In 2005,TENNIS Magazine ranked Davenport as the 29th-greatest player (male or female) of the preceding 40 years. She amassed career-earnings of US$22,166,338; formerly first in the all-time rankings.[4] Davenport was inducted into theInternational Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.[5]
Lindsay Davenport is the daughter ofWink Davenport, who was a member of the U.S.volleyball team at the1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and Ann L. Davenport, the president of theSouthern California Volleyball Association.[6][7][8] Davenport was born to an athletic family. While her two older sisters, Leiann and Shannon, played volleyball,[9] Lindsay began playing tennis at age six. She was coached byRobert Lansdorp, who had previously coachedTracy Austin.[7] She attendedChadwick School in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California. At age 16, her family moved toMurrieta, California, where she attended and graduated fromMurrieta Valley High School, and she began to work with, among others,Robert Van't Hof.[10][11] At age 16, Davenport joined theUnited States Tennis Association junior national team. She had a rapid growth spurt — about six inches in two years — which affected her coordination, but did not hinder her performance. She excelled at junior level competitions and swept the singles and doubles titles at the National Girls' 18s and Clay Court Championships in 1991 and won the Junior U.S. Open in 1992.[12]
While Davenport's first play dated back to 1991, she officially became a professional two years after her first professional-level matches. Davenport's doubles success in 1993 was a 17–16 record while she reached the top 100 in doubles rankings. She reached the third round at the1993 Australian Open doubles competition withChanda Rubin. Davenport entered the top 20, despite coming into her first tournament that year ranked no. 162. She qualified for the 1993 Australian Open, reaching the third round before falling toMary Pierce.
At theIndian Wells Masters, Davenport reached the quarterfinals ranked no. 99, but lost to 7th-ranked and future doubles partnerMary Joe Fernández. Later that year, Davenport won her first Tier III title at theWTA Swiss Open where she beatNicole Bradtke in three sets in the finals. She reached the third round at the1993 Wimbledon Championships, and at the1993 US Open, the American reached the fourth round ranked no. 24. 1993 is also notable because it was the one time she facedMartina Navratilova, falling in three sets, 6–1, 3–6, 5–7, in the Oakland semifinals.
Davenport won the first professional tournament she entered inBrisbane, Australia. At theAustralian Open, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, defeating no. 5Mary Joe Fernández in the fourth round, before losing in the quarterfinals to top-rankedSteffi Graf. Davenport then reached the semifinals atIndian Wells, California andMiami and won the title inLucerne. AtWimbledon, Davenport reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Ranked ninth, Davenport defeated tenth rankedGabriela Sabatini, before losing to third rankedConchita Martínez, who went on to win the tournament. In November, she reached her first WTA Tour Championship final, losing to Sabatini.
Davenport started the year by reaching the final of the tournament inSydney, where she lost toGabriela Sabatini. Davenport again reached the Australian Open quarterfinals and the following week, lost toKimiko Date in the final of the tournament in Tokyo.
Onclay, Davenport won the tournament inStrasbourg on her first attempt, defeatingKimiko Date in the final. Date, however, turned the tables at the French Open, defeating Davenport in the fourth round.
In doubles, Davenport andJana Novotná started the year by winning the tournament in Sydney. Davenport andLisa Raymond then lost in the Australian Open semifinals to the top seeded team ofGigi Fernández andNatasha Zvereva. Davenport teamed withNicole Arendt to reach the French Open semifinals, where they lost to the top seeded team of Novotná andArantxa Sánchez Vicario. At Wimbledon, Davenport and Raymond, the fourth seeded team, were upset in the first round. At the US Open, Davenport and Raymond were again the fourth seeded team and were upset in the third round by fifteenth seededLori McNeil andHelena Suková. In other tournaments, Davenport and Raymond won in Indian Wells, and Davenport and Mary Joe Fernández won in Tokyo (the non-Tier I tournament) and Strasbourg.
After her one-year contract with Kardon had ended, Davenport hiredRobert Van't Hof as her full-time coach.[10]
Davenport's year began with a runner-up finish inSydney. She was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open. Davenport then reached the semifinals of the tournament inIndian Wells, California, where she lost toSteffi Graf.
