MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- When Lindsay Davenport was looking for a new coach
late last year, she phoned friend and former player Dave DiLucia for a
recommendation.
A few days later, she called him back to see if he'd like the job.
Top-ranked Davenport won her first-round match Monday at the Australian Open
6-2, 6-1 over Australian wild-card Casey Dellacqua.
When Davenport parted company with former coach Adam Peterson after the season-
ending WTA Championships in early November, she waited about four weeks before
hiring DiLucia. He's a former No. 1 singles and doubles player at Notre Dame.
"I took my time," Davenport said. "I definitely thought about things for a
number of weeks and exactly what I wanted to accomplish.
"Ironically, I first called Dave to get his advice as a good friend of mine and
see what he thought. I was curious who he would recommend. We kind of went over
some names."
Davenport's husband, Jon Leach, suggested that DiLucia might be the best choice.
"You're crazy, you got to hire him, he's great," Leach told her.
She had dinner with DiLucia in Key Biscayne, Fla., where he coached tennis, and
he accepted the job.
Peterson coached Davenport for nearly three years, and she finished No. 1 in
two of those years. Before that, she was coached briefly by brother-in-law Rick
Leach.
He replaced Robert Van't Hof, her longtime coach who retired after the 2002
season to spend more time with his family.
Since becoming a team, DiLucia and Davenport have discussed tactics.
"He's a very, very smart individual and very intense and very focussed on a lot
of things," Davenport said. "We went over stuff from what I needed to do with
certain shots to what I felt. What goes through someone's head. Just a lot
deeper approach that I have been taking the last few years."
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