WIMBLEDON

June 27, 2000

Lindsay Davenport

MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Lindsay Davenport.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know at this point what exactly her injury is. Obviously the first couple days on a grass court, it's a lot slicker. You know, I think the ball went behind her, she slipped and fell and landed on her left side, which if there is a good thing, it's her left arm. She was having trouble moving. The doctor wasn't sure if she dislocated it or hurt a bone. They took her to the hospital. I don't know yet. It's a very bittersweet way to win. You know, it's good I won the first set with two breaks. I was going to have breakpoint in the beginning of the second. Especially when it happens to a good friend, I mean, it's terrible.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Okay. Nothing unbelievable. Nothing horrible, though. It was much better than last week. It's getting better slowly in practise, so that's good. I still have quite a bit of ways to go probably until I'm hitting the ball the way I want to be hitting it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, the back's good, which is great. Physically I feel good. It's just now, like I said a couple days ago, just trying to get my game better and better and get more confidence. That's when you hit the ball better, the more confidence you have.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, hopefully. You have to kind of keep going and not try and worry about it too much. When the shots come, they're going to come. Like I said, I mean, the improvement I've made in a week has been pretty big. That's something to look positive about. I thought I was playing pretty well. Like I said, nothing spectacular, but nothing awful. But, again, I have a difficult match in my next round, I think against Likhovtseva. There's no time to sit back and enjoy it. I've got to get ready for the next round.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think I'm much closer to where I want to be than I have the last few weeks. That's good.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I thought I served very well today. The one thing I did well was serve. Hopefully my serve is going to allow me to, you know, hold my serve relatively easy on the grass and win a lot of free points that way. Then that way you kind of loosen up. Then when you're receiving, you can go for a few more shots, feel a bit better about my groundstrokes. So the most important thing is to keep serving well. Hopefully then you kind of get back in the flow of hitting your other shots just as well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, it took a few years. Even though I would see improvement in practise, let's say, '97 , sometimes in matches you kind of revert to going back to your old serve. But in '98 it was still getting better. I really think it was last year, the beginning of '99, to where I really felt that my serve was a weapon and that every time I go out there, you know, you shouldn't lose serve. If you hold your serve all the time, you can then break serve. Like I said, I think it was the beginning of last year where I felt like I could hit any serve I wanted. Obviously you have your favorite serves, but just a lot more confidence with it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: There were many tips over many years. But I think the most important thing was just, you know, really throwing it out in front, really trying to reach forward, reach up, not pull down. It's tough to move your toss after playing tennis for 12 years. You kind of get stuck where you want it to be. Really out in front, you know, hit some more spins on it. All of that just took time.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, it's obviously disappointing, but the most important thing is to see what's wrong. You know, hopefully the prognosis is she can play again in a month or something where it's not so terrible. You know, I couldn't play doubles in Paris. If she can't play here, it's obviously disappointing to not try and defend. But it's something very obviously understandable. You know, maybe I'll play mixed now. I'd love to go play matches and feel at this point that's going to help me. It would be disappointing not to play the doubles, but there's other things to concentrate on. Hopefully I can get matches, like I said, maybe in mixed or something else.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was great. It was really fun. You know, before I went on, it's funny to think about I reached the point to where I was defending champion. You think about it for a long time, for the whole year. The time came today. So that was pretty exciting before I went on to think that a whole year had gone by almost, that I was going back out there to defend. I liked it. I mean, it's the most amazing court in the whole world to play on. You can feel it every time you go out there. Alan Mills said to me, obviously unfortunate circumstances, we're waiting to see what happened with Corina, he said, "Remember last time we were sitting here?" Obviously a place that had special memories for me. It's unfortunate what happened today, but I hope to get back out there again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's pretty special. I think so. I think that's something in a way to honor them, something that then you know you can look forward to. Winning a Grand Slam is tough. It's very special. It would be nice the next year to still get slightly recognised for what you achieved the year before. I think it's a great idea.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think you would lose -- I mean, you'd have to lose a little bit of confidence. You know, for me, it's always been important to have someone there that you trust and, I know in my mind, cares about me more in the big picture than how I'm hitting my forehand or how I'm hitting my serve. I think there's something to be said about loyalty and going through the bad times, like I said, fighting out the rough times and the losses to where you get to enjoy the good times. You learn what you need to work on, what's right. You know, I think it's a shame people look to scapegoats all the time and say, "It's my coach, he's gone, she's gone," instead of just really trying to make things work. I mean, I always said that the whole reason I'm here is probably my coach. I guess I'm lucky to just find a good one.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Now I'm just ready to play again (laughter). You know, it's been eight weeks of injuries and not hardly playing. So mentally in terms of matches, I'm excited to go out there. I feel rusty playing matches. But it's something you can get back, like I said, the more matches I play. I'm ready to get back out there and play again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I've read a few lines, obviously what she said about girls that get attention, stuff she said about Halard and her husband. From what I actually heard about her saying in the locker room, they're not really translating it all that correctly. Is that wrong (laughter)? She said that. I don't know. I don't know all that much. She said it probably wasn't coming out in English. I don't know.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't think it's been bad. I've always gotten along well with her. I think most of the other players do. But there hasn't been a huge reaction from it. I don't think she said anything mind-blowing or anything that was, you know, going to kill anybody.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I mean, I think she just said what people probably already know.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I think she could have told a lot more (laughter). I think all of these players could write a much better book (laughter). No. Like I said, I don't think she said anything all that outrageous or something that the players were like, "Oh, my gosh, I don't believe she said that." I don't think that happened.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think if there was more time before the grass, I think players would train a little bit differently. Unfortunately, coming off the clay, there's just not all that much time. Obviously you'd like to do more lower bodywork with lunges, getting your legs stronger. There's not that much time. I think the most important thing is actually just getting used to moving on grass. It can be a shock to the body. The points are going to be shorter so you don't probably have to be in cardiovascularly the greatest of shape, just be strong and explosive.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not right now. I'm trying to do very small maintenance stuff just to keep my back and body in order, just try and play my matches right now and see what happens.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not necessarily. I think I've gotten a good opponent at some times where I haven't played that well. I mean, I'm pretty confident that if I play well, I can beat every player out here. Last week I didn't play well. The conditions weren't great. The time before, I mean, didn't play that well either. What can you do? I mean, she's also got a tough draw, I think, especially today. That's so many rounds away right now. If I get there, I'll be happy and see if I get another chance.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it depends who you're talking about. I think some players need a little bit of arrogance and some players don't. You know, for myself, I've never believed that I need to personally tell people that I'm a great tennis player, you know, I'm No. 1 in the world or won Grand Slams or whatever. But some people, you know, like to do that or need to do that, and need to feel that recognition. Everybody's different. I see things differently than a lot of players on a lot of issues. Who knows.

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