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FEDCUP FIRST ROUND: GERMANY v USA

February 4, 2008

Lindsay Davenport

LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay, please.

Q. May seem like a silly question for a woman who has been on the Grand Slam final stage seven times, did you feel any pressure stepping on the court?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I just felt pressure more for my pride. Normally I've played so well in Fed Cup. Felt really bad for my teammates. I really felt like that was, you know, one of my worst matches in a long time. So I was really anxious and eager to try and turn it around today and get on the board for my teammates and give Ashley a chance to try and clinch the match.
Was happy I was able to do that. Very rarely in tennis do you get the opportunity to go back out on the court the next day or the day after a loss. And it's important to, you know, go back out there and start over again. And I was able to do that.
But most importantly I was able to win an important match for the team. And, like I said, we give ourselves two chances to try and clinch the tie.

Q. You seemed to be on right from the start today.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, a lot better. You know, I was trying to figure out a lot of things about what went wrong on Saturday and some of the things I could try to do better. You know, I was trying to do it out there.
I still felt like I have a little ways to go till I'm playing my best again. But, like I said, I was given the opportunity to go back out there immediately and try to fix what was wrong, and, more importantly, try to redeem myself in front of my teammates.
Happy I was able to do that and get us off to a good, commanding start on Monday and try and keep moving forward today.

Q. I suppose it doesn't matter there was a last-minute substitute.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it didn't. They had told me yesterday they had switched the players. For me it was really all about me. Didn't matter who was on the other side of the court. I knew that I had to raise my game and do some things differently. That's what really I was more mentally trying to focus on.

Q. Did the rain delay help in a sense? Would you have preferred to go back out there immediately the next day?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was ready to go yesterday. After Saturday night, you know, you only have a short amount of time in Fed Cup to really lament your loss. Had to put it behind me and start over. So I was eager to play yesterday.
But having said that, knowing when I woke up, saw the forecast, it was like a hundred percent chance of rain every hour for a long time.
You know, mentally I stayed ready and prepared to play if it was needed but kind of knowing that most likely it would not happen.

Q. In your warmup, did you feel like today was going to be a better day? Did you feel like you were hitting the ball better?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I warmed up well the other day, then it just kind of fell apart in the match. But I did everything I could this morning. Luckily I'm an early riser because of my child.
Last night I went to bed at 9:30 and was up at 6. That's kind of the way I sleep. I was up in the gym at 6:30 trying to warm up, got to hit some, and just be as ready as I could to go at 10 a.m., which is very early for a match on the tour. It's not exactly super hot here.
I tried to get myself as ready as I could be to start at 10 a.m. Luckily was able to do that, get off to a good lead, and get the match over with quickly.

Q. How do you feel about your serve?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was better today. You know, the other day, I had a lot of problems with it. I think a lot of times my game revolves around my serve. I have more confidence in my groundies when I'm winning some free points and I'm serving well. So it all kind of goes together. It's hard to pick on one part of my game in particular because I think they all kind of flow into each other.
That was good that I was able to serve well today. I'm going to have to serve well in the doubles if it comes down to it, yup (laughter).

Q. What's the biggest difference between today and Saturday, your play or who was on the other side of the net?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Could have been both. I mean, definitely the girl on Saturday came out just firing balls and because I hadn't seen her play wasn't expecting as hard a serve as I was getting.
But definitely if I play at a level higher, I don't think that I allow that girl to play as well as she did on Saturday.
You know, I played better today. Like I said, I still have some ways to go. But most importantly, got a victory, got the team up. Now we just have to wait and see what happens between Ashley and the doubles.

Q. Obviously you've been asked a lot of questions about your new role as a mom. I'm wondering how on a day-to-day basis, when it comes to match preparation, how you're dealing with wins and losses, how it affects you?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it's so funny because since I've been back, I haven't had that many losses. It's pretty crazy.
Saturday's loss I had to take actually quite seriously. You know, I was really disappointed, I mean, with how it went. Spent a lot of time talking to my coach and my husband, all my girlfriends that I'm lucky enough are here, Mary Joe, Lisa, Corina. Everyone was really great. I pretty put more emphasis on my loss from Saturday than I have in a really long time.
Last night was only maybe the third night I spent away from my baby. He went home with my husband. Was just trying -- knew today was going to be just a crazy day. I'll be up early with my singles, waiting to see if the doubles is live. So, you know, was really just trying to focus as hard as I could on the matches today for the team's sake and for the benefit of us advancing.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Lindsay.

End of FastScripts

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