WIMBLEDON

July 2, 2001

Lindsay Davenport

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I thought I did bounce back from not starting off great. I was a little kind of just slow to react in the beginning. I think I haven't played anybody in the last few weeks that hits -- that has hit the ball quite as hard as Jelena. It took me a couple games almost really to get used to the pace. You know, I haven't faced that. I was down early, 4-2. But, you know, was just able to hang in there and turn matches around. I knew going out there it was going to be a tough match. She's going to hit some great shots, you know, make a few errors. And the same with me. If I could just concentrate on my serve and wait for my opportunities to break, that I would have a good shot. So I did pretty much everything I wanted to do - concentrate, holding. I knew I'd get a chance to break her as the match went on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, not my knee. I kind of tripped on my foot for a second. I had some problems with that last year. Hurt for like a point and went away. Just stumbled a little bit, got my foot stuck.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, totally. I mean, I broke her to go up 4-2, and was feeling good. Just kind of knew then, "Okay, just concentrate on holding your serve and you've got the match." I was trying to take my time, be relaxed, not to rush. Yeah, I really felt like when I got up that break in the second set -- excuse me, to go up 4-3, I guess it was, it was 3-All -- that was it. Basically I was just trying to take my time.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I haven't thought about it too much yet, just coming off the court. But, know all the ladies have to come back again tomorrow for the quarters, knowing that another young player that hits the ball hard, is a good athlete, and another tough match. I've played her I think the last time at the Australian Open. I've never played her on grass. She did well in Rosmalen, so obviously she knows how to play well on the surface. Again, my game plan doesn't change too much from match to match. Concentrate on serving well. I always know that I think I'm going to get chances to break. Just try and out-hit the other girls.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think Jelena is 19, and Kim is 18. So I think the new kind of group of young players, I would consider like Henin, Clijsters, Dokic, very good group of players. So it's fun to play the young ones. They're always really eager, always running around the court. Just see if I can stay on top.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, I think so. You know, I like the players that hit the ball hard but flat off both sides, and feel like I have an advantage in a match like that. But Kim's a great athlete. Just going to try and - like I said, it doesn't change too much from match to match - try and hold my serve and know that I'll get some chances to break as the match goes on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She definitely could be. You know, I haven't watched her play all that much. But she also had a very good draw. She didn't upset Top 5 players along the way. She had a great win against Henin in the semifinals and a very close final. So obviously she's feeling confident. Again, I think sometimes you even get more confidence if you beat a Williams along the way or a player of that stature. But I'm sure her level of confidence has got to be higher than it was three or four weeks ago. But so is mine. I mean, I feel a lot better after coming to Eastbourne and winning this match. Just have to see what happens.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I didn't look on the Internet. I'm at the gym. It was like 2-All in the first set. Someone was like, "Can you believe the final?" I'm like, "Oh, great." I didn't watch it. I would have watched it, but somebody ruined it. It's hard watching a match in the beginning knowing it's going to go 12-10 (laughter).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I have no idea, no idea. I know she was a couple times two points away from winning, something like that. Other than that, no, I don't.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It seems like it gets like that every Grand Slam. You say, "Oh, it's wide open." I really believe that's true. I said a few days ago I would be surprised if the winner was someone other than the Williams, Capriati or myself. Doesn't mean it can't happen. But, you know, there were so many times, years, when it was either Steffi, Monica, Chris or Martina. So I think there's four really strong contenders, and the other players that are left, like a Clijsters, Henin, all those other players are waiting to break through. Until they do, you really don't know what to expect.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, yeah. I mean that's an important game. As soon as you get broken, you want to break back right away and not let her get the momentum, feeling a bit more relaxed. That was a big game to break her right back. Again, 5-All, I broke serve at a very crucial time, was able to serve it out. Again, just kind of waited my opportunities. First game of the second set had some breakpoints, didn't break, but was able to keep holding until at 3-All I got another chance. I thought that, you know, I kind of waited my time until the appropriate moment came. You know, just played solid. Didn't do anything crazy or outlandish.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, no, definitely not. I wish I could do that every match, know when the right time to break was. Today it just seemed to work out that way. She double-faulted, breakpoint in the second set which, you know, never hurts.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think everybody does. I mean, you'd go crazy out there if you were never talking to yourself or thinking anything. Depends what the moment is. You know, if you're losing, you're like, you can be either positive or negative. A lot of time is I'm sarcastic to myself, "That was a great shot," when you miss one. It depends what the moment is. I think every player does that. I would be surprised if anyone was just like even keel out there.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Of all the matches today, by say the Martin-Henman match. I think both those guys are such great guys, nice guys, great players, obviously an American interest in Todd. It's always interesting to see how those matches work out, especially that one. Of all the matches today, I would have picked that one as the showcase match that I would want to watch.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, tough match. You know, Jennifer has gotten the best of her the last few times they've played, definitely has the mental edge going in there. I do think the grass favors Serena. I think Jennifer's going to have to play really well. But a lot of times if you have that winning edge over someone, that helps a lot. But, again, I mean, with Serena's serve, I think it will do a lot more damage here than it did either in Paris or Miami when they played. So really I think it depends on how Jennifer is able to return that serve on grass.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Depends what player you're talking about. For me, yeah, definitely rely on the power. Got to go with the power serve and try and out-hit opponents. I think Jennifer maybe relies on her foot speed also a lot and not so much the serve, but more the groundstrokes and foot speed. The Williamses rely on I think power definitely. But I think the game is just turning that way, with technology and the type of players that we have right now. Definitely seems like there's a trend towards that part of the game.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, yeah, definitely doesn't hurt. It's great if you can mix those two things. It's hard to do that, though. Martina has such great feel around the court, but I guarantee you she would love to be able to step in and crack winners all day long. I mean, I would love to be able to hit drop volleys and all that kind of stuff. But I think I handle it well. A lot of players that are the hard-hitters do hit lobs and shots like that. But I think I would much rather have the power game going for me.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I never thought she had trouble closing out matches. I always thought her serve was vulnerable and could you break her at a certain time if you had to. She would throw in some double-faults, and that would help along. I never attributed that to her being scared to win a match. I just attributed it to her always -- always being able to break her, never knowing what you were going to get. I think if you see her serve, it looks a lot more fluid now than it did like a year ago. I'm not really sure about the Serena match.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's one of the tough toughest things. You fight your whole match, and all of a sudden you're serving for the match, maybe returning for the match. A lot of times, I mean, I struggled with, "What do you do? Go for winners? Possibly make errors? Do you get the ball in?" I think there's a very fine line when you're about to win a match, being aggressive, but maybe not going for the lines as you may in other matches. Everybody's different. Jennifer just goes for it all the time. I mean, Australian Open final, winner. French Open final, I think she went for a forehand finally after a bunch of attempts. It maybe hurt her at Miami where she missed the first ball a few times. Everyone is different with what they try and do. I think you just learn as you go along.