AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 19, 2003

Lindsay Davenport

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No, no (laughter).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. I'm way above that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think it probably was. There were so many twists and turns to the match, so many times where the momentum would go up and down, up and down. Yeah, I mean, I've never had someone start to cramp and fall over. I never thought that I would be more fresh after a three-hour match than my opponent ever in my life. You know, a lot of times when you're in that position, you either play great or you play bad. Obviously, she started going for it. The level of tennis that she was able to come up with was just too good.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No. You never think about that. Down a set and then up in the third, I never thought either way. I've played this game long enough to know that the match isn't over absolutely until match point. Certainly at the time in the third, I had momentum. Certainly in the second, I was down and out. That's why you play all the way to the end.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I thought she would come back. Even if you just stand there and play. You know, obviously there's a sense of concern when she fell on the floor. You know, I kind of watched her go out and I heard the crowd. That's kind of when I looked over, so I didn't see her fall. There's no question that something was happening with her leg cramping. I think it was cramps. I'm actually not even positive. You know, she was obviously hurting there for a little while.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She played a lot better, a lot more consistent than any time I played her in the past. She was able, at the end, to come up with some great shots. I actually think that maybe a little bit of the cramping helped her maybe just loosen up and go for shots. I played her a lot of times when she's been up and couldn't quite put it away. Today she came up with some great shots at the end. I think that she played a lot more percentage tennis. She didn't go for a lot of quick up the line shots like she has in the past with some errors. Her slice was very good, very low today. She didn't really float a lot of them. In a match like that, at the end it comes down to a few points. Could have gone my way, but it didn't.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it was just so back and forth. I mean, one or two points in a match. I said it last week when I won 7-6 in the third, I think actually a lot of times that's luck.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I haven't even thought about that yet. Sorry.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's way too good. After that she hit a second serve, she hit the corner. What can you do? You can't do anything except shake your head, walk to the other side and say, "Too good." Like I said, she came up with some great shots. That was a very tough serve to be able to come and pull out.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I've played her many times before. You know, sometimes she doesn't say anything. I wished her luck and told her she played a great match. That was it.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Of course, I'm disappointed. You don't know me well enough to know how I really feel or what I'm like. After you play the game a long time and you lose a match by a couple of points, there's no reason to beat yourself up over it. I would have been a lot more disappointed if I had lost 5, 1 and played as bad as I started off the match playing. You know, there's not a lot really to say except I tried my absolute hardest out there. I went for every point. I tried up until the very end, even if I lost leads, come back from leads. I'm very proud of that.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I really don't think so. You know, I tend not to have too long of matches because I don't really have long rallies a lot of times. I think that's probably the longest I played. I think it was a little over three hours maybe.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I'm pretty positive (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: No.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it's so hard to compare games with certain players to other players. She certainly came up with a lot of great shots on big points today. You know, I can't answer that. Sorry.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, it's been a long time since surgery. I'm trying to move forward from that. It was unfortunate it happened a year ago. Once you come back to the tour and you decide to play a tournament, you have to be ready to go and have no excuses. But I'm very proud of the shape that I've managed to get myself in over the years. It took a lot of years and a lot of hard work. I'm not giving up tennis yet. I'm happy to still be playing. Even though I'm lost I'm happy and proud of myself with the way I handled everything out there, happy I didn't get tired for once.

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I haven't seen him. I went right into the locker room to shower. Came in here to see you guys first (smiling).

LINDSAY DAVENPORT: You know, I probably didn't go for my shots as much as I would like. Like I said, I really didn't know what to expect when she came back. You know, she came back, and she was still running balls down and was able to really go after her shots and make them. You know, I probably should have put a little bit more pressure on her, but I didn't want to make a lot of errors in the beginning. But after that game where she held, she had a long game, I knew she was doing okay. I mean, like I said, she was running for some balls and coming up with some good shots and still serving quite well and at a fairly high speed. You know, I can't kick myself over too much because I've never quite been in that situation. I didn't know really how to play it. You know, like I said, if someone can come up with a lot of winners and a lot of great shots, that's what it takes to beat you, then that's too good.