XXVI OLYMPIC GAMES

July 31, 1996

Lindsay Davenport

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was such a big match for both of us, the big difference about playing for the gold. On top of that I was playing someone who was my best friend and who I didn't want to see lose or play bad like she was playing. On top of being, like, the biggest match of my life so far, going for the gold, I was playing someone who I never really want to lose. So I was playing pretty well, and she wasn't playing well. And at 6-2, 4-1, I pretty much thought it was over, because I knew she wasn't feeling that well, and she hadn't been playing that well up to that point. And next thing I know she's hitting winners, and she was serving for the set. I let up a bit. Then I was just really lucky to pull it out.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I didn't say I've got this in the bag. But I was saying she's not feeling well, and it's bad luck. I wasn't thinking I was going to win, I've won this match. I was more feeling bad for her. And she just started really being loose and going for it. And not really -- not really thinking that much. That's definitely when she plays her best.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She could probably answer that. I just know she wasn't feeling that well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: The tough thing about playing someone that you practice against, they know your favorite shots and best shots. I thought I really wanted to go cross court, so maybe I should go down the line. I watched her play a million matches and she's watched me play a million matches. So I was thinking it was a big point, normally I serve it down the line, I'll serve it wide. And a couple of those points I was trying to do things that I wouldn't probably normally do.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, we've never talked about that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Right. It was such a big match. Because all the other Olympics you were assured a bronze. She already has two, she's going for a third in the doubles. But that was the other, added even more pressure to that match. The loser is not assured a medal in the singles and has a really tough fight to get it on Friday also against Novotna. I haven't really thought about what this means and everything, but to be on the medal stand is going to be unbelievable. And I hope I hear my National Anthem.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Fine. We hadn't talked about the match at all. We went out -- we've had breakfast together every morning the last two weeks. To not have breakfast would probably make it too big a deal. We rode over together. We didn't talk about it at all. We had talked about -- I said, okay, what are we going to do on line calls? She said we'll play every call. I said okay. Don't worry, if we start changing calls we'll get into a fight. 1-All, she, the lady, called the serve out and she called it in. I said, great, I have to do this back to her. That's really the only thing we talked about.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: At the hotel.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I can't tell you that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: What did we have? I think we both had scrambled eggs, and I think there were potatoes, and she also had French toast. It's a buffet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I said -- I think I said I'm sorry. We didn't say much. I just saw her in the locker room. And she's fine. I'm more worried about how she's feeling and how she's feeling for the doubles coming up this afternoon.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. I don't want to go out there and see her lose.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, it was such an unfortunate thing of anyone, she was left off this team. Two medals in Barcelona, one gold, one bronze, unbelievable role model. Top ten singles and doubles. Just because they picked that week of the rankings, she was left off. If they had picked a month earlier or a month later she would have been on the team. All of us thought she needed to be on the team. We were so happy that the ITF, the USTA and the IOC made an exception to play doubles. And then it worked out she got in the singles, because unfortunately Chanda got hurt. The big news came at Wimbledon when we found she could play doubles.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: The last time she played me she killed me, almost the same score. It's tough. Our families are very close and they were sitting near each other, and were trying not to say anything. We knew it would be a problem, and it's going to be a problem. But if that's the one match that I'm going to lose to her and she was going to play for the gold I would be happy for her and I think she feels the same.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, let's move on. I can't wait. I was so tight this match and so nervous that I have to be more relaxed next time. I cannot get anymore tight. So I hope -- I hope -- I've got to go for it and go for my shots. And if I'm playing well, hopefully I'm going to bring home the gold. She's going to run down a lot of balls, make me play a lot of shots. If I'm on top of my game, I definitely can win it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I need to be on top of the points and be definitely the aggressor. My style of play is to hit hard and try and hit winners. Normally, if I'm on top of my game I win a lot of the time. If she's moving me around the court and inside the baseline it's going to be pretty tough because she moves so much better than I do.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I would think, unless some big surprise comes out of it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, what it would do for just me -- I've been seeing all the athletes up there for the last week and a half getting their gold medals and hearing the Anthem. And I hope I can do the same.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: In this draw I think they do it the correct way, where we really can't meet until the latest possible round. There was three of us, and two of us had to meet in the semis, whether it be Monica and Mary Joe or Monica and myself. I've said all week, one part of the two weeks should be a team competition, with country versus country, and if they want individual maybe take only two or make the ranking cut off very steep. But it's much better to meet in the semifinals or the quarter finals or the 16.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: This is going to be the biggest match of my life, for sure. The Olympics mean a great deal to me, they seem to mean a bigger deal to the women than to the men for whatever reason. The women aren't here for the money, they're here playing for their country, playing for the medals. And I think that shows a lot for women's tennis. We don't go out there just for the money or for whatever reason. We're here for our countries.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I never did.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't think so, I think I've been largely overlooked for this tournament, which is fine for me I've been going through my matches against Huber and Majoli just fine. The crowd has been for me in most situations. And hopefully they're for me on Friday. I don't feel the home country pressure like the Spaniards did in Spain.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's been great, when we're playing and the USA cheers. And the crowd sticking behind the country is great. If we were to play in Spain the crowd would be going nuts for Arantxa. So hopefully they'll be excited for me.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it's tough when you have two Americans playing with each other. The crowd, including myself, wanted Mary Joe to play better, because it wasn't a very good match. And just the circumstances were tough. The crowd is much better when we play foreigners.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I haven't thought about going on yet. I want to go out and hit a little more today just to try and loosen up a bit and then hopefully tonight and tomorrow it will kick in.