US OPEN

September 8, 2000

Lindsay Davenport

MODERATOR: Questions for Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That it's great to be in the finals (laughter). No, I mean, it was going great. You know, I was playing exactly the way I wanted to. From there, I didn't put any first serves in. She started making some balls and I started missing some balls. Things just turn like that sometimes in tennis. I didn't really stop concentrating; I just started missing balls and she started making some. Next thing you know, it's getting closer and closer. I would have liked to have maybe slowed down a little bit and served a little better, especially 5-2 or even 5-4. But that's what happens sometimes.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It is. Every time I've played her, she's gone for some big shots and missed a lot of them. She was doing that and sometimes I was forcing her into making some of those errors. You know, she starts making some of them, then I started missing some balls I wasn't missing. Games turn like that. Like I said, if I would have put a few more good serves in, it probably would have been over a lot sooner.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, yeah (laughter). Yeah, I mean, towards the end, I wasn't playing very well at all, and she was playing a lot better. But to get out of there in two sets, get out of here hopefully a little bit earlier than these girls will hopefully help.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Did I?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, for about 95% of the match I was hitting the balls well and deep and playing great.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, that was pretty good, huh? Thought that might have been flying long, but it stayed in. So, yeah, that was a good one.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She definitely started swinging from the hip a little more and taking more chances. You know, that's what happens. I mean, if someone's losing, they're probably going to start going for it a little bit more. She started making some. I don't think I was quite as aggressive as I was the first set and a half, you know, thinking she was going to start making a few errors, and she really didn't. That's just the way matches go sometimes. But, you know, I've been in that situation before where it gets evened up again and I still pull through them. I don't give in the towel, give up. I would have still tried my hardest in the third, but glad to get it over in two.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She's still young so she obviously has many years left in front of her. She's been pretty consistent getting far in tournaments. I played her in the semis of Indian Wells and in Los Angeles. I think she's good, but I think she's still young and a little inconsistent. I think she can have a lot maybe better serve, and I think she'll probably develop that when she gets older. But I definitely think she's the real thing.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I mean, not when it was 6-2, 5-2 (laughter). But a couple games later, I thought she was a little bit better.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think my last few match-ups with Martina have gone more my way. When I play Martina, I feel like I'm the one dictating the points. If I was matching up games, with Venus it's a little more difficult. She hits the ball harder so it's a little bit harder to control. I think they're both going to be really tough. It was a close first set when I came in here. But it's a final. I don't care who I beat and who I play, just want to win.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, with Venus it's a lot different game. I mean, she serves much bigger, hits the ball much harder. Like I said, it's a lot harder to control where you want the ball to go because it's coming a lot faster. So it would almost be my game plan like today, trying to keep the balls deep and not letting her be able to step in, and really go for winners and come in and attack balls, probably play a little bit like Serena, keeping the balls hard and deep, not give her too many angles, not give her, you know, a lot of short balls, try and hold my serve. With Martina I think I would probably go for a little bit more, really try and hit her second serves, come in and attack, just going for a lot of winners. That's always seemed to work when I've played her before.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I've only seen her play a few games, and that was against Monica. That was the end of the second set. It was a pretty close match, but obviously she was playing well until then. I think on a quick court, that actually helps Martina's serve a little bit. So far she's been getting the balls very deep, and she was moving Monica around a lot. I don't know too much about what's going on today, in today's match. We'll have to see.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I've played them both so many times. I'm curious about the outcome, but not curious point by point.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I would think that nothing's changed too dramatically. Venus has improved her game a lot, cutting out a lot of errors. But I think people's tendencies of where they hit the ball still are the same.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I didn't know that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, no. I just want to win the tournament. I could win it, beat Martina, still be 2 and I could care less.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I mean, that was just stabbing for a ball and put up a defensive shot. She let it go. When someone lets it go, you think it's probably going to go out. It dropped in. You know, she missed it. Sometimes those stabs are kind of lucky. I just put my racquet out and it happened to go on the line.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No (laughter). I wish I could say it was.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's been a while. Probably. I mean, most likely, you know, Indian Wells, Lipton time. I was so tired -- excuse me, Ericsson. I was so tired by the end of Ericsson that , yeah, at that time I was playing great tennis, on a long winning streak and feeling really good. You know, just to be healthy again and feel like I can play, you know, full out physically, go for balls, get some good wins under my belt has helped a lot here.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I hope so. Physically I feel a lot better than I did at Wimbledon. I played her a few weeks after Wimbledon at Stanford and she played great, and I didn't feel like I played that bad and she still beat me. I've got to play a great match and see what my opponent gives me. I think Martina just won the first set.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. I heard Serena say the players don't want it because they don't like us. The players don't want it because they want to be in the finals. I don't want to see an all-Williams final when I feel I should be there. You know, obviously Martina feels the same way. So, I mean, we don't want to see the final because we want to be there. Has nothing to do with whether we like them or not.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, of course, I mean, as soon as I said it, I'm like, "Oh, great, here we go." Martina and I have gotten along for a number of years. We're not that close. We're not like sisters. We don't feel like we're ganging up on them or anything like that. We just have a nice relationship and get along well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think that she's probably hopefully smart enough to figure out, you know, if I'm in the tournament, I'm going to want to be in the finals and not see her in the final, especially when she's in my draw. I don't think she would think of it that way - hopefully not.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, really, next Wednesday night.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think so. It was probably the first time in the summer when I was thinking, "I don't know why I'm still doing this," even though I was still doing pretty well. Eight years, it's still a long time for anyone to do a job as taxing as this one. But it's a lot more fun when you feel like you're playing because you're healthy and you don't have anything wrong with you. Playing well makes a big difference. Hopefully can I keep that going for who knows how long.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think everyone kind of goes through periods. I've never really had that long a break away from it. Obviously, I wouldn't make any rash decisions about stopping. But I think that's normal. A lot of years played, just going through some difficult times. You know, I wasn't close to quitting. I didn't say that. I was thinking about maybe stopping for a little while and trying to get healthy before I started playing again. But I tried to fight through it, you know, hopefully I made the right decision and I can finish out the year strongly.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's a tough week to play. But it's the only week of Fed Cup this year. You know, if I'm asked to play, I for sure will play. You know, it's in Las Vegas, close to California. Hopefully it will be a good time.