TOSHIBA TENNIS CLASSIC

August 9, 1998

Lindsay Davenport

Q. It was almost kind of anti-climactic?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, obviously the first couple games, I didn't think anything was wrong because she was serving well. You know, it seemed okay. Obviously as the match went on, you could definitely tell maybe it was her groin, I'm not exactly sure, part of her leg was bothering her. She wasn't really, you know, running for balls. You know, it's unfortunate. As a player, it's a little bittersweet to win a title like that. There's nothing I can do about it. You know, I didn't get hurt. I mean, you just have to go with that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I was. I was at the courts for a little bit last night, saw a few games. I went and got a massage, sorry. I came and turned the TV on, 4-All, second set breaker. I saw she had a few match points. She was playing unbelievable last night. After I watched the third set, I could see why she had won. You know, I was expecting a very tough struggle. But oftentimes it's very hard to come back when you played a night match, a couple hours later after a tough match, be a hundred percent ready.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We play similar styles of game, with subtle differences. But, I mean, you try to be the one on the attack. A little bit easier today with her a little hurt.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You can't probably say. I mean, The Open is so many weeks away. I'm starting off the season great. All I can do is hope to continue that. Obviously, it's going to give me a lot of confidence going in there in a few weeks. But every tournament is a new tournament. Every first match is a new beginning. In about two or three days, I'll have to start all over again in LA. After tomorrow morning, I've got to forget about this and move on again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Maybe. Sometimes they don't put it up till Tuesday. I'll wait till Tuesday in the paper. To overtake No. 1, I think I'm going to have to step up my performances in Grand Slams. Martina still has a number of tournaments left this summer to play, could do very well. It's not really in my mind. I thought it was funny, six months ago I was three thousand points behind her, as opposed to 500 or 600. It's slowly getting there. But if I'm going to do it, I'll have to win The Open in New York.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I do. I mean, I really haven't thought about it, because she's been so far ahead of everybody for a number of months, a year, whatever. Like I said, this week when I saw the rankings, I was truly shocked that I was only 500 or 600 points, which is still a lot, but as opposed to three thousand, that's pretty attainable, I guess.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think, you know, when we came from Stanford to here, there were a whole bunch of players I hadn't seen in a bunch of weeks. I think every player here is going to play in LA. The draw is going to be very similar. But really, I'm just going to go up to LA, really try to enjoy it. I've had two tournaments, great weeks, and it's always tough to keep going. Realistically, I know I'm going to give it my best shot. But I'm going to enjoy it and see what happens this weeks.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: This year for sure. Last year I got into a good patch in the fall season. You know, I've played really close matches the last few tournaments, toughed these matches out, given myself opportunities to win a tournament. That's what it takes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. I think the mind set of the public and the media is if you don't win a Grand Slam, you're not a great player. I don't agree with that. I think that Grand Slams are a true test, a very difficult test, and I'm going to give it my best shot to win one one day. But if it doesn't happen, I'm always going to look back at myself as a great player myself, had a tremendous career. But, you know, winning a Grand Slam is very important to anyone who plays tennis and the people who follow it. Hopefully one day I'll be in the winner's circle.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think Novotna winning was so great. Everybody wanted her to win. I don't compare myself to her at all. It could happen in a month, it could happen in five years. I don't really know. I don't really care. If it happens, it's great. Like I said, I'm just going to keep giving myself opportunities to have it happen.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I always said in '93 when I came up, I think it was a lot weaker. I think now if you look at the Top 20, all the way down it's extremely tough. There's really no weak patches. In tournaments, it's tough these days. All the draws are extremely tough from the first round on. You know, I think the depth of even players all the way down to a hundred, the level of play they're playing is much tougher. Like I said, these tournaments, nine of the Top 10, eight of the Top 10 week in and week out. It's tough to always get back the next week, know you're going to have tough matches again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's my niece. She's turning one in about two days. First part maybe (laughter). I wanted her to sing happy birthday to her.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Kennedy.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Is that what she said? I didn't know that. I think that's a little bit disappointing to hear. I mean, look at Mary. Mary was down 6-3, 4-1, she never gave up for a moment. That's what you have to do. I didn't think she totally gave up, watching it. I don't know. But, you know, Mary just outplayed her at the end. Mary can do that. She's very capable of playing some great tennis, as obviously is Martina. I think Martina was so pressured that she didn't win in two sets.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't think it's a slump. I see her being discouraged. She didn't win the French, she didn't win Wimbledon. She wants to win these so bad now, I just think she's discouraged. I think she wants to win so badly right now. She doesn't like it when other people are winning the big tournaments. I have no doubt she'll be back and be ready. I don't think it's such a slump or anything like that. I think she's going to come out tougher in a couple more weeks.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: God, I don't know. I think she likes it. I think with all the players, the four or five young ones, each one like to take it away from the other one. So I'm sure she doesn't mind it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, they can have it (laughter). They can fight and have it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Maybe. I mean, a lot of times some players don't have good defensive skills, and vice versa. I try to work on being able to get in position better and run some more balls down. I think I've gotten a lot better than that. That's just from hours of chasing balls around the court. Practically every drill that I've done in the last year has been moving. My coach on one side, me running side to side to side, trying to get balls. Another thing, Billy Jean King was teaching me, always practice going for out balls, going for balls that are outside. When you can get those, you get into a match, everything seems easy. That's one trick that's really helped me a lot.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's tough. I mean, you're thinking, "I've got to win this." Then I was thinking, "Is she going to retire?" It was so difficult to play. It's kind of more a mental match. Not so much playing the ball, just trying to relax and not worry about everything. But, I was really happy when I broke again at 4-1 because I didn't want to give her a chance to kind of get back into the match. So you really just have to not try to worry about it and just concentrate on yourself.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm not. I get the week off. My partner found a better partner in Martina Hingis. I was just so tired. I told her two days ago if she could find someone else, that would be great. I'm looking forward to the next three days at home and starting as late at possible in the week.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think actually my whole family is here, both sisters, brother-in-law, niece. I think we'll probably go to dinner here and home after the doubles.