TMS - INDIAN WELLS, WOMEN

March 12, 2000

Lindsay Davenport

WTA: Questions for Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I played okay. The conditions were a lot different than last night. I don't think I played as well as I did last night, but I played pretty solid to win 4 and 2. You've got to be happy every time you keep winning like this. But I think I can get better. I think as the tournament goes on, I will hopefully.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I've got on a couple of rolls. In '98 I won all those tournaments in California on a roll, then the US Open. But I feel like I'm playing really well right now. When you're real confident, you seem to play the more important points better because you obviously believe that you can do it. You just have a lot of confidence in your shots. A lot of the momentum carrries on match through match. But you never know when it can end. You never know when a bad day hits, like it did Agassi last week. You've always got to be prepared to, you know, fight it out if you have to.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I have pretty good confidence when I go out there that I can beat everybody, and I should beat everybody I play against, but you never know. You're going to have some losses throughout the year, maybe some you don't feel you should lose, and some that the other person played better. Going into every tournament, I think I'm a favorite to win the tournament. I think equally Martina is the favorite. Right now, we're pretty close. We've both been such consistent performers now that it's really close.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I have been. A lot of that is just consistent play. Like I say, the confidence to go for certain shots, you know, knowing when to hit what shot. Yeah, I mean, my game is just really consistent right now. I've been serving well, holding my serve a lot. If those things are going well, then I'm very tough to beat. Like I said, a lot of that is confidence coming from winning so many matches this year already and the end of last year.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, you always have to try to keep improving. Certain shots, you've always got to try to keep them where they are and then try to get them better. I mean, yeah, I can volley better. I've been working on my serve, and it seems to keep getting better, so I'll try to keep doing those things.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, no. I mean, seems like they used to beat people like 1 and Love all the time. Every time I go out there, I believe I should win, regardless of the score. I don't try and look at that too much. But, you know, the last two years, most of the time I've been a very consistent performer, winning all these matches. You know, I'm getting to the stage now where I think I should, and I think I should win badly, and you want to. But as far as comparisons to other players, I've never thought about that too much in my career.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know (laughter). It's funny to look back now as it's gone by. I could never tell you when I turned the corner. I don't know.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Not quite yet (laughter). I'm still 2 in the rankings. You know, my play since November has been No. 1 in the world, but unfortunately it's 12 months, and you've got to prove yourself over the whole 12 months. Got a few more months I need to do that before I'm No. 1 again. The rivalry, it's great. We get along very well. We have a friendly rivalry. We go out and we try our hardest. There was a stretch in the middle where she beat me a number of times in a row, and now it's turned again. Believe me, she's going to beat me again before my career's over. She's that good. I mean, it's going to happen. I'm going to play the way that I've been playing the last few times against her, which is going for my shots, making her feel really defensive, not that she can't handle the power, that's what I try and do. That's what I'm going to play against her. One time, I'm sure she'll come through. I don't know.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think just winning more matches, you believe in yourself more. Like I said, you believe in your shots more at the critical times. That's really important. Just knowing that you can win matches whether you're down, even, or even up, that's the most important thing sometimes. Like I said, I mean, the huge thing is confidence and a lot of experience at winning. Winning tournaments helps when you get in those situations again, you know what to do. Have I changed? No. I try to be more positive, but I don't do anything off the court for me mentally. I just try and stay positive as best I can, know that I can do it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm so confused by that, I swear. I'm looking in the paper, Agassi won the Grand Slam, but he's not even 1 in the race. I like our system right now. It's interesting to see how the men's plays out later in the year. It's still a little early to tell exactly. You know, in the rankings, it is critical of what's happened over 12 months. To say that in January Lleyton Hewitt is No. 1 in the world I think is a little deceiving to the public. But it will be interesting to see it again in six months, then at the end of the year, see how it works. But so far, I'm not a huge fan of it. I don't know in the rankings - obviously you know them - but I think quality points and bonus points are a big deal. I think if you beat the No. 1 player in the first round as opposed to beating the No. 100 player, it's a huge deal. You should get bonus or quality points for that. The men have taken that away. I don't like that.