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THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: TUESday, JUly
13, NO. 94
The end of Lindsay's road
Davenport on avoidance with her dad,
her US popularity (or lack thereof) and impending retirement
'I'm definitely not as beloved as the other Americans'
By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA |
| Lindsay at Wimbledon: three
views. |
After a long and lustrous career that
includes three Grand Slam titles, an Olympic gold medal and 38
weeks at No. 1, 28-year-old Lindsay Davenport appears to be at
the end of her career. The Southern California native's surgically
repaired right knee is deteriorating and will likely require another
procedure. However, she's pulling out all the stops for a last
run at a Grand Slam title, which would put her in a tie with Venus
Williams. A perennial Top-5 player, Davenport hasn't reached the
final of a major since winning the '00 Aussie Open. She's married
to former USC standout Jon Leach and the two are planning on starting
a family soon.
Davenport sat down with tennisreporters.net's
Matthew Cronin at Wimbledon, where she lost in the semis to fellow
Robert Lansdorp student, Maria Sharapova. Davenport is the second
seed at this week's Bank of the West Classic.
tennisreporters.net:
I'm going to throw out some familiar names. Give me a quick description.
Graf.
Lindsay Davenport:
Extremely even-keeled, regardless of what's happening. Tough opponent
who I was lucky enough to have great matches with. Fun to watch.
tr.net:
Monica.
LD:
Gritty on-court, goofy off-court. She's funny.
tr.net: Hingis.
LD:
Perplexing. We've always had a good relationship, but I've never
been able to figure her out. No one has to be able to walk away
like she did. And the things she said - I'd just sit there and
scratch my head and say, "You can't say that." But she'd
say it anyway.
tr.net:
Venus.
LD:
Funny and ever-changing.
tr.net: Serena.
LD:
Outgoing, in-your-face.
tr.net: Justine.
LD:
Ah, quiet.
tr.net: Kim.
LD:
Feisty, competitive, nice.
tr.net: Your junior coach, Robert
Lansdorp.
LD:
Tough, always a jokester, strong.
tr.net: Your former longtime pro
coach, Robert Van't Hof.
LD:
My protector and teacher, the reason I'm here.
tr.net: Corina Morariu.
LD:
My best friend, extremely strong.
tr.net: Your husband, Jon Leach.
LD:
My life, best friend, my future.
tr.net:
The end has to be in sight.
LD:
It's definitely in sight. It was so much in sight a few weeks
ago when the doctor was saying I should take four to six weeks
off. But there was no way I wasn't going to play Wimbledon. When
you're playing bad or you're not happy, you think you're going
to stop but you don't. Then all of a sudden I may not have a choice.
It's a weird feeling. It got me really sad and at the same time
really eager to do better than I've been doing and to try to enjoy
it more. I've never been great at enjoying it, but this gives
me more incentive.
tr.net:
Wimbledon and the US Open have to be huge for you, plus you're
planning on playing all three California tournaments. That could
be a real test for your knee.
LD:
I don't want to skip any, but you never know. I'll do whatever
I can to help me out with the US Open.
tr.net:
You're 28 now, with a bad knee. Does it change what you want,
and are you thinking, "Oh my god, I may only have a few Slams
left?"
LD:
I could retire happy. I worked really hard this year to do well
at Wimbledon and the US Open. Those two were always the biggest.
Hopefully, I can get my game going in the later rounds of tournaments.
But if something happened at Wimbledon and I needed surgery, I
would still be able to hold my head high and say I tried everything.
The last few years have been really tough, with injuries. But
who would've said when I turned pro that I'd have three Slams
and a gold medal?
tr.net:
Me. You were a phenomenal junior, turned pro in '93 and won a
tournament at 16 in Lucerne. You were very talented, with a load
of potential.
LD:
I agree, but still, I think my accomplishments were pretty big.
tr.net:
Sure, but after you won your third Slam at the '00 Aussie Open,
beating Hingis, you clearly had become a dominant No. 1. You had
to be thinking that you had another three to seven Slams left
in you.
LD:
Not quite seven, but that year was so disappointing because, in
the end, I lost both the Wimbledon and US Open finals [to Venus].
I haven't been to a final since. It's been a long time. I let
opportunities slip. Now I wish I'd known what was ahead and told
myself, "You have to keep it up, because you're going to
make two more finals this year and you need to win those."
