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On a roll
It hadn't been the best since Wimbledon. In reference to Lindsay Davenport's form and left wrist, neither had been able to hold up particularly well for her after the remarkable, and surprising, grand slam run in London last July. Not that the results she produced since Wimbledon had been anything to laugh at - a semi final finish at the US Open, and titles in Tokyo and Stanford - but if we were to compare this to her post-Wimbledon run in 1998, her post-Wimbledon run in 1999 would have seemed utterly and dismally disappointing.
By George, things have changed since! Davenport is now the holder of two grand slam titles, winning both in incredibly dominating fashion by not dropping a single set at the 1998 US Open or at 1999 Wimbledon. But since her triumph over Steffi Graf in London, Davenport had a lot of trouble trying to find her best form on a consistent basis. It began with back-to-back straight sets upsets at the hands of Venus Williams in San Diego and New Haven who had actually only beaten Davenport once before in nine previous matches. The worst had arrived when she allowed the unseeded Julie Halard-Decugis to topple her in straight sets in the Los Angeles semis. It seemed that the high-risk game that Davenport implemented into her game was indeed realising the drawbacks of taking high risks. Errors and more errors, faults and double faults seemed to complement her game as much as those screaming baseline winners she was used to striking on too many an occasion. Since the US Open where she lost to Serena Williams in a tight and nervous battle, Lindsay Davenport has not lost a WTA tour match (she lost again to Serena Williams at the Grand Slam Cup in October). As the top seed, she ploughed her way through the draw in Tokyo, dropping a total of six games in her earlier round matches before stumbling into second seed Monica Seles in the final. It was a battle, but she still came out a straight sets victor. However, what was to plague Davenport for the rest of the season was not a collapse of form. It was a sustained injury to her left wrist which affected one of her biggest weapons - her hard-hitting, two-handed backhand. Davenport was forced to pull out of tournaments in Filderstadt and Zurich, tournaments where she was defending a multitude of ranking points from runner-up finishes last year. In fact, it was serious enough for Davenport to consider pulling out for the rest of the year. Not something she wanted to do, considering Venus Williams was right at the back of her tail in the rankings, but something she had to seriously consider.
The copyright of the article Tis the season for Davenport to be jolly in Women's Tennis is owned by . Permission to republish Tis the season for Davenport to be jolly in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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