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The Unheralded Number 1 - Page 2

© Michael Cecilio

She was the clear favourite against her 18 year old compatriot Alexandra Stevenson, but she was cautious of getting over confident as she may have done at the Australian Open this year. In Melbourne, Davenport was beaten at her own power game by another 18 year old upstart in Amelie Mauresmo. Alexandra probably had fewer credentials than Amelie at their times of glory, but she did possess a 180 km/h first serve and led the tournament in aces. Her baseline game was indeed powerful, but quite uncontrolled at times. Lindsay took advantage of her opponent's erratic game, as Alexandra never quite got settled into the match. Filled with nerves (quite normal for an inexperienced campaigner), Stevenson made unforced error after unforced error and handed Davenport the match 1 and 1.

But against Steffi Graf was a different story. Going into the final, Steffi was the favourite to win the title. Not only had she won seven previous Wimbledon titles to Davenport's none, but the seeding committee believed Graf had a better shot at the title by seeding Graf and Davenport 2nd and 3rd respectively, despite the world rankings stating the opposite. Of course, this is just the way Lindsay likes it. She thrives on being away from the spotlight, and enjoys playing tennis with a minimum of fuss from the press. And as we have seen before, she does have a knack for proving the doubters wrong.

Lindsay played very efficient tennis from the start. She was serving well from start to finish and in fact, only faced two break points in the entire match, never actually getting broken. In fact, it was her serve which was the main reason for her success in the final. The difference between winning and losing in this match was incredibly minuscule that it was all about taking the opportunities when they arose. As was just mentioned, Steffi Graf had two break points on Lindsay's serve but could not convert on either opportunity. Lindsay also had two break points on Steffi's serve in the entire match but the difference was that she converted on both of her opportunities. Lindsay was also more consistent from the baseline, frequently using power shots to overwhelm the German champion. Meanwhile, Graf's slice backhand was not in full effect and this was always supposed to be the main weapon against Lindsay. Of course, Graf's forehand is the most potent shot in tennis, but Davenport does thrive on pace and can hit a mean forehand of her own. The slice backhand was to stay low, especially on the grass, and was supposed to be difficult for Davenport to continually dig up. However, Graf was unable to find the range on this shot, frequently hitting over the baseline, or into the net, or into three-quarter court which is a dangerous thing to do against Lindsay.

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