STATE FARM EVERT CUP

March 14, 1998

Lindsay Davenport

Q. Lindsay, she got up against Venus yesterday 6-Love in the first set, and you 5-Love. I mean, any similarity? What happened? Did she just get going or did the opponent just start slowly?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, normally I'm a very fast starter. I got down 5-Love. I wasn't feeling too good. You know, it was tough with the rain delay. I hit on a wet court for about 20 minutes. She had to do the same thing. She handled it much better. She came out on fire. I started slowly. First of all, that's one thing you can't do against the No. 1 player in the world, especially in a final. It's too big a hole to come back from.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, watching her, it doesn't look like -- she just is so dominant. She really is. She's extremely, extremely fast. I think she's a little under rated in that category. Today, she hit the ball very deep. When you like to step into the ball and go for it, you can't really do that off deep balls. She kept the ball very deep, moved me around a lot. It's just tough to play against.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, I thought what she said was great. There has to be some -- you know, she's by far No. 1. The Williams, no doubt, have potential to get there. You know, as long as Martina is playing as she is right now, she's going to stay there for a while. It's fun to try to challenge her. That's what myself and the other girls like to do. You know, we've got to do it a little more successfully, though.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Today, big. A couple weeks ago, not so big. (laughter). When someone is playing very well, things always seem to go their way. When she loses to someone, she always comes back the next time even a little bit more fired up. I knew that I had beaten her three weeks ago, that she was going to want to play well and win today. Unfortunately, I was a little bit flat and she was really on.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She hit some great shots today on the run, left-handed ball. I've seen her try to hit some one-handed backhands in matches. She has fun out there. She goes for her shots when she's on the run. It's kind of fun. You don't see that very often. But she was -- she even made it, which is of course today she would make that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I think she uses her game to the maximum. She knows what the weaknesses are in players. She uses that to the best she can. She's very smart and knows where to put the ball. I definitely agree with that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I think so. But performances like today don't help that matter at all. You know, I have the potential to play the best in the world. I have to get a lot more consistent maybe. It was disappointing today to play like this. I've been working very hard to try to get up. I'm No. 2. Fighting pretty well to try to hang on to matches. I'm going to look to keep going for No. 1 and winning a Grand Slam.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I mean, the match with Steffi, I thought I played very well. It was a pretty intense match. All of a sudden it ended. Today, I was just flat. Maybe it was a little bit of a letdown. I don't know what it was. I clearly didn't play the way I needed to to win. You know, she took advantage of that. I don't know what the reason exactly is.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, the second serve, yeah. The first serve she places pretty well. Not always is it the speed of 110. If you hit it to the lines with a lot of spin, that's just as effective or even more effective as just hitting it hard. That's what makes her so smart, maybe she knows she can't hit it 115, 110, but she uses the placement and spins very well.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. I mean, it seems in the game, everyone keeps improving as time passes on. Her first serve has gotten harder. I mean, like a year ago, I don't think her first serves were going as hard as they are now. I think she's seen more opponents, gotten a little bit smarter how to play, she's trying to hit the ball a little harder.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: If I knew, it wouldn't happen. I mean, it happens. In tennis, it's just the way it is. You can't sub a player out when he or she is having a bad game and put someone else in like the other sports. Tennis, it's all up to you all the time. Who knows. I mean, today I just didn't play great, and she did. That's the way it goes. If you see a lot of other finals, that's what happens.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: U.S. Open. Self-explanatory why.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yes. Also it's so nice out here. It's probably the one city in the United States that's having hot weather or was having hot weather until today. It's great staying here. You can just walk over, there's golf, there's the pool. My whole family's here, which is great. It's just nice to play here. It's just relaxing. It's always convenient when everything is close together.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I mean, I've always done well here. It was a big win to get here to the finals, to play well this whole week. But it's disappointing to go out today like this. You know, I feel like I keep on improving. Just keep hanging in there. It will turn around again.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I knew we would play. I didn't think it would rain that much. They have the Weather Channel in the hotel. I was watching that for ten minutes. They said it was clear everywhere else. They said it was supposed to stop around 11, 11:30. I knew we'd get to play. As tennis players, especially with Wimbledon, you get used to that. You know it's going to happen. I don't think that was the problem for my not playing that well.