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Official Site of Australian Open 2001 by IBM - News


        Day 1 - Lindsay Davenport
            Monday, January 15, 2001

              
             TRANSCRIBED INTERVIEW 

            L. DAVENPORT / J. Dokic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3


            Q. John Parsons from the Daily Telegraph in London. Did all the 
            things surrounding this match, did that add to the pressure on you 
            as well?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: There's so many things kind of going around the 
            match let alone being a Grand Slam and myself trying to, in a sense, 
            defend it or do well again. So it was tough, it's always tough I 
            think to start off against a really good opponent in the first 
            round. I typically like to work my way into a tournament. It's 
            tough. You know, getting here late from Sydney, starting off against 
            a great opponent in really unusual circumstances definitely made it 
            a bit more challenging than normal matches.

            Q. Barry Flatman, Daily Express in London. Was it hard not to feel 
            sorry for her out there with all she's been through in the last few 
            days.

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah. I mean, I think she's a great girl. She's 
            always been really nice, and I think she has a great future, you 
            know, as tennis players you try and forget everything that surrounds 
            everything when you're playing a match. As soon as it's over, I 
            think she might have some difficult days ahead. I wish her the best.

            Q. What did you think about the crowd reception for Jelena being 
            booed on and off the court?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It was funny, obviously the Australians take a 
            little bit of offense to her not representing them. I think during 
            the match they were pretty supportive of her. It wasn't so partisan 
            while we were playing points to make it unbearable. I think if she 
            had won, they probably would have really cheered her as she walked 
            off the court. It's a little bit of a weird situation there. I don't 
            think they were so bad during the match.

            Q. There were some chants for you during the match, like, "Do it for 
            Australia, Lindsay." Did that put you off?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I didn't hear that one. Yeah, I mean, it's tough 
            circumstances for fans also because I think that they've been behind 
            her for a number of years and maybe they don't quite understand 
            what's going on and her decision. So of course they're going to take 
            a little bit of offense to what's happened.

            Q. Nigil Clark (phonetic). When you say she might have some 
            difficult days ahead, what do you mean by that?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I just mean the decision to represent a different 
            country while playing in Australia is probably going to make it a 
            little difficult on her if she's here the next few days. I think 
            that the fans want her to stay Australian, and probably the media 
            maybe won't leave her alone in the next few days.

            Q. In the circumstances, are you amazed how well she played because 
            she seemed for most of the time unnerved?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it might be one of those things where, you 
            know, I thought coming out here and it being a night match and 
            having a lot of buzz and atmosphere in the crowd she was going to 
            play quite well. It seems that she plays her best tennis maybe on a 
            bigger stage than on the side courts. So I was expecting her to play 
            well, and you know, it seemed like she handled everything very well 
            right up until the end of the match.

            Q. Tom Tebbutt, Toronto. You served like Goran the last couple games.

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, thank God. It pulled me through. I had a 
            lot of aces, to hold -- to go up 4-2 and to hold to go up 5-3, that 
            really pulled me through there. Off the ground, she was hitting the 
            balls very hard and very deep. It was hard for me to step into a 
            ball and dictate the point. At the end there, the serve is what 
            really won the third set for me.

            Q. Her level of play seemed extremely high. Were you upset with your 
            level? Did you figure you could just do the best you could and 
            sometimes there was nothing you could do?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Sometimes I thought there was nothing I could do. 
            It seems like maybe I didn't get enough depth on the ball sometimes 
            but a couple times when I did she would hit it up the line really 
            hard. So it was just a case where I was, you know, trying to do the 
            best I can and keep playing the game I play and fortunately my serve 
            got a lot better at the end. I think that, like I said, was really 
            the big difference.

            Q. Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times. You've been involved in a couple 
            of big situations before. Do you think having gone through a lot of 
            that in your career has helped you?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I hope so. I think the more big matches you play 
            - and it seems like I have played a lot of matches with some bizarre 
            circumstances - you get more accustomed to the situation. And, 
            again, the more experience you get playing in front of lots of 
            people and in important matches, it always helps.

            Q. How discouraged were you after the first set? Were you really 
            kind of worried about losing or did you think you could suck it up 
            and come back?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's one of those things, I had a break, couple 
            break points, didn't break. One of those things where, you know, I 
            knew if I kept playing like that I would probably not win. Luckily 
            the first game of the second set I got the break and was able to 
            hold it all the way through to win that set, and in the third set I 
            thought I had the little bit of the momentum from winning the second 
            set. Even though I was up a break and then got broken, got up a 
            break again right away. Like I said, the serve really improved to 
            help me hold it together.

            Q. Steve with AP, her dad apparently said before the match that if 
            she had won he was going to pull her out of the tournament. Do you 
            really think there would be any chance that might happen?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I refuse to comment on what he might do. I have 
            no idea. I don't know his thinking at all. (Laughter.)

            Q. Sandra Harwitt Australian Open web site this tournament. Her 
            father orchestrates all this for her and you've never really faced 
            that, fortunately. Do you look at yourself, how lucky you are, that 
            you've been in control of your career?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think so. I mean, just with everybody that I 
            think works around a player, the most important thing and I'm very 
            lucky to have a great family and great people around me and don't 
            really have to deal with all this stuff.

            Q. What is her potential if she was just allowed to concentrate on 
            the tennis?

            LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I think she's great. From what I know, she's 17, 
            is that right, 17 and I mean she's going to be great. And 
            unfortunately, there's probably a lot of pressure for her to be 
            great right now and, you know, a lot of players it takes maybe 18, 
            19, 20, who knows. But she's definitely going to be in the top, I 
            would say, ten and probably maybe not this year, maybe two years, I 
            couldn't tell you. But she does everything well. She serves well and 
            hits her groundies great. Right now that's really the big thing to 
            do in women's tennis.

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