NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 24, 2003

Lindsay Davenport

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I woke up with it really tight. I think I semi-maybe strained it last night a little bit. I had it worked on. It was tight this morning. I got it warmed up and had it taped to go out there. Just about the second game, I pulled it worse. You know, I tried to finish the set, but there was just no chance. I thought, you know, I could have even hurt it worse. So just, you know, had to call it a day.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, obviously not well (laughing). It was hard. You know, I didn't -- it was hard for me just to make balls. You know, wasn't

probably -- the tide wasn't going to turn. I didn't feel like I could really run around and get balls and it was going to be, you know -- wasn't going to happen.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Just a real pain. It just tightens up. I stretched wide then tried to turn back the other way when it happened. You know, I mean, players get injuries all the time. This is not something that is going to require many, many months or anything. It's a pulled muscle. I'm optimistic that with a week off, it will be a lot better.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Right.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's the same leg. I just saw the doctor. He said there's no correlation or anything. It's just what it is, just a fatigued pulled muscle.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: They did go in through a scope, it was a procedure called "microfracture." It's a very long and confusing story about that surgery, so.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, my knee's fine, thank you.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It doesn't really. You know, I'm going to start to practice. I'm going to take a week off, practice next week on the clay and hope to play Charleston. It starts two weeks from today. I have no idea how long this can take or, you know, it's only, you know, an hour and a half after I've hurt it, so I'll probably know more at the end of this week. But I'm optimistic I'll be able to play Charleston. If not, Amelia Island.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, I've been watching it. I've been following it. I haven't talked to too many other players about it. But, yeah, I mean, you know, I feel absolutely fine today to go home with a pulled muscle compared to everything else that's been going on. But I think that -- I haven't gotten any other players', really, opinions about how they feel about it. I've kind of kept to myself about it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I was trying to see what I could do. I thought if I could serve, then you never know. But it was actually hurting the most serving when I leaned back on the leg. So, you know, I tried to do it. I didn't know when to pull out. I mean, I haven't retired too many times in my career. It's kind of an awkward thing to do. I had already had it taped as much as it could be. So when the trainer came out, there wasn't a whole lot more she could do for it, especially since it had gotten worse, except take the tape off and retape it. I didn't want to do that, I was already taped to begin with. I just tried to play the last game. I couldn't really move, so...

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I played her before at the US Open. Yeah, I did know her. But I don't -- I don't even think that became a factor today with the game, the matchup.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, she played a lot of matches. I'm sure she's a great player. Unfortunately, I don't think we saw either one of us playing great. She played fine today. I mean, she was playing well. But I didn't feel like I could do that much to kind of combat it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, I was working with Rick, my future brother-in-law. Then we stopped after last week. Now I'm traveling with this guy named Adam Peterson, who's a good friend of mine. That's where it's at.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, for now, yeah.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I'm not into it (laughing). No, we haven't really figured anything out. We'll probably just go away and do something small.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I don't know (laughing).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, no. I do read the magazines, but I haven't gotten sucked in yet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, he was John's roommate for two years at USC. I was actually on the national team with him for a few years in the Juniors. He was working the last few years with Marissa Irvin. It just so happened that we both, you know, Rick and I talked about it and just we both decided to do other things. And then Adam, at that same week, was no longer working with Marissa. He plays great and he is a great guy. We've been having a lot of fun in our first week, ten days, together.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It didn't really. He's obviously a great, great guy - one of the greatest guys out there. But in terms of coaching and communicating and stuff on the court, it just wasn't clicking. And it wasn't -- we both were fine with it, and, you know, he's here playing and won yesterday, which is amazing. So, you know, was just one of those things we both wanted to move on from it before it went too far down the road.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I'm trying. No, no, I'm just kidding on that.

No, he's doing great at home. He has absolutely zero interest to come back out here. So...

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I still talk to him. We're still in touch. He jokes with me, he's done his "tenure," he says.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I go in streaks. I mean, I'm definitely -- my first step is to play the first two in the States on clay, and then head to Europe. The earliest I would start is Rome, and that would be Rome and then Madrid and then the French. You know, I've talked about, you know, people saying, "Oh, you need to get a lot of time on the clay, spend a lot of time over there." For me, I don't think going into the French, six weeks on the road, is going to make me play my best tennis. So I don't know exactly where I'm going to start yet. It will probably depend on how my body's shaping up or anything. I'm actually looking forward to competing in the French. I haven't really played there since '99, so it's pretty amazing. 2000, I was hurt in the first round, and kind of a disappointing but weird match. But went out there and, you know, didn't play 2001, 2002. So I'm looking forward to getting back there.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Probably more the second, the latter. You know, let alone just play two matches on clay in 2000, I got hurt after the first round of Rome. Since then, I have not stepped foot on clay. I don't even -- it's going to probably be a little scary in Charleston and Amelia. But, hopefully, by the time Paris rolls around I'll have some kind of groove on the clay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: There's no turmoil in the coaching situation, so that was resolved. You know, it's unfortunate, but I think this is the matter of sports when you get hurt, I mean, what can you do? I can't -- I don't need surgery. I don't need -- I'm not going to be out for a long period of time, the doctor thinks. So, you know, my worst-case scenario is I'm going home earlier than I'd like to be. It's a lot better than most other people in the world right now.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, no, it's fine. I mean, I was hoping it wasn't going to be a big deal because it's really not. But, you know, we've just both moved on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think that the expectations you have for yourself kind of contribute to that bullseye or not. I mean, I still feel like, you know, I'm a top player and I shouldn't lose to a certain amount of players and expect a lot from my game and from myself. Of course, when you're not No. 1 in the world, it's not as big a target. I think, you know, with Serena winning all these tournaments lately, she definitely has the biggest bullseye on her. But, no, I still think the players feel like I'm a top player.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, it's always kind of gone in streaks like that. Right now, I think there's a lot of players getting a lot of attention. But by far, I'm sure Serena and Venus - and maybe even Serena now. But I've always kind of preferred that in terms of just my lifestyle and how it's easier to play and concentrate. I mean, they have a lot of things they like to do and they're able to balance it well. I don't think I'd be able to balance it as well as those two can, with all the requests that they do and have.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I go to them. I mean, people come up to me. I mean, but it's never a mob, no. I don't cause a big stir (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, I think long-term. We signed a pretty long deal and we've both been really happy with the way the week's gone. Unfortunately, today, I feel bad for him about a little bit, but, no, I mean, we're -- I don't really believe in interim. I would have then, you know, had someone else come with me for interim like my fiance or something. But no, I'm happy to step forward.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, when it wasn't working out and I found out that he was available, we had a couple long talks and was good to go.