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by Christopher Gerby After taking a month off to rest her ailing left leg, Lindsay Davenport returns to action this week in Scottsdale at the State Farm Women's Classic. However, people are already expecting her to focus on a tournament three months down the road -- the French Open, where Davenport could complete a career Grand Slam. "It's funny. Ever since I won the Australian, everyone can't wait to ask about the French and the clay," Lindsay said during a February 28th conference call with reporters. "Honestly, I have not thought about it. I have three more tournaments on hard court before I'll even step foot on clay." In Davenport's immediate future is a second round Scottsdale match against a fellow American, either Jennifer Capriati or Alexandra Stevenson. "I am leaning towards I think I'm going to play Capriati," Davenport admitted. "She seems to be the more consistent performer and played so well in Australia that I'm sure her confidence is really high... After a few weeks off, I've got to get right back into it with a tough first round." Possibly making that match even tougher will be the pulled hamstring Davenport suffered in her last match against Capriati, the Australian Open semifinal. "I have struggled with it for the first three weeks that I was off, never quite seemed to go away. Now it's feeling better. It's probably around 80%. It's just one of those injuries that takes a long time to heal. It's a little bit frustrating because you can't do much with a leg injury." It doesn't sound like the world's #2 player is necessarily planning to use that leg problem as an excuse, though. "The last couple days it's just feeling much better. I just hope I'm ready to play a tournament, which I think I am." As much as Davenport would like to focus on her upcoming events in Scottsdale, Indian Wells, and Key Biscayne (or Miami, as the WTA Tour is now billing it), the French Open still looms in the distance. Knowing it's the only Grand Slam singles title she has yet to add to her collection is a nice surprise for Davenport, given where she was just a few years ago. "Wow, it's pretty amazing to be in that kind of position. It's not one that I necessarily thought I would be in, a chance to win one of each of the Grand Slams... I could never get past that one hump at a major, normally would lose in the quarterfinals." Does the 23-year-old have any idea what it would feel like to win that fourth major championship? "I have no idea. It would probably be way too overwhelming to try to describe. You could just see the look on Andre Agassi's face last year when he won the French Open. I'm not quite sure, but it would be amazing. That's a record that's not many people are going to be able to accomplish. We'll just have to see how the French goes." |