US OPEN

August 31, 2003

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: First question for Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I don't think it has anything to do with it. I have no idea. I'd certainly like to be the first in a long time to accomplish that. But we got Justine also. She's got a chance. She's married.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, well, the first set was how I wanted to play. I played real aggressive, was in control of the points, then slowly through the middle of the second till the end I stopped being in control of points. I was making a lot of careless errors, I thought. Then she started serving a lot better. But, you know, the first set gives me a lot of encouragement. I was hitting the ball, attacking it, and they were going in. Just slightly got off that game plan and turned into being a much tougher battle.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, remarkably positive after losing the tiebreak. I sat down thinking, "Oh, okay, I'm fine." You know, sometimes you're really down about those things, and sometimes, you know, it doesn't really affect you. I was fine. I actually probably should have been up 3-Love. I didn't break at 1-Love up. But I felt fine. I mean, towards the end, my foot was starting to get a little bit sore - not major. But then I just wanted to get off the court, so I just wanted to like try and end the match.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, it's the same thing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She was, yeah.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was trying to do that. Then sometimes that makes me actually miss more. I just wanted to get them in because she was all of a sudden coming up with a lot of errors and wasn't really hitting, you know, clean winners all the time. Especially on the one side when you're against the wind, it's hard to really get control of the ball anyways. But, yeah, towards the end, I thought I'd just let her, you know, throw in the errors - and she was.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. It is what it is. It would have been nice to have finished in two sets, but it didn't happen. But I still got through a pretty long match. I think it was over an hour and 45 minutes, I'm not sure. But I still feel pretty good, was able to get through it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not really. I think a lot of people were talking about Kim and Jennifer, Justine and myself. We're all still in. But I think it's gone according to plan. I haven't been following the draw all that closely. But, you know, I think that it's just kind of gone the way maybe it was supposed to. A few upsets here and there, but for the most part, the top players are getting through.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, you do. I only take it during tournaments, which that's not maybe the best way to do it. But, no, I always try not to take anything while I'm at home. Yeah, you do a lot of things to your body to get through certain seasons or certain tournaments that probably can't be the healthiest thing for you to do. I want more than anything to finish the tournament, so I'm going to be taking all the antiinflammatories and doing everything that I can to make my body feel as good as it can.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. You know, sometimes you get these second and third winds. I was feeling more tired in the second set at the end than I was in the beginning to middle part of the third. You know, some of that is you're a little bit anxious and nervous to get the match over with. All of a sudden, when the second set was over, I felt fine. I felt more refreshed and I felt a lot more relaxed to go out there and start again. Yeah, I mean, I was lucky I got it back together in the third.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, every other part of my body's been very good. That has been a plus. If I was battling two or three things, it could be a little bit more detrimental. What was the first part again?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Upset stomach sometimes. That's probably the only side effect I get from taking it. I take Vioxx.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I do believe in it (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, no, that was complete and utter frustration. When I put my head down?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, it wasn't anything.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's nice. I didn't know she was there. I have been on her show. I have met her once or twice. I'm a fan of hers. I wouldn't call her a personal friend.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I did it after I won The Open here. It was a lot of fun. She had a great personality during that show, very energetic. It was a lot of fun.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's so surreal. I did read that. I met her here last year when she came. I was so honored. I think she's amazing to ascend where she's gotten to in the ranks, must have been a very hard journey for her. I have a lot of respect for her. It was quite flattering what she said.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I just wanted to get that one break so badly. Sometimes -- at Love-1, I had Love-30. Hit a stupid error a couple shots into it. Then at 1-2, I was determined to get this break. Even though I was on the side against the wind, I was still trying to hit forceful, just trying to get on top of her. I thought if I could get on top of her, I could get some momentum going. Yeah, to get up 15-40 was very big, gave me two opportunities and a little more pressure on her serve to try and break.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think I am. I think mentally I've been very excited while I've been here and in a good state - besides the first match when I had more fear than anything. The last few matches I've been -- I've tried to be really positive about everything. I thought I played pretty well, with the exception of a few loose games today. And I hope so. Time will tell, if I get to the semis, how I feel. I've got another match to go to get to the semis. Hopefully my foot will stay near the same that it has been, because it's definitely playable and feeling okay right now. Hopefully, if I get to the semis still feeling good, I'll have a good chance.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I know they're going out on the court now. I think it's a pretty evenly matched match. I don't know who is going to win. It's a great opportunity for me to get back into the semifinals. You know, I've had some tough matches with them. I know I haven't lost, but there's been a few close ones. I've got to be really eager and on my toes and really try to take advantage of this opportunity to get back to another semifinal.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, he comes from a big tennis family, as well. Yeah, I mean, I think it was very easy in the beginning. There was no explanation of where I'm going or what I'm doing. He stays out of it pretty much for the most part. He's here now. He's leaving tomorrow. Yeah, there's nothing -- I don't have to explain scoring. "Shouldn't have missed that point." No, it's great. There's a very quiet understanding that goes along, especially at certain tournaments. Probably not as fun as I could be at a Grand Slam. He's very understanding about all of that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No (hanging her head). I don't cook at all. It's so heartbreaking.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We don't do any cooking. We rope my mom into her, giving her a sweet phone call, "Can you come over?" There's a lot of takeout involved in our relationship.