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FEDCUP FIRST ROUND: GERMANY v USAFebruary 2, 2008Lindsay DavenportLA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay. Q. Lindsay, how much of this is you being off your game or her being good at switching things up and mixing it up? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it was probably a little of both. I mean, obviously disappointed with the way I went out there and played. But at the same time, she played very well and had a lot to do with that. I don't know what else to say. I'm going to try to work my best to come out there tomorrow and play a lot better, and hopefully be a little bit more on top of my shots. And, hopefully, Ashley can get us to 1-All, and get us some momentum going into Sunday. Q. Leading 5-2 in the second set and she broke your next match, how were you feeling at that point? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I never felt great all day. When I was up in the second, obviously, I was playing a little bit better than in the first. But still never felt like I was really connecting well with the ball and dictating as much as I'd like to be or as much as I need to be. At the same time she was hitting a lot of great shots. She served so big. Lot of hard serves coming at me. So I was up in the second, and really had a couple of set points she came up with a few good shots. But it would have been important and nice if I had found a way to win that second set and see what happened in the third. But it just seemed like today I just couldn't come up with what I needed to come up with at the right time. Q. After the first set you're down 6-1, what's going through your mind? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Just that I wanted to get off to a better start in the second set, which I was able to do. Got started off slow, and she was definitely on fire and excited there to start the match. So I was able to change it around a bit in the second set. Like I said, I had a lot of chances to almost win that second set, then it just didn't happen. So one of the positives is I can come out tomorrow and hopefully turn it around for the team and for myself. You know, by no means do we feel like we're out of it. Obviously, it is a setback to lose a first match, but we still feel like we have a chance. Q. How do you feel about your first loss here in the U.S.? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. Oh, I'm just disappointed for the team. It wouldn't have mattered if we were here or in Germany. I pride myself on having a good Fed Cup record. Typically it brings the best out in me, and just it was so flat today. So I'm more disappointed in letting my teammates down than being in the states and losing it. You know, Fed Cup means a lot to me, and I hope I'm able to perform better tomorrow. Q. She kind of had a breakthrough at the Australian Open, how much did you know about her as a player? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I didn't know much. I think the Australian Open was the first big tournament she played well at, and she's young. It's a lot easier to play so well when you're young. But she obviously has a huge serve. I had a really hard time reading it. And she hit her rallies well. I would have liked to have gotten a few more balls into play and kept the rallies a little longer, but it just wasn't happening for me today. Q. Is it a fair assessment that in the first set it seemed like early on in the first set you were not moving real well, is that fair? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: For sure. I think that was a problem for most of the match. I was definitely not seeing the ball as early as I wanted to and getting on top of the shots. At the same time, the balls are coming, and especially the serves are coming so hard I was never really on top of her rally. But luckily I got a little bit more warmed up. Got a little bit more aggressive, but still just never felt like I was dictating or hitting the ball as cleanly as I would have liked. Some of that is definitely related to foot work and getting in position. Obviously, a lot of that has to do with the shots she was hitting to me and me not being in position. Q. Can you remember the last time you came out and started so flat? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I have a hard time remembering the last time that, you know, a match went so one-sided against me. A match that hopefully that's been my strength is to take control of, but hopefully that will change. Q. Any particular reason why today? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I don't know. I've had a great week of practice. I thought I was hitting the ball well. I don't know why. I wish I did. I have to figure out a reason tonight so it doesn't happen again tomorrow. But so far in the comeback, I had been playing very well up until just very recently. So hopefully I can get my game back on track and start playing the kind of tennis I need to play to be successful. Q. As a follow-up to that, any indication in your warm-up that this was won be a good day? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I warmed up well. So, no. Just some days it happens. You go out there, you're flat, you're not hitting the balls you want to hit. And, unfortunately, for the U.S. team, it was me today. Like I said we by no means feel we're out of it. We're obviously hoping to go 1-All into tomorrow, if we're down 0-2, we still have a chance. So we look forward to hopefully a good day on Sunday. Q. Before launching the comeback, did you go into it with the knowledge that when you come back this time, there is a lot of girls out there now who can really bring the ball, Ivanovic, Jankovic, Mirza, and it goes on. That there could be days like these? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I guess so. I didn't know what to expect. Especially because it had been going so well. Up until today my two losses were against top four players. So I had been having success on dictating against the lower ranked players. But today was just not a good day for me. Having said that, I have played a number way more great matches than I have poor matches since I've come back. But I've got to kind of right the ship and start playing more aggressive and start, you know, getting the ball and dictating the points. But, no, I mean, for the most part it's been much more positive than my performance today. Q. Just a follow-up on her slice serve she was hitting; are you used to seeing that? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was so tough because I felt like I was getting some bombs up the middle and then some really short slice serves, and they were going off the court a lot. They were hitting the side fence. So it was tough to kind of get a read which serve to cover. And I thought she did a good job of disguising her toss. So, yeah, it was tough for me to get a read on it. Q. Is there something to be said, perhaps, for things coming maybe a little too easily for you since your comeback? Because the match when you first came back may have been a little more expected? LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know. A lot of people were talking about the U.S. dominance in Fed Cup. But I definitely thought this was going to be a tough tie, and I was saying that all week. I don't know. It's so hard. It just happens, so it's too hard to be too analytical about it right now. All I can say is that I tried and did not play my best. I get to try and go out there tomorrow and rectify that situation. Hopefully, like I said, it's still enough for the U.S. team, but obviously I feel bad for my teammates. I'm hoping that it's just a little setback and not a huge bump in the road. End of FastScripts |
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