weird match. I'm gonna have to play extremely well, there's no question.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I haven't really worried about it too much. It was a little bit sore on Monday, day after I played. I think that was the days. Then it's been good again. You know, I still have quite a bit of time until I play again. So I think that, you know, with the night matches and not having to come back real early, I think it's gonna be fine no matter what happens.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think that they've done the best that they can. I mean, I fully believe that the men should have priority today. It's extremely much more difficult, three-out-of-five sets. I think a few times they've been a little late to tell the players the change of schedule. I know Kim and Amelie were ready to go when they were, "By the way, you're not before 7." It's an incredibly difficult situation they've been in. And today, I think they made the right decisions in how they did the matches, for sure.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I prefer it. The year I won here, I played Venus a Friday night, played the final Saturday. It's just, "Let's just go. We've been waiting around for so many days now," I think another day off, we'd all be going crazy.