A Busy November Awaits Lindsay Davenport
by Christopher Gerby
Although she skipped last week's tournament in Moscow, citing fatigue,
Lindsay Davenport will be one very busy player in the month of
November. The 24-year-old will try to defend her titles at the Advanta
Championships in Philadelphia and the Chase Championships in New York,
represent her country at the Fed Cup final in Las Vegas, and
finally end her season with a charity match against Monica Seles at
the MS Tennis Classic. Speaking from home in an October 30th
conference call, Davenport looked back on the year she's had and those
events looming in the near future.
"It's been a trying year, with a number of injuries and setbacks,"
Lindsay admitted, while adding that she didn't want to "harp on" the
ailments. A recurring foot injury forced her out of the Olympics,
but she was relieved to learn it wasn't a stress fracture. "That's
exactly what I was thinking," said Davenport, who'd assumed in Sydney
that she'd probably be out for the rest of the year. Instead, just a
couple weeks of rest did the trick. "Some days it's a little sore, but
overall it's been great and on the way back to 100 percent." A healthy
Davenport reached the finals in Filderstadt (losing a thriller to
Martina Hingis) and claimed the Linz title with her first 2000 win
over Venus Williams. "Physically I had absolutely no problems,"
Lindsay said of her victorious week in Linz. "I felt great about my
game and excited to end the season on a great note... I hadn't
actually won a tournament since March, so that was wearing on my
mind and annoying me a little."
Next up on Davenport's itinerary is the Philadelphia event, held
in the basketball gym at Villanova University. "It's been one of my
favorite spots for the last few years. Ever since it moved to Villanova,
it's been more exciting to play. It's a great atmosphere. It's small;
the fans are really close to the court. It's a very vocal crowd."
Even though she's disappointed that the tournament will cease to exist
after this year, Davenport feels that ending the season earlier is in
the best interest of all the players. "I think we still have
enough tournaments here (in the United States)," she asserted.
Another building which will see its last tennis next month is Madison
Square Garden in New York City, site of the season-ending Chase
Championships. "It's a great place to play," said Davenport. "As an
American, it's like no other venue. The crowd really gets into it
when there's a great match." However, the tournament moves to Munich
in 2001. Davenport said "the WTA felt like they had gotten a great
deal with the money, I think it's a million dollars more." Unfortunately,
the move to Munich will likely exclude Monica Seles, who has declined
to play in Germany ever since the horrific stabbing incident in 1993.
"It's quite obvious that Monica doesn't ever plan to play in Germany
again, so that's obviously going to be a problem." While Lindsay
hasn't discussed it with Monica yet herself, she mentioned that "we
share the same agent and he wasn't very happy about it."
Davenport and Seles will be together in Las Vegas as teammates on
Billie Jean King's Fed Cup team. Lindsay feels that having played alongside
Seles and the Williams sisters at the Olympic Games will bode well for
the team's chemistry next month, although at this point it's not clear
whether Venus and Serena will participate. One of the U.S. team's
potential opponents is Dominique van Roost, who recently announced her
retirement but said she would play in Las Vegas if named to the
Belgian squad. Davenport lost to Van Roost earlier this year at the
French Open and Eastbourne, so I asked if she was hoping to get one
last chance at revenge in Fed Cup. Lindsay laughed and replied, "It's so funny. We do play Belgium. I keep hearing that she's retired, but she's going to Vegas, so we'll have to wait and see if she plays singles. I'd love to play her again. I think I played her at the two worst times of my career, so I'd definitely like another shot at that."
One motivating factor Davenport won't have next month is the world's
# 1 ranking, which she believes is out of reach. "Hingis is a few
hundred points ahead and I won these two tournaments (Philadelphia
and the Chase Championships) last year," so the math precludes her
taking the top spot. Nevertheless, Lindsay says she's "proud and
happy with everything I did accomplish" in 2000. The injury woes
have been a learning experience for the Californian, who might have
to cut back on her schedule to stay healthy in the future. "I'm not
sure I'm going to play doubles anymore. With injuries and other
things in my life, I'm not sure doubles is that important to me
anymore." However, if her November schedule is any indication, tennis fans will continue to see plenty of Lindsay Davenport.
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The views expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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