SANEX CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 1, 2001

Lindsay Davenport

MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I guess. I mean, it's always important to start a match off well. Today I thought the first four games I played perfect, did everything that I wanted to do. I think it gives you a lot of confidence when you've beaten a player - especially the last two weeks - pretty easily. So I went out there feeling confident and pretty much knowing if I did the things that I do well, I should win. I started off well, was able to carry it through. I mean, it's tough when you're up 4-Love. You lose a little bit of concentration because it was only like nine minutes or something. I lost a little bit there, but only the one break. You know, some of the games I lost I even had game points in. I felt like today everything was great. You know, obviously happy to be in the semis again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. This whole trip I've served well. That really makes matches so much easier. When you win free points or if you're down on your serve, you can still hold serve. I think the game has turned increasingly more to not being broken. I think women have a lot more pride trying to hold their serve. At least I do. I try not to get broken. My serve has definitely saved me a lot. That's one of the reasons why I think I've improved a lot as my serve has gotten better.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I mean, it's tough obviously when you lose to the same player for a few weeks in a row. If you look back at her whole year, I think last year she was 30 in the world. This year she's ending I think around 10 or so. You have to be happy with that. If you're her, you have to look back and see the improvements you've made. That's a great step. I think she's gotten more consistent to where the last few weeks anyway she stopped losing to players ranked below her. I think the next step, probably the hardest step, is to beat the players above you, beat the top four or five. She's putting herself in great positions by always doing well in tournaments. That's just the next step. You know, everyone has little things in their game they need to work on. I've played her a lot. I don't know everything about her game. She'll get there. I mean, she's still pretty young.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think staying on top. It's always a challenge to try and beat the younger players, see who is coming up, to still try and stay at the top of the game. Always Grand Slams. I've had such great records in Grand Slams the past few years. This year wasn't great. Just kind of average. So I'd definitely like to improve on that. It's a challenge to go out there and always be the favorite to win. I mean, it's very tough when you're 2 or 3 or 1, whatever you are. There's not a lot of times where you're the underdog; you're always expected to win. I think throughout my career I've handled that very well. It's such a relief sometimes when you finally play someone ranked above you, you feel like you finally have nothing to lose (laughter).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I heard there was an illness or injury with one of the other players, so she switched it around. I was fine with that. I agree with that. So I don't think originally it was set out to be like that.