On clay, Davenport won theStrasbourg tournament and reached the French Open quarterfinals, losing toConchita Martínez.
During the summer, Davenport won the tournament inLos Angeles, defeating Graf for the first time in her career in the semifinals, before defeatingAnke Huber in the final. Davenport then won the gold medal at theSummer Olympics, defeatingMary Joe Fernández in the semifinal andArantxa Sánchez Vicario in the final.
In doubles, Davenport teamed withMary Joe Fernández to win the tournament in Sydney, before losing in the final of the Australian Open toChanda Rubin and Sánchez Vicario. Davenport and Fernandez then won the French Open doubles title, defeating Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva in the final. The two also won the tournament inOakland and the year-endChase Championships together. Davenport partnered with Zvereva to win the tournament in Los Angeles.
Davenport began her clay-court season by winning the tournament inAmelia Island, Florida. However, she lost toIva Majoli, the eventual champion, in the fourth round at the French Open, despite being up a set and 4–0 in the second set.
AtWimbledon, Davenport lost toDenisa Chládková in the second round. She then lost toMonica Seles in the final atLos Angeles, after beating top-rankedMartina Hingis in the semifinals. After winning inAtlanta, Davenport reached her first grand slam semifinal at theUS Open, losing to Hingis. Davenport won the titles inZürich and Chicago, before losing thePhiladelphia final to Hingis in a third set tie-break.
In doubles, Davenport was the runner-up in Sydney withNatasha Zvereva and at the Australian Open withLisa Raymond. She won the US Open withCzech partnerJana Novotná. Davenport's other doubles titles were inTokyo, Indian Wells, Amelia Island, andBerlin.
Davenport's next victory on tour was her first Grand Slam singles title at the1998 US Open, defeating fifth-rankedVenus Williams in the semifinals and top-ranked Hingis in the final. She became the first American-born woman to win the U.S. Open since Chris Evert in 1982.[15]
Davenport then wonZürich and lost to 17th-ranked Graf inPhiladelphia despite attaining the no. 1 ranking.[16] Davenport finished the year with a loss to Hingis in the final of theChase Championships .
In doubles, Davenport reached the final of the 1998 Australian Open withNatasha Zvereva, where they lost to the wildcard team of Hingis andMirjana Lučić. Davenport and Zvereva lost to Hingis and Lučić again in the Tokyo final, and then won both Indian Wells andBerlin, both times defeatingAlexandra Fusai andNathalie Tauziat in the final.
Davenport and Zvereva then lost to Hingis andJana Novotná in the French Open,Wimbledon, and US Open doubles finals. Davenport won San Diego and Stanford with Zvereva and lost in the US Open doubles final. Davenport wonFilderstadt, and then the year-end doubles championship with Zvereva, defeating Fusai and Tauziat in three sets. In 1998, Davenport reached all four Grand Slam doubles finals with Zvereva, losing to teams that included Hingis all four times.
At theToray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, Davenport and Zvereva beat Hingis andJana Novotná, to whom they had lost in three of the four 1998 Grand Slam doubles finals. Davenport's second singles title of the year was atMadrid where she defeatedlucky loserPaola Suárez in the final.
At Roland Garros, she reached the quarterfinals losing to Steffi Graf. Along the way, she defeated qualifier and future four-times French Open championJustine Henin in the second round. Davenport's next tournament championship was atWimbledon. In the final, she defeatedSteffi Graf in Graf's last career Grand Slam match. Davenport also won the doubles title at Wimbledon withCorina Morariu, defeatingMariaan de Swardt andElena Tatarkova in the final.
After Wimbledon, Davenport won the singles and doubles titles inStanford and wonSan Diego in doubles with Morariu overSerena andVenus Williams in the final, the only doubles final the sisters have ever lost in their playing careers. She lost the US Open semifinal to eventual championSerena Williams.[17] To close the year, Davenport won two additional singles and theChase Championships with a victory over Hingis in the final.
At theFrench Open, Davenport was upset by the 22nd-rankedDominique Van Roost in three sets in the first round. Van Roost again beat her at The Hastings Direct International Championships in Eastbourne.