[At the U.S. Open] I was up 4-0 and lost 6-4 and then lost in
a second-set tiebreak. It was very winnable. It's harder to look
back now than it was then.
tr.net: People forget how good
you were as a junior and that you were in the Top 10 after just
two years. But it took you four more to win a Slam.
LD:
I had an amazing junior career, where I was No. 1 in the 16s at
13 or 14, and No. 1 in the 18s at 15, but I didn't generate that
much buzz. Some agents called, but it wasn't crazy, like some.
I was successful from '94 to '98, but I would be asked all the
time, like, "When are you going to win a Slam? No one has
won their first Slam past age 21." Fortunately, Jana Novotna
broke that. It was really hard because I felt there were negative
connotations to the questions. I always felt I was defending myself.
I got overweight in '94 and '95, and I worked really hard to get
back into shape. There were others coming up, too, but you start
believing people because they're beating you down. I remember
sitting with [my coach] Robert Van't Hof when I made it to No.
3 and saying, "I can't believe I'm only No. 3. These girls
aren't better." Robert pointed to it later as the moment
I got the right amount of confidence.
tr.net:
That was your big mental breakthrough?
LD:
Yeah. You can hear it all you want, but until you say it, it's
hard to do it. In '98, it happened.
tr.net:
At the '98 US Open, when you beat Martina in the final, in a Slam
you were supposed to win.
LD:
I won the three California tournaments coming in. I really thought
I should win. It was the first time I went into a Slam thinking
I should win.
tr.net:
That began your great period. In 1999, you won a brilliant Wimbledon
final over Steffi.
LD:
I thought I would win Australia and the US Open, but not Wimbledon.
It was one of those crazy two weeks where all the chips fell my
way, from scheduling to match-ups. They moved my seeding from
2 to 3 and Graf from 3 to 2, and when the draw came out I thought,
"I'm so glad I'm not in Steffi's spot," because her
first couple matches were tough while I was playing baseliners.
Plus I played Novotna when she had an injured ankle. A lot of
the time luck is involved.
tr.net:
What's left for you in tennis?
LD:
You always say you want to win another Slam and have to work toward
that to stay out there and be able to go through smaller tournaments
and losses. But then I got home from the French and thought, "Oh,
my god, it could've been me." That inspired me. When you
see the same people winning, like Kim and Justine, you think they're
better. But then you see what happened at the French, and you
think, "It could've been me. If I could've played better
and my knee felt better." I should have reached the final.
But it was exciting that someone like [Anastasia] Myskina won.
The door was pretty shut with the Williamses and then Justine
and Kim. But I've had more bad days thrown in now than I used
to. I've played some matches in the last year where I've never
played that bad before. I don't know where that comes from. Maybe
it's just getting older. I don't play well unhealthy, and I'm
always careful in the back of my mind. Some people can come off
the court having won the match with a torn ligament, but I can't
do that.
tr.net:
It's hard, at 28, to keep the same tunnel vision. You've got more
perspective; you're married, thinking of kids. It's not as easy
to clock in.
LD:
I guess so, but I still get pretty disappointed when I lose. I
get over losses faster, but it wasn't easy flying home from Paris.
First, it was, "What do I do with my knee?" And then
it was, "How did I play that bad?" [Elena] Dementieva's
serve was just sitting there. Winning still means a lot to me.
tr.net:
You wouldn't have battled through all your injuries if it didn't.
LD:
It's more fun. I train harder and like it more. I don't enjoy
all the matches, like I did before. Before, I didn't enjoy the
training, but I lived for the matches.
Susan Mullane/
Camerawork USA |
Siggi Bucher |
| Lindsay wants to be left alone
away from tournaments. |
Not comfortable in the public eye
tr.net:
You're a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. If I were ranking the Americans
of the Open era, Chris would be an obvious No. 1, Billie Jean No.
2, Serena No. 3, and then it would get a lot tougher, between you,
Venus, Jennifer and Tracy. Where do you see yourself?
LD:
That's tough. Serena and Venus are ahead of me. Venus has only one
more Slam than me, but she's a lot younger. I was so surprised when
I heard that Jennifer had only 14 titles. I have 40. That's shocking.
I was floored. But our big titles are the same and we both have
a gold medal. She was out for a few years, so you have to balance
that. I always thought she'd be a 20s or 30s girl.
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tr.net:
But you're more consistent. Do you think you're under appreciated?
