WIMBLEDON

June 23, 2003

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, my foot right now for the most part is feeling pretty good. I haven't had a bad episode here yet. I think more than anything, you know, like whenever you're injured, it's just the preparation is a little bit altered. You know, in a perfect world, I'm not able to do everything that I would love to do - and that sometimes I need to do. But with any injury, you just need to adapt and try and move forward from there.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm not limited in terms of moving around, I just have to be very careful of being on my feet too much. It's a nerve problem, and so the more you irritate it, the - obviously - more painful it is. So I'm, you know, supposed to, you know, just, you know, save it for the court and save it for the practice and hope that it doesn't become inflamed here.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I was trying. I mean, it's tough. I mean, I went through this, obviously, being a lot more immobile last year with my knee. But what can you do? It's just one of those bad luck things.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, yeah, like I said, I would love to have this whole like last few months go a lot differently. But injuries are something that most players - all players - deal with throughout their career, and it's how you are able to get through them and stuff that helps you. But, you know, it's been frustrating. I have my great days and my bad days.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it was really tough circumstances. The weather was pretty bad there for a few days and really, really, really windy, which on your first match on grass makes it even more tough. And, you know, I just wasn't real focused and didn't, you know, come in there with the right amount of intensity that I needed, and just kind of happened. But glad to get it out of my system.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it was just kind of a day I got through. I think that she served exceptional - in the first set especially. And, you know, it's tough on grass when you're trying to build some momentum and trying to get used to playing on it. In women's tennis we don't have that many big servers, like they do in men's tennis. So I would rather have had a better match, hitting more ground strokes, instead of like the one-two rallies we were having. But I was able to get through, and you just keep looking for better days (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm really happy with every position that so far we've taken this year. I don't think there was any great need to do anything radical in the beginning. You know, you almost like to see the new guy come in and kind of get a feel for everyone's opinions and how our tour runs and how it's different from what he's done before, and I think he's handled it perfectly. I think, you know -- the new campaign, I think is something that all the players said we've wanted. We've wanted more marketing and more promotion, and at least the players can see a concerted effort from the tour to try and do that. Like I said, so far I think Larry's handled everything really well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, it's a tricky issue; and I've said that for a number of months now. And it's one that is not going to be easily won at all for the players' side. You know, obviously, in terms of percentages, in all sports, you'd like to see a higher percentage of the revenue go to the players, as it is equal and in other tournaments and in other sports. But they pay the most, especially on the women's tour. I've just kind of taken a seat where I don't think it's right either way, like, you know... I'm totally on the sidelines on this one.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's not, though. I mean, I think I've been really honest in all my opinions over the years, and this is one where I feel like, you know, it's tough to go either way.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I think that's really far along in terms of where we are in tennis. I know the women have not even broached that subject. But it's something -- it's definitely a last resort. And when it's presented to the public that they want more money, it never comes off right. But, you know, when you read all the charts and you look at everything, you think, "Oh, well, this isn't actually as fair as maybe it should be..." But saying that, they, especially on our tour, pay out the highest amount of money. So I think we need to concentrate on growing our own tour stronger.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I have not. That's bad. The lunch was yesterday, and I had the board meeting and practice and played today. So I did see the print ads in Miami.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I thought they were good, they were clever. You know what, I think anything is better than anything we've had in the past and better than nothing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. Well, it's a little bit unfortunate for us. Right now, we're probably the most popular with our players, and the economy is not at all what it was in the kind of early, mid '90s. So we have a little bit of bad luck there. If the economy was booming, I really think that our tour would be taking off. But, you know, if we're able to survive in this environment and keep the personalties out there and keep the level of tennis high, I mean, there's a matter of time before the economy rebounds, and hopefully then we get more prize money, more fans, more everything back into our tournaments.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Worldwide, Raquel is saying (laughing). I think it is a concerted effort, because, I mean, we are a global sport. I would be surprised if it's just limited to one region. From what she's saying, it looks like it's worldwide.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think they're just trying to explore a lot of different avenues. I mean, I think that we've done a lot of things to try and get kids more involved. We have a certain fan base. I think they're trying to reach out to a different fan base, whether that be boys or inner city, or just different people to come watch tennis instead of your stereotypical, you know, family in the United States or, you know, women and a husband and that. I think they want to get different people out there watching it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You hope. I mean, you hope. Ideally, I mean, you hope that the kids get involved and then they play and then they come and get involved and that the fan base just keeps growing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's still as important. You know, my expectations are probably slightly lower than they used to be. But it's still equally as frustrating when you're not playing as well as you'd like to play. But, you know, I'm just kind of rolling with the punches this last like year and a half. It's been a tough year with injuries and as far as my career-wise, just trying to get it back on track at a consistent level. So just kind of trying to kind of weather the storm and hope that you come out of it on top. I suppose if someone had told me a year ago at this time when I was just -- hadn't started playing, I'd be back to 5 and kind of turning the corner, I'd be pretty happy. But it just seems like it's been a huge struggle to get back to 5 in the world. Like I said, I mean, I hope my luck changes for the better sooner or later.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know about that. I mean, I don't know. I just hope that I'm able to rebound with a little bit more consistent performances and hopefully have the one last Slam in me and keep improving.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's definitely a more special feeling than the average tournament. Probably more emotional, like in 2000, when I came back after winning it that first time, that was pretty exciting. But it seems like ages ago unfortunately (laughing). Seems like another lifetime ago. But you still get -- like I still get a smile and still think, "Gosh, I can't believe I won this," or, "I remember this." You definitely have nostalgia, but it does seem like an awful long time ago.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not really, but, I mean, I am a Gemini.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, it's not only that, I know that Kim, Kim Clijsters, Nadia Petrova, and I all share the same birthday. I think Kournikova is a day before us.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We've got those two sides, you know (laughing). I don't know if what that is, it's just all (laughing)...

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Have they? Oh...