Davenport was at least a quarterfinalist in all seventeen of her singles events. She won seven singles titles, with victories inTokyo,Scottsdale,Eastbourne,Los Angeles,Filderstadt,Zürich, andLinz. After clinching the year-end number one ranking in a semifinal win over Clijsters (where she injured her knee at the end of the match), she withdrew in the final of the year-endChase Championships against Serena Williams. She was a semifinalist at theAustralian Open, a semifinalist atWimbledon, and a quarterfinalist at theUS Open. She lost in the Australian Open doubles final with Morariu toVenus andSerena Williams. She teamed withLisa Raymond to win the doubles titles in Filderstadt and Zürich.
Davenport played her first doubles tournament of the year inFilderstadt in October, where she partnered withLisa Raymond to win the title. Her relationship with Coach Robert Van't Hof ended.
Davenport started the year by hiringRick Leach as her coach, but this association lasted only a short time. She then hiredAdam Peterson.[19] She reached the final of the tournament inSydney, where she lost to Kim Clijsters. She then reached the fourth round of theAustralian Open, where she lost toJustine Henin. Davenport then won inTokyo and lost in theIndian Wells, California final to Clijsters. At the remaining Grand Slam tournaments of the year, she lost in theFrench Open fourth round, theWimbledon quarterfinals, and theUS Open semifinals. She was the runner-up at tournaments inAmelia Island, Florida,Los Angeles, andNew Haven.
Davenport won a tour-high seven titles, including four straight during the summer (Stanford,Los Angeles,San Diego, andCincinnati). She also had the most match wins on theWTA Tour, with 63. She finished the year ranked first for the third time in her career. She defeated Venus and Serena Williams for the first time since 2000, which she said instilled belief in her that she could win more Grand Slam tournaments.
Davenport preparing to return a ball at the 2004 Wimbledon tournament
Davenport's success continued into 2005, when she reached her first Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open, since the2000 US Open; she fell toSerena Williams in three sets.
At the tournament inIndian Wells, California, in March, Davenport made history by defeating world no. 3Maria Sharapova, 6–0, 6–0. It marked the first time that a player ranked in the top 3 had ever been "shut out" on the WTA tour and was the first time Sharapova had failed to win a game during a match. This turned out to be Davenport's only career victory against Sharapova.
Davenport bypassed the European clay-court season and went to the French Open without having played a professional competitive match for weeks. She confounded expectations with a run to the quarterfinals on her least favourite surface, including a come-from-behind victory overKim Clijsters in the fourth round. Davenport lost to eventual runner-upMary Pierce.
AtWimbledon, Davenport was the top seed and made it easily to the fourth round, where she was tested again by Clijsters, but came through in three sets to win her second successive match against the Belgian. Davenport then reached the semifinals, where her match againstAmélie Mauresmo was interrupted by rain and was completed over the course of two days. Davenport eventually defeated Mauresmo and faced 14th-seededVenus Williams in an all-American final. Davenport led most of the way, as she served for the match at 6–5 in the second set, and had a match point at 5–4 in the third set. Williams went on to win, 4–6, 7–6, 9–7, in the longest (in terms of time) women's Wimbledon final in history. In that match, Davenport sustained a serious back injury while leading 4–2 (40–15) in the final set, although she acknowledged after the match that the injury did not cause her defeat and that Williams was the superior mentally strong player on the day. The injury forced Davenport to withdraw fromFed Cup competition. She returned to the tour at theStanford tournament. After reinjuring her back in a warmup just hours before her match, Davenport retired while trailing 0–5 in the first set. This back injury then forced her to withdraw from other hard-court events inSan Diego andLos Angeles.
Davenport returned to the WTA Tour in August, winning her comeback tournament inNew Haven without dropping a set. Davenport then reached the quarterfinals of the US Open, where she held a match point onElena Dementieva, before falling in the third set tie-break. Davenport briefly lost the no. 1 ranking following the event.
After the loss at the US Open, Davenport captured the title inBali without dropping a set, and subsequently qualified for theWTA Tour Championships. She then won the title inFilderstadt, defeating Mauresmