Lindsay Davenport

1976-

American tennis player

Lindsay Davenport has won three Grand Slam women's tennis tournaments—all but the French Open. Davenport, who rose to a No. 1 ranking with little of the fanfare of some of her peers, looked to return to top form after missing much of 2002 to knee surgery.

Playing in her first big test of 2003, Davenport reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. She found herself adjusting from a No. 1 rank more than a year earlier to just barely in the top ten. Davenport's Grand Slam victories are the U.S. Open (1998), Wimbledon (1999) and the Australian Open (2000). She has never made it past the quarterfinals in the French Open.

Athletic Family

Davenport's father, Wink, played on the 1968 U.S. Olympic volleyball team and her mother, Ann, served on the board of the U.S. Volleyball Association. Both were tall and Lindsay grew to 6-foot-2. (She has worn a size 10 men's tennis shoe.) She broke from her family's volleyball tradition, took up tennis, and played under the tutelage of the U.S. Tennis Association as a pre-teen. She captured singles and doubles championships at the 18-and-under national tournament in 1991 and a year later at the Junior U.S. Open. One week after turning pro in 1993, Davenport upset fifth-ranked Gabriela Sabatini in Delray Beach, Florida. The sudden media attention overwhelmed her.

Despite her rising status, however, some journalists made issue of her weight. She battled injuries and pneumonia, and once reached 200 pounds. Some players called her "Dump Truck" behind her back. And she had the added emotional baggage of her parents' divorce in 1995. The resulting stress isolated Davenport even from her sisters.

Breaks Through in 1996

She lost weight, however, and regained confidence. 1996 was a breakthrough year. Davenport won the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta, defeating Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final, and was one of only four players to defeat Steffi Graf . In addition, she helped the U.S. capture the Federation Cup tournament.

Davenport finally won her first major, at the U.S. Open in New York in 1998. She became the first American-born woman in 16 years to win the event when she defeated Martina Hingis, 6-3, 7-5. The following summer, Davenport prevailed at Wimbledon, offsetting a history of struggles on its grass court. "When I won I was almost more numb than in shock," she told CNN-Sports Illustrated online after beating Graf 6-4, 7-5. "I never thought that it would be my Wimbledon because I had struggled on this surface before." She also won the doubles title there; she and Corina Morariu toppled Mariaan De Swardt and Elena Tatarkova, 6-4, 6-4.

Davenport added a third Grand Slam in January, 2000, when she beat No. 1 Hingis 6-1, 7-5 to win the Australian Open. Davenport broke Hingis's 27-match, three-title win streak at the Open and became the first American to win there since Chris Evert in 1984.

Knee Surgery in 2002

Davenport, who injured her right knee at the season-ending championships in 2001, underwent arthroscopic surgery in January, 2002, to correct a full-thickness cartilage defect; she missed the first half of the year. In the U.S. Open, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Serena Williams .

In the 2003 Australian Open, Davenport struggled at times but reached the fourth round before losing a three-hour, 13-minute match to Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium. Henin-Hardenne overcame leg cramps to win the marathon match. ESPN commentator and former star player Pam Shriver saw Davenport improve during the tournament. "It was great to see Davenport's attitude adjustment from her second-round match where she was way too negative," Shriver wrote on the ESPN.com web site. Davenport is engaged to Jon Leach, the brother of her coach, Rick Leach.

Chronology

Awards and Accomplishments

Davenport's Impact

She is self-effacing, lacks the dominance of Serena and Venus Williams , the stridency of Hingis and the sex appeal of Anna Kournikova . Some in women's tennis and media circles feel Davenport has been shortchanged in publicity, particularly in June, 2000, when Sports Illustrated ran on its cover a photo of Kournikova, who has never won a professional tournament, in a sexually suggestive pose.

"Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport is too gawky and pudgy to grace the cover of SI, which could stand for Sexist Illustrated," Michael Muldoon wrote in the Lawrence, Massachusetts Eagle-Tribune. "Kournikova, [soccer star] Brandi Chastain , soccer star Mia Hamm and WNBA standout/model Lisa Leslie are very attractive, making them the darlings of Madison Avenue. Davenport, tennis all-time great Martina Navratilova and longtime golf champion Laura Davies are considered rather plain, so their phones never ring." Davenport, however, is popular with the media. Journalists honored her at the 2000 French Open as "friendliest and most approachable player on Tour."

FURTHER INFORMATION

Books

McCann, John T. Lindsay Davenport. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001.

Periodicals

Barovick, Harriet, "Who Are You Calling an Old Lady?" Time (September 7, 1998): 68.

"Davenport Out to Reclaim Winning Form." New York Times (January 17, 2003): 5.

Dillman, Lisa. "Davenport Planning Her Own Ring Ceremony." Los Angeles Times (November 1, 2002): D3.

"Justine Gets Up to Floor Lindsay." New York Daily News (January 24, 2003): 65.

Other

Biography Resource Center, Lindsay Davenport Profile. http://galenet.galegroup.com (January 25, 2003).

"Changing of the Guard: Davenport Breaks Hingis'Australian Open Stranglehold," CNN-Sports Illustrated, http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/2000/australian_open/news/2000/01/28/final_davenport_ap/ (January 30, 2000).

"Lindsay Sends Steffi Packing." CNN-Sports Illustrated. http://media.cnnsi.com/tennis/1999/Wimbledon (August 6, 1999).

"Sexism Is Alive and Well in World of Sports." Lawrence Eagle-Tribune. http://www.eagletribune.com/news/stories/20000602/SP_002.htm (June 2, 2000).

Shriver, Pam. "Davenport Has to Keep Her Attitude Up." ESPN.com. Http://www.espn.go.com/tennis (January 17, 2003).

"Sports Illustrated Feeling Heat from Steamy Kournikova Cover." SportsForWomen.com. http://www.caaws.ca/Whats_New/jun00/sicover_jun10.htm (June 5, 2000).

"Tennis Star Lindsay Davenport." CBS SportsLine. http://cbssportsline.com/u/chat/1999/women/davenport040199.htm (April 1, 1999).

WTA Tour, Lindsay Davenport Profile, http://www.wtatour.com (January 24, 2003).

Sketch by Paul Burton