WIMBLEDON

July 4, 2000

Lindsay Davenport

MODERATOR: Good evening, everyone. Lindsay.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, so happy to get through to the semifinals. I think most of anything, just really, really proud of the way I hung in there. It was just a few points in the first set that made the difference. In the second set, you know, it was kind of on the same path for the first two games. I had something like, I don't know, ten breakpoints. Didn't break. Really held my nerve together to stay focused and pull it out, just really wait until I started hitting the ball a little bit better. Gave myself the opportunity to stay in the match and really turn the tide of the match.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I mean, obviously I think Serena has been playing the best tennis of anybody in the draw so far this tournament. She's been so impressive. I watched a little bit of her play today. I watched a little bit of Venus and Martina. Obviously, a great win for Venus. Myself, I turned my game around to where I feel I'm playing a lot better now. It's an unbelievable group of players I think we have from the States, including Monica, as well. It's great to see, especially on the day, today, the 4th of July. I think obviously we'll have at least one American in the final.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I can't believe I've not seen one point of her play this whole time. I watched her play here last year. I know my coach went out to watch today, the match a couple days ago, in anticipation that she might get through and I might. I haven't actually seen her hit a ball yet. I know how she plays, but here so far at this tournament, I haven't seen her play yet.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think she's obviously a baseliner, hits the ball hard, not with a lot of spin, pretty flat. It will stay low on the grass. She has a good serve. But I'll be happy to play a right-hander again. I was having some trouble with a lefty serve today. But after playing Capriati and Monica, I'm hoping that I'm used to the pace, and hopefully that works to my advantage.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It looks like all the players left in the tournament are hard-hitting baseliners and powerful players. You know, power works in different ways. I mean, pound-for-pound or shot-for-shot, the Williams might hit the ball a little bit harder than I do, but I'm right up there. Sometimes placement is more important than actually how hard the ball is going. You know, I like my chances when in a match-up of out-hitting players, that seems to be when I play some of my best tennis. You never know what happens here.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I feel like it. I feel like I'm hitting the ball so much better now, competing a lot better. I think not playing for two months, kind of lost my rhythm on big points, how to play when it's close. But even in practise now, I can feel a big difference with the way I'm striking the ball. I really feel like I can place it a lot better this week than last week. It was just really key to get through those first few matches when I wasn't playing so well, especially the second round match, just give myself the opportunity to hang in this tournament and let my game get better and better. That's what happened.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It seemed to me today she was just playing so passive, you know. I've seen her play aggressive before. It seemed to me today that most her balls were hitting the service line, not with a lot of depth or power. Venus was either hitting a winner or making an error. Martina never really took any chances and really forced the issue at all. I've seen her play matches where she has. I was a little bit surprised today. Especially on grass, I thought she would have been more aggressive, even returning a little bit harder. She didn't seem to do that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it might be. I don't know what is going on. I know, you know, watching her play a couple years ago, I mean, she would go for it a little bit more, I thought. I don't know if that was her game plan against Venus, just to get balls in. Wasn't working all that well. Although it was a very close match, it seemed to me she needed to take more chances.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, everybody does things differently , how they grow up, how they play tennis. I'm very happy that I was, you know, in school my whole career, playing junior tennis, being around kids my own age, having a more relaxed attitude about it. Obviously he had a plan when his kids were born, this is what they were going to do, focused their entire lives around that. Obviously they're great athletes. It seemed to have worked at the US Open last year. It seems to be working here. That's great. It looks like that's what he's always wanted for his girls, is to win tennis tournaments. They're obviously in great shape to do that now.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It seems to me they're more used to that, though. They've taken long patches of time off, even in their junior careers, not playing for years. It seems to me that they don't really think about when they're playing big points, they just keep playing every point the same. For me, I just think the more matches I play, the better I play. That's just probably how I was raised with playing a lot of junior tournaments, a lot of matches in the pros. It's remarkable. I mean, she came back I think in April. It took her a little while. I don't think she was winning every tournament when she came back this year. She's gotten her groove now, it looks like.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Oh, not necessarily. I mean, the last two months haven't been so great. You know, now I've turned it around, playing better here. It's so tough. Martina is consistently the best player, I think. She didn't pull through today. You could say, you know, Serena is playing the best tennis in the world this week. I mean, it changes. You never know who will be standing there at the end of Wimbledon with the trophy. A lot of matches still to be played. Martina and I have been the most consistent for the last year or two. Things don't change after one tournament, I don't think.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I think Americans are just -- I think if you look at most American players, they're aggressive, they go for their shots more, they hit the ball harder than Europeans. I think that's true in men's and women's. None of us are so good on the clay. I think we all are looking forward to the faster surface here.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: What do you mean?

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think obviously when you have two people that are very close playing each other, obviously sisters, obviously something else is going on. That's not a normal tennis match. Who knows what will happen. Obviously they're very close. Maybe deep down Serena wants Venus to win. It looked like after the US Open, you know, Venus wasn't too happy about that and probably gave her a hard time. I don't know. But you can't control that. I have no idea what those -- what goes through those two girls' minds. I don't know if they're happy to play each other, mad. I have no clue.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, I mean, on grass you don't have too long of matches. It never gets too tiring. But, you know, I thought importantly once I started hitting the ball a bit better, she lost confidence, stopped serving as well. That kind of changed the tide of the match more than anything.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah (smiling).