LD:
I don't know if that's the right word. I'm definitely not as beloved
as the other Americans. A lot of that is because they're much more
outgoing and embrace the crowd more than I do. I'm not good with
people looking at me on the street, much less on-court. I don't
play to the crowd at all. Jennifer and the Williamses are much bigger
stars. I prefer it that way. I would never want to do anything to
change that.
tr.net:
But, at the '98 Open, the crowd really embraced you.
LD:
The crowd's been great to me there. They've gotten me through some
tough matches. Every time I've played a Williams there they've been
very supportive. Even last year, when I played so bad against Clijsters
in the semis, they were trying so hard to get me to play well. They
were cheering so loud and I kept feeling dumber and dumber and saying
I'm so sorry. I really don't mean I'm not good with fans at a tournament,
I mean more like media or people walking down the street.
tr.net:
But with the media and around the tour, you've been pretty vivacious,
extroverted, talkative.
LD:
I get worse and worse at it. The other day, I was walking down the
street and some guy said, "Oh, there's that tennis player."
I looked at him like: You're an idiot. I'm so mean. My height gives
me away. People are struck when a woman is very tall. They say stupid
things. I don't like it when people ask me for autographs. I don't
like it when I'm out to dinner and someone says, "I saw you
play last week."
tr.net:
But you really like children. You're not even good with them?
LD:
I'm so bad. I don't know what to say. At a tournament, it's warranted
and expected. But there are so many times when I'm in the middle
of a bite … I just don't handle it like I used to.
tr.net:
But you're still a public figure.
LD:
I'm not as famous as a lot of people.
tr.net:
I bet at home in Orange County you're well-known and people approach
you a lot.
LD:
It depends on whom I'm with. If I'm with my husband, not so much.
But if I'm with Corina at Fashion Island, a lot.
tr.net:
What are you going to when you retire, other than just sit on your
money and be a good wife? You've always been active, you're smart
and have been an outspoken WTA leader. Why not an administrative
position with them? You're not going to spend most of your days
playing golf like [Pete] Sampras, are you?
LD:
I don't know. The last few years have taught me that it's not that
much fun to come back. If I'm not playing, I don't think I'll feel
I belong anymore, even commentating or having a WTA position. It's
going to take a year or two to become committed to some tennis job.
But with the hours I'd have to work, I don't think they would pay
me enough. The first thing is that we want to have kids, and that's
all I can see right now. But it will be incredibly difficult for
me to retire if an injury doesn't force me to. Last fall, Jon, Corina,
Justin Gimelstob and I were in Hawaii and I was saying, "I'm
not going to go back and practice next week." And Corina said,
"You're not going to quit. I know you." Sure enough, we
get home and two weeks into it we're practicing as hard as we can.
[So] something's going to have to make me retire, whether it's my
knee or pregnancy. I just love to play.
tr.net:
You don't want to be limping around chasing toddlers. That's no
way to parent.
LD:
I want to be able to play with Jon in two years because I love to
play. Hopefully, I won't be crippled.
tr.net:
You have that girl-next-door image. True? Or are you Lindsay with
fangs?
LD:
I'm pretty professional and understand a lot of what goes along
with certain jobs. I'm not the easiest person to deal with sometimes.
At home, I'm like everyone. I have good and bad days. We've got
a good system as to who does what and there's no arguing about little
stuff, but of course I can get grouchy. I'm not highly volatile.
I get picky, but I'm not a screamer or a door slammer.
tr.net:
Do you keep too many things inside, like you're prone to do on-court.
LD:
Probably.
tr.net:
When you went through the whole emotional roller coaster of your
parents' [Wink and Anne] divorce, was that also the case?
LD:
It's funny but I still haven't had an in-depth conversation with
my dad as to why things transpired the way they did, and it's been
11 years.
tr.net: Because of you or him?
LD:
Me. I didn't want to talk about it at all in the beginning, and
now we have a very plain relationship, nothing deep. Jon says I
should talk to him but I don't want to go there. To this day, we
still haven't sat down. I'm an avoider. I don't like major issues.
Luckily, Jon's a huge communicator and we'll sit there and talk
forever about things. I've learned to open up with him. I will avoid
confrontation 'till I die.
tr.net:
That's amazing because you can't be a Grand Slam winner and not
be somewhat confrontational on-court. How that doesn't transfer
off-court throws me.
LD:
I'm feisty and competitive on-court, but as far as off-court, it's
my worse trait.
tr.net:
It's something you can work on in retirement. It's a big, long-term
project.
This was originally published in Inside Tennis magazine. For
subscription info, call 510-530-2200.
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