WIMBLEDON

June 26, 2001

Lindsay Davenport

Q. Safely through, but probably not yet in the groove out there. You made a lot of mistakes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it's always been tough for me the first round or two in Grand Slams. What I've learned the last few years, it's just important to get through them. Played so well last week. Came here. The courts are slightly different here. They're obviously playing a little faster because the grass is greener. They're playing hard, but just different from what I was playing on. It's fine. I mean, I'm happy with the way I got through. Have another day off tomorrow to keep practising. You know, things normally turn around.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, she has something very tough going on right now. It's very hard to see somebody like that go through something like that. It's a struggle. But she's kept an amazing attitude. Her and her family are very hopeful for a recovery. But it's something that -- you know, I said maybe last week, it's something that changes everybody's life around her, even friends, family. I've certainly never had anybody that close to me that's had to fight something like that, especially so young. It's been tough. But, like I said, she's had a great attitude. Tough to see her in a condition like, that not here playing. You've just got to hope for the best.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I hope a lot. She was in a great mood. We had a great time for the two or three days I was there, you know, smiling a lot. We were doing as much fun things as we can. I think she's just been overwhelmed by the amount of support she's gotten from all the players, and even fans. When I was there, someone was calling from South Africa. Everyone was wishing her the best. I think she didn't really know how much maybe she was appreciated or how much people liked her until something like that happened.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, yeah. I mean, I definitely send an e-mail about every day. The phone calls, when she went home, I've talked to her a couple times since she's been home last week. Not every day anymore. When it first happened, I was really pretty scared. Now probably every couple days. Some other players call her every couple days, so we know what's going on with her all the time.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think she's always been a fighter, even on the tennis court. Certainly she fought her way up the tennis ranks in terms of playing a lot of satellites, finally getting to the top of the game. That helps her a lot. She has a great outlook on things. She's very positive. A lot of the treatment stuff she was talking about, "Well, it's just something you've got to do. That's what I've got to do. Hopefully it will get me better." It's a very difficult situation. You know, hopefully those things will get her through it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Probably neither. It's tough. I mean, she doesn't want to talk about medical testing all day long. I was in no mood to talk about tennis. You know, we were trying to talk about other things. We watched the French Open, had a good time with that. We were gossiping a little bit. You know, it's probably best to, you know, just try and talk about other things.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. It was the middle weekend. We watched Mike Russell almost beat Kuerten. About halfway through the match, we were watching it, her brother said, "Can you believe that guy lost after having match point?" We had that ruined. I try not to talk about tennis off the court. If she wants to talk to me, I'll listen. But it's hard to ask questions about something like that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It certainly did the few weeks I was home first dealing with it. It's one of those things where it was almost like, you know, I was actually a little mad at myself for being so down about a knee injury. I was really disappointed when I had to pull out of the French and fly home. You know, it was the first Grand Slam I had missed. I got home. First thing, I called Corina, "How are you feeling?" "This is going on." I was thinking, this is so dumb. It's amazing how it puts things in perspective. People always say that when something of that magnitude happens. It's absolutely true. I've tried to look at my career now as the second part and have a much happier outlook about things, not so down when things don't go your way. Just remember it's just a pleasure and a privilege to be out here playing, to try just to enjoy everything more and more.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: The knee is a hundred percent. I have not felt it since the day before Paris was supposed to start. The trainers there told me, "You're just about healed. If you go out tomorrow and probably push it, it might not heal so quickly." Went home, took another week off. So now it's been four weeks almost since I felt it. It feels great. That's given me no problems. It's nice to be back out there playing. Winning last week was a huge joy. Just winning the first tournament back, being really excited to be out there. I had a lot of nerves today for some reason. I was so nervous before I played just because I think I wanted to do well here, did well the last two years. Hopefully I got them out of my system and it will get better.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not actually treatment. Just trouble with the tape staying on. It was coming off. Sometimes when the tape is flapping against your knee, it's a little bothersome. The trainer came out, cut it, put a new piece on. It wasn't an official treatment, I don't think.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We have another one.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Jennifer?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know. I mean, they're both so tough. I think Jennifer now would be different to play Jennifer even when I played her in February. I think the more tournaments you win, the more confidence you gain, you get better and better. I have no idea. I mean, I didn't watch the end of the French when she was winning everything. I think Venus is a little bit more aggressive with her shots. I think Jennifer certainly hits the ball hard, but it's equal. I don't know what to say. They're both really great. On this surface, I think Venus would be a little bit tougher to play because of her serve. It's a little bit more of a weapon than Jennifer's. But, you know, certainly Jennifer has played like the No. 1 player this year, no doubt.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think that every week more and more fans are drawn in. It's not just the glamour. I think it's the personality that a lot of the top players have, a lot of off-court exposure that we've been getting, as well as A lot of players have transcended just the tennis courts. I would say it's the most exciting time to be part of this game. Very rarely in the history of women's tennis have you had five contenders every Grand Slam we go into. I think the fans like it with the intrigue and some of the behind-the-scenes stuff they hear about. Drawn a lot of publicity into the sport.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't think so.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. My record here the last two years has been pretty good, even though I think people were under the assumption I was retiring or not caring or something. I was working my butt off, trying to get back, be healthy. Certainly on grass I would say that I have a better chance than if I was coming straight into the French. After winning last week, it gave me a huge boost just knowing that even after sitting out three months I could still come back and play well. Knowing that I'm still going to have to get better, you know, it was great to be out there today. Even though I didn't play my best, it was great to be out there. I know, as in past Grand Slams, I can get better and better as it goes on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I love coming here. Especially after the last two years, winning it, being a finalist, you start to appreciate it more and more. In the years past, I've been here a few days early practising it. This year, the first day I got here was Sunday. Seemed like a little rushed the last two days. It's just so special. My place where I stay overlooks Wimbledon, so I can actually see it all day long. I love looking at it, watching the people walk around, watch matches. The same people in the locker room every time. The attendants are so nice. It's really special going out there. I think that's why for myself I was a little bit nervous todday and excited to get going. I've always loved to think back to '99 when I won it. Those memories certainly haven't faded.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, for sure. Not too many places in the world where you can only play on a court during a tournament. It's always packed in there, seems like. The people just love the tennis. Just a unique atmosphere, like any player would say.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I noticed that last week after the first two matches, just felt unsure about where the opponent was going to hit the ball or if my shots were coming back. When you're playing well, playing a lot of matches, those things just kind of flow. You anticipate a little bit better, have a feeling about where the ball's going. When you haven't played sets or matches in a while, you're doing a little bit of guesswork out there, hoping a little bit that the ball doesn't come back. You know, in five matches now under my belt, it's coming around. Just like I said, I think getting used to playing here on the courts at Wimbledon, hopefully it will keep clicking as the time goes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I just didn't feel like I was hitting the ball fantastic. It was hotter than it has been, so the ball flies a little bit more. The court is a little bit quicker than the grass courts I've been playing on. So just a little bit off. I didn't feel too bad out there. I didn't feel like I was in desperation yet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, my coach thought it was the funniest thing ever. He's like, "It's great. People will underestimate you even more now." It's one of those things, I just looked at it, if I'm injured, I'm injured. It's a bone problem. I can't really do too much about it. Certainly, if anything, the three months helped me realise that I'm certainly not ready to stop playing, ready to stick around a little bit longer and keep practising. Again, I didn't do any interviews. Obviously, people have no way of knowing what my mentality is, what I was doing. But sometimes it's just hard to read speculation. People say, "We've heard." If you don't know, you don't know what's really going on. I guess they have the right to print whatever they want, but certainly that wasn't the case.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Who knows. I mean, I think with any Grand Slam, you always have nerves. I think you should. It's the most exciting time of the year, the four Grand Slams we play. You want to do the best here. For me, I've had special memories here. It's something you just have to play through, first few games, trying and get them out by hitting some balls, some good shots. Certainly you have to look like nothing is bothering you, play through it. That's all about tennis, you have to play through the nerves, play through the conditions, just have to win matches when you're not playing your best.