US OPEN

August 27, 2003

Lindsay Davenport

MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, no, it felt very good. Didn't feel it at all today, so that was really good. I still feel like I'm just not quite on top of the ball as well as I would like to be, but overall, I mean, I played a good solid match. You know, got through it relatively easily. But the main thing is my foot didn't hurt. I was able to pull through at the end and on to the third round.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Today was a lot better than the other day. I think coming off a bad day on Saturday and having to play again Monday, I was just really nervous about how it would feel and when it would hurt. So then I was able to practice yesterday and it felt a lot better. Then today I didn't feel it at all today. I think hopefully as more days go by, if it doesn't flare up, I think I'll be more and more confident of pushing off it and not really worrying about it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, it's not due to the foot. I mean, I just, you know, I think you always want to be doing things better and better at Grand Slams, I wish. But, no, my foot was not hurting. I don't know if it was a result of, you know, subconsciously not stepping across or not hitting enough -- I have no idea. But, I mean, that's something I can get better on as the tournament goes farther and farther.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Sometimes I did. Sometimes I felt like I let up a little bit in the point. She hits a low ball, flat ball, sometimes it's hard to control those balls. I felt like I was on top of enough of the balls and on offense enough. But I still would, you know, prefer to be serving a little bit better, prefer to be stepping in a little bit more. But those are all something that hopefully gets better and better each match.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: After matches it's pretty much nothing but -- there's really not much to do now except ice it and tape it up before I play. Hopefully, the injection I got the other day has been kind of kicking in as more days go on. There's not a whole lot you can do for it. Like I ice it and I, you know, that's about it. I don't do anything else.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That depends on what my tolerance is that day.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: The ice? No, the ice is hard when your whole foot's in a bucket of ice. But that's just, you got to tough that out.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's been hopefully important in the long run. I don't know if it's something I'm worrying about while I'm playing or not. It's nice not to have to worry about going into a third set and maybe my foot acting up. But more than anything, like I said, each day that goes by, I just have to keep concentrating more and more about playing better, playing more aggressive and playing the type of tennis that it's gonna take to win the tournament, not necessarily just win matches.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I didn't really. I was really expecting to play my doubles partner tomorrow. When I came off the court, I saw she lost, Lisa. Don't really know too much about the girl I play in the next round, Czink. Honestly, I have no idea who I would play in the round after that. I'll go look tonight though.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I sometimes do and I sometimes don't. I mean, I was fully prepared to play Lisa in the third round if I made it there. I didn't really look past that. I don't know why.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I think that has a lot to do with it. I think a lot of the girls, number of tournaments they're playing are going higher and higher. I think not only that, I think there's such a level of competition to try and get in better shape or to improve your game on your weeks off or in the off-season that I think it's very rare that a girl, or male for that matter, would take a solid week or two weeks off and not do anything and really let the body totally heal. I think you're always trying to keep in shape, keep on up, keep trying to get better. I think eventually it just takes a toll on the body to where it breaks down.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I was a lot luckier. When I started off we had the average system of 12. It really encouraged you to only play 12 events. I think the top players really stuck to that, because sometimes it would really harm you to play more than that. You know, it was a lot more encouraging to players to play more when they changed the ranking system. But as it's done that, you've gotten girls that maybe in the early '90s played 12 tournaments. Now they play 24. It's just impossible on the body.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Probably the week in LaCosta maybe. Whatever that was now, it was a couple tournaments ago. Yeah, I mean, hopefully, like I said, this injection kicks in and helps me at least for two weeks or if I make it two weeks.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, I was especially nervous on Monday, probably like I said on Monday, the most nervous I had been for a first round. Today, you know, I was feeling a lot better about my physical ability and my foot. I don't think I necessarily played the greatest ,but I was happy to get through and not have to worry about it. Hopefully, each day that goes by I'll stop worrying about it more and more and concentrate more on hitting the ball and being aggressive.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it's been tough. It's been a hard -- you know, just challenging to try and worry about other things on top of playing tennis. I, in the past ,have not been able to balance that very well. So I'm happy this summer with the way I've been able to do it. And, you know, in some matches it was hurting and I was able to get through it even though it was hurting. Other matches, I just couldn't. I couldn't go on. But I'm pretty confident that I can finish this tournament without too many more worries.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it just goes in -- it changes, you know. I've had such a great time playing this summer and playing on the hard courts and playing in the States. I fully intend, after I get surgery most likely at the end of this tournament, to do everything I can to prepare and come back for Australia. You know, in Paris I was getting -- and Wimbledon, just really frustrated dealing with another injury, another surgery, another layoff. I think it takes its toll mentally. But I'm really happy I stuck around this summer. It's given me some motivation to try and come back as soon as I can and then see what happens again next year.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think as an American I'm completely biased because it is my favorite tournament to play. Obviously, it's in my home country, gave me my first wildcard I think in '91, won my first Slam here. I've loved it. I love the City of New York as well. You get some people that don't like the city. But, you know, it's difficult to win because I think players are now starting to feel the effects of playing all year. They start getting tired around this time. So, you know, you really have to still be mentally in a good state of mind and physically feel good to come through here. But as an American, I think we love it. The courts are fast. The crowd support us. You just really want to do well here.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know -- I can't speak for anyone else. They go out of their way to be extremely nice to me. They've helped me out a lot with my foot and giving me access to the doctors and some scheduling stuff. So, you know, they gave me a nice gift basket as well (laughing).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's a secret (laughing). But, no, they've been great to me. I don't know how the other ones were.