US OPEN

September 1, 1998

Lindsay Davenport

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Sometimes the first round is the most important in a tournament, and I thought I played pretty well today. The courts -- everyone has been saying the courts are playing fast, which I think favors my game a lot. So I was pretty happy with the way things went.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It has been okay. It has been my elbow. It comes and goes. It has been sore a lot throughout the summer, but really flared up last week, but so far, last couple of days it has been pretty good. I think matches like this will help it maybe stay less inflamed throughout the week, and I will keep taking care of it, and hopefully it won't bother me at all.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It has been. It has been kind of moving all over my arm. For a couple of weeks now, so it is kind of hard to really pinpoint it and really cure it right away because it seems to always be moving around. But like I said, I will just -- you know, hopefully have short matches and get it worked on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I really didn't think about it. No, I mean --

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not really.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was almost hoping I would sneak out here without doing press, so when Reven came back in --

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think she will always be a threat. Even though she lost few times in the summer and maybe didn't play so well. You know she has the ability to play very well. I watched her play a little bit today and you thought she was playing pretty well again. And she is going to be very tough to beat especially on this fast court. I mean, her balls are going to stay very low, her slice is very effective on this court and she is such a great athlete that I think she definitely has a legitimate chance of winning.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Last week I think she was definitely more consistent. The last -- two other times I played her, she gave me some free points with some errors. I think she is returning a little bit better and definitely, you know, cut down on her errors a lot.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, I think my serve has been a big part of why I have done well for the last couple of weeks or months. And, you know, it is one of those things where you know you always want to get it better in this day of the game because the girls do return so well. And I have been pleased. I made a few changes that I think have worked out a lot. And I have definitely been holding my serve a lot more.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not really too different. I feel like I have a chance to win here and maybe a couple of times in the past I didn't think that, but I definitely feel like I could win this tournament this year based on my results this year so far in hard court. It is obviously going to be very difficult, but it is attainable, hopefully. I had a great summer, even losing last week it really didn't hurt my confidence at all because I knew Steffi was playing. I was glad to get a few matches in and come here and practice for a few days. And, just try and keep going.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I haven't looked too far ahead so don't say anything. McNeil is actually going to be, I think, very tough the next rounds on a fast court she is going to be coming in a lot. I played her here last year, won in two sets, but she is one of those players that is always coming in, so she is always putting pressure on you, so I am definitely going to have to try and keep her at the baseline and pass well. So after that I am not too sure.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Okay, thanks.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I really think in Stanford, the first one of the three beating Graf 6-4 in the third and beating Williams I think 6-4 in the third pulling out two really close matches on my way to winning the title really kind of helped me through the rest of the way. Every time then I got into a close match I was really calm and that is, you know, the most important thing to be out there. I played Seles in San Diego 7-5 in the third, there were some close matches. Sometimes you win some of those and sometimes you lose. Those couple of weeks I played the big points well and was able to pull those out and more than anything, I think confidence plays a role at this level than -- than ability.