CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE WTA TOUR

November 19, 1999

Lindsay Davenport

Q. How is your leg?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was much better, thank you. No, it felt -- it felt almost 100% tonight, and it was -- it just gave me no problems.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Right. Well, the trainers told me -- I didn't want all the tape on again and the trainers told me that -- the brace, to keep it on, keep it warm, and it was just kind of bothering me. It was just kind of -- it didn't feel right. So I took it off and, then I tried putting it back on, and then it didn't, so, I took it back off. No, it feels fine. I don't think there should be any more problems, but, you never know. But it wasn't a factor tonight.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I'm like the wounded the last two weeks. But yeah, so far, starting the last week in Philly through this match, there hasn't been a problem yet. Last time it happened on just a freak shot on a backhand and a ligament kind of popped or something. So, so far so good.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, same as -- indoors helps serving so much, and when you feel like you're able to hold your serve, you just -- there's just so much less pressure on you to break all the time, and the other player probably feels more pressure to hold. I was broken once and that's it, and that's pretty good against a good runner like Anke. You know, just hope to keep serving well and put a lot of first serves into play and win a lot of points off that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She always kicks my butt, so... (Laughs) No, I'm just joking. When I heard, I was a little shocked. But yeah, I mean, technically, it makes the draw a little bit easier. I haven't beaten her in a number of years and she is a very dangerous player. But, you know, whoever -- if I play Tauziat, she's won the last few tournaments; it's not like I'm playing nobodies here. But I felt bad for her. It was the first time she's qualified here, and I think she's only played in three tournaments since the French or something ridiculous like that; so she's had a rough last six months.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Were they? The stuff at the Open was ridiculous. I stopped paying attention to that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's fun. That's exactly what it is; it's amusing. It's good. It makes everybody -- the papers put it on the front page. Obviously, people are interested in it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Gosh, in my whole career, I've only played Dominique once, which is pretty amazing. It would be nice to play somebody different. I've played Nathalie a couple of times, I think, on this court. Nathalie is very dangerous in the serve-and-volley game, she won the last few tournaments. But totally two different matches. One is a serve-and-volleyer; one is a baseliner. It would be nice to play Van Roost, because I've only played her once, but Nathalie -- at the same time -- we're friends. I don't really care, basically.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's tough, match-by-match. I mean last year my first round, I struggled against Testud, and this year I struggled against Mauresmo. And then last year in the second round, I played well and won easily as tonight, I won fairly easily. I'm getting better as the tournament goes on. I think my serve is a little bit better than last year. Every year I've been back to the Garden, I think I've become a slightly better player in some aspect; so I'm probably a little bit of a better player and a little smarter. But, if moments last year that I played great would be better than if I played normal, I don't know.

? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I hope not. I think I was involved in one I and was like , oohh (shaking head).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's disappointing whenever you lose a match in a big tournament, and especially doubles, we lost a close match, finished late. But it was -- it was good for me to get back out there on the court and keep playing. You can obviously get over doubles a little bit quicker than a singles loss, probably. I was upset for about an hour and I was fine.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Winning four times with four different partners? That's a bad record. That means I can't keep a partner. No, I didn't think about it like that. But it would have been nice to get to the finals, but that's okay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I never -- I'm a pretty outgoing person. I've never really talked to her, but I think she came from an era where you didn't talk to a lot of the other players and you pretty much kept to yourself. I wouldn't call it "frosty"; I would just call it, there was nothing. We never really ever spoke. I never saw her in the locker room. I never had really a conversation with her in all the years that we've played. And a lot of the time, you know, '96, '97, she didn't play a lot, with injuries. And I think at the end of her career, she was never really around like the tennis at all. So I never got a chance to get to know her.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I didn't know how bad it was Tuesday night when I was playing my first doubles. I knew it was a little sore Sunday night. Monday, I practiced for maybe like 25 minutes here, just to hit on the court, but after a long weekend, I didn't want to hit much. And then Tuesday night on doubles, I really noticed it was going to give me problems. It was one of these things where I didn't realize how bad it was until I started moving around. Normally with muscle pulls, I have a -- I tend to heal quickly from them for whatever -- this is like the trainer saying my muscle fibers or something, I don't know. I thought once I got through Wednesday, it would feel a lot better tonight. And it didn't bother me; so I don't foresee any problems for the weekend.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: In the doubles? No. I didn't want to pull out of again. I pulled out last week in the doubles. It didn't bother me; so I didn't want to stop.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We finished maybe around midnight. You weren't here? Thanks. (Laughs).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I was a little bit disappointed at 1-love. I think I was up on her serve and had a few opportunities to break and got down Love-40. It's one of those things; it's a fast court and my serve helps me out. I think I might have served maybe five unreturnable serves to win the game, and it just got me out of trouble, to be able to hold, and that was the whole turning point. I held her serve for 2-1, and she didn't win another game. She was probably a little -- gave me all the momentum then.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I mean, it's been a great -- it's been a rivalry developing. Probably a more interesting matchup in the minds of the public and fans, Hingis versus Williams. I don't know who my opponent is yet, but it's great. I mean, it's going to be a great match.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: People perceive whatever they want. I've always read that stuff about Pete and kind of laughed because, you know, just because he's different and he doesn't, like, act all crazy doesn't mean he's boring. But if people want to think I'm boring, that's fine. It's not going to change if I'm ranked 2 or 1 or 3 in the world. It's not going to change my enjoyment. That's the way it is. Some people are more outgoing with the press, with the fans, with their actions on the court or off the court or in public surroundings. And I'm just a pretty quiet person and don't want a lot of fanfare, anyway, so I'm not going to do acts or say things to try and get it, either.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Going into a tournament after coming back from an injury, I was only out a month, which is a long time to a tennis player, but I guess in actuality, it's not that long. But I was completely surprised when I won the semis against Venus like 1-2. The three weeks prior, I didn't do anything and I was hurt only a week going in and I wasn't sure if my wrist was going to come up, hold up. And to come back and meet Martina, No. 1 player in the world, I was amazed when it was over. It's great to be able to do that. It's hard to do that, to keep the momentum going in there. And like I said whatever happens, happens. To end the year well, if I lose tomorrow, win, to end the year like I have, is going to help me next year, and considering I didn't really think I would be playing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not very high. I've never -- never thought of that too much. I mean, as soon as the year ends and you get back on the practice court sometime in December, it's going to be to try and win the Australian Open. I thought I had a good chance last year, lost a very close match. So the focus is going to be to trying to win the Australian Open, first, and I'll kind of make goals after the Australian Open. But the rankings, I've never been a huge believer in that. It was great to finish the year No. 1 one last year, but that as the extent of it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yes, I'll have some.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's for charity. I'm going to go home for Thanksgiving and go on vacation for about a week to 10 days.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: The Bahamas. I said that last time. You weren't at my last press conference?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was really -- I really -- I like the way we played it this last couple of years. It seemed like especially in other countries, it was so popular and got a lot of people out to the matches. They really supported it. And, you know, I think going back to the Round Robin is just going back to the same problems we had when we used to play it all in one week. So I'm not really for it. I like the home -- I like this tie system like they use in Davis Cup. But these are things that players aren't really consulted about, that people above us make these decisions and we don't really have a say in them.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I haven't even heard talk like that. I didn't even know the French team was doing that. I haven't even talked to their players about it. It will be interesting to see what they said. I'm talk to them now, I guess.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, why, did I --.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Really? Oh, I didn't know that, no.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't really follow the rankings, so -- listen, to ends the year 3 is still pretty damn good. I'm going to try my hardest to keep 2, I guess. I'm going to try my hardest to win this tournament, and if I win the tournament I'm sure I'm going to stay at 2. So that's my first goal, is to win the tournament.