Look Out for Lindsay
Sunday, 19 June, 2005
If a week is a long time in politics then a year is a lifetime in
professional sport. Just 12 months ago, Lindsay Davenport was talking of
retirement, of making her farewells to the tour she had travelled for 14
years, and of heading into the sunset to start a family and get a normal life.
She had just been beaten by Maria Sharapova in the Wimbledon semi-finals and
she sounded as if she had had enough. Somehow the losses did not hurt as much
and the wins did not feel so good. It was time to go. "I'd be surprised if I
was back," she said. "It's a little bittersweet to finally walk off a court
and a venue where I've had some great victories and some great moments in my
career."
That was that, then, and a frantic press room tapped away at laptops,
churning out Davenport retirement stories and assessments of her career. And
then Davenport, a genuinely decent and nice soul, turned us all over. Made us
all look like idiots.
Within a matter of days, she was back in the United States and mopping up
titles like it was going out of fashion. She won five titles and 27 out of 28
matches over the course of the summer and, by the autumn, she had taken over
at the top of the rankings, regaining the No.1 spot for the first time in
nearly three years. Thanks, Lindsay.
A collection of nagging injuries had got her down last year and, as she
admitted to the Palm Beach Post months later, she was ready to quit long
before her semi-final defeat. Facing Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round, she
panicked before the match. In floods of tears, she called her husband, Jon
Leach, in the hope that he could talk her round.
"I haven't told this story before," Davenport said, "but I woke him up at
three or four in the morning. I just remember crying and saying I'm not
enjoying this anymore."
But winning makes the world look different and, as the victories piled up,
Davenport had a new lease of life. As the new season began - the season she
could not imagine herself playing - she reached the Australian Open final,
her first Grand Slam final since she won the title in Melbourne in 2000. From
there it was on to the final in Tokyo (she lost to Sharapova) and the Indian
Wells final, where she was beaten by Kim Clijsters.
All things considered, everything was going extremely well for Davenport
except for one small problem - wherever she went, everyone thought she was
retiring. Every match was, potentially, her last and every speech was, in
theory, her farewell. It was a little wearing after a while.
"It's funny, it doesn't cross my mind that this could be the last time when
I'm playing," she said. "It crosses my mind more when the match is over. I'm
like, "Oh, no." But it's an interesting situation to be in. I'm kind of happy
that I don't know what's going to happen and I'm just playing on because if
you do make these plans, sometimes they don't work out."
So far, life without a retirement plan is suiting her just fine. With the
titles in Dubai and Amelia Island already won this year, Davenport opted to
view most of the clay court season from afar, preparing for the French Open
by going on holiday to Hawaii. Even so, she reached the quarter finals in
Roland Garros. But clay has never been her favourite surface and, coming into
Wimbledon as the top seed, her preparations for the grass have been far more
serious.
Her relationships with Wimbledon took time to develop but Davenport has grown
to love the place. Winning the title in 1999 helped considerably and, ever
since, she has been a serious threat in the latter stages of the tournament.
"I felt like this is a tournament I struggled at for a few years," she said.
"I wasn't really sure of the grass but I grew to really love and enjoy
playing here - much more so than a lot of the other Grand Slams. I've always
felt really comfortable when I've come here."
The thought of Davenport in her Wimbledon comfort zone will strike a chord of
fear in the hearts of many of her opponents. When she is hitting the ball
sweetly, she is well nigh impossible to stop. Do not bet on her winning the
title - but don't bet against it either. And, as for the hard working
denizens of the press room: we will not believe a word about Davenport's
retirement until we have seen it carved in tablets of stone. In triplicate.
Written by Alix Ramsey
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