AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 21, 2001

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: First question for Lindsay, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean I think she is a very good young player. The first set was close. It was only one break, although it seemed like I had just break points in almost every game, just could only do it that once. But it seemed like after the first set, you know, just seemed like her game went down from there. She just started making a lot of errors, and I think a lot of times that's not really part of her game. I think she goes for shots, but I think just after the first set, you know, I just think she didn't maintain the level.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: About seven years playing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. It's tough to go out there in big matches at Grand Slams. She's got a great game and she's very athletic. I think today just the errors were really what made the difference. A lot of times you can work on that over the years and cut those out and become more consistent. And, you know, I really think that today wasn't really indicative of what a great player she is. So it's tough to say. I mean every player has a bad match or two over a few months, and it's probably best not to look too far into it and just and keep, you know, improving.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think a little bit. Your first year is sometimes the easiest. Not a lot of players know your game. You go out there, hit your shots, you don't worry about things too much. But over time, players start to figure out exactly what the strong points are in someone's game. You know, like I said, today she didn't play all that well so it wasn't like I could really do anything to -- special. But I think it's always tough your second and third years to then try and keep improving and at the same time keep winning, which is sometimes tough to do.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, you reach a point where, like you said, you're seeded. Then you reach a point where you want to break through in your first big match. This is I think her first Grand Slam being seeded. She lived up to her seeding. I'm sure she would have liked to have gone farther. Maybe she wanted to play too well today, wanted it too badly. But, you know, it's tough. You have to get used to all stages of your career, and coming up is the easiest. Then once you get there, trying to stay there is very hard.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, there's excitement. I think the big matches start and, you know, you can almost sense the end of the tournament and hopefully the Finals. And, you know, it's getting through the round of 16 is a big round. I mean, I'm happy really now to be in the quarters, and, you know, now you know that the really tough matches are here and you can't really afford letdowns like maybe the first week, second, you know, couple matches I didn't play great. You can't afford that anymore. I think you know that. Because of that, you probably get a little bit more excited and a little bit more anxious.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It would be nice. It seems like it's haunted me a little bit this tournament. But, you know, hopefully you can do it with just one break a set.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I'm a lot farther than I was a week ago, and, you know, that's what I was saying last week is, no, I'm not playing my best now but I've got a while to work into it. I really felt the last two matches I've played, a lot better than the start of this tournament. And, you know, hopefully you keep getting better and better and I can peak on Saturday. In an ideal world, that would be great. But I have some tough matches coming up but really feel like I'm a lot more fluid in my ground strokes now and not as rushed and a lot more relaxed when I'm playing points.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I think, you know, as a player you definitely get used to being on the road so it's, you know, sometimes when you're home a month or five weeks you kind of feel like, "Okay, I need to get going again. I'm not really accomplishing much at home." But of course it's always hard to leave, and, you know, in no particular order sometimes it's just nice to be able to eat at home, not have to go to restaurants and be able to fix what you like. Obviously, you miss your friends and your family. Just, you know, normal life. Where you don't have to be on a plane and you don't have to play in front of 10,000 people and worry about, you know, what people think when you're playing. Stuff like that. And I think I always tell myself, "Well, you know, it's not forever. It's just a few more years. Then I'll miss it." So you kind of look at both sides of it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It normally hits me about a month exactly. Normally, probably take like the first ten days off then you start practicing then you start getting sick of practicing at home and want to do something with what you've been practicing. So that's normally what happens with me.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm not really a big talker on the phone with my family. I see them all the time at home. My mom lives down the street from me, and I figure that they know how I'm doing with the paper and the Internet and all the great things that are going on. If there's an emergency, I know they'll find me.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No way, really?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. It definitely can. But unfortunately, my opponents are also playing on the cool days as well. But, yeah, I think my half of the draw's gotten a little bit luckier with the weather, although we had the really hot day on Friday. But I was first on so I kind of missed it a little bit. But, yeah, I mean just watching Prinosil the other day is a little bit scary as another player. Sometimes even if you're in great shape, it's just the sun and the heat just get to you. So luckily, you know, women's matches are two out of three. It's a lot easier than what the men have to go through. But the weather can definitely be a big part of it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Ut-oh. (Laughter.)

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, my feeling was that, you know, I don't think we're underpaid. That wasn't the approach I was taking. But the -- what I was trying to get through is that, you know, it looks great when the winner gets a lot of money and it's great. But you also have to look on how much the tournament makes off us and the television deals and all the money that the players generate. And, you know, at our normal tournaments, tournaments don't make that much. We don't -- we're not deserving of a $300,000 winner check. But when a Grand Slam is making hundreds of millions, they could probably, you know, give away with a little bit more. That's what I was saying - you've got to look at the percentages of what the revenue is and what the payout should be.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean I don't know what they do with the money. I mean they never are completely forward about what happens to it all. But obviously I'm for programs like that. No, I'm not saying that we should get paid more. That wasn't really what I wanted to say. I just said that I think what Kafelnikov was trying to say is these Grand Slams make so much money that, you know, the players maybe deserve a little bit more. That's the side I was trying to defend.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Right. I think they've been slowly going up the last two or three years, and the difference in attendance in '95 and '99, 2000 is huge. They're slowly moving their prize money up, you know, whatever it is about eight or nine percent a year. I think the players are happy with that, as long as we're delivering a great product, the players are supporting the tournaments, we don't expect them to go to a million or a million and a half. We understand it's harder to make money in certain markets. All we ask for is, you know, to be rewarded just a little bit every year.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: For a female athlete, I think tennis is by far the greatest sport you can participate in. We have so many opportunities. A lot of other female athletes don't get those opportunities in their sports. They're growing a little bit, but we're far, far beyond any other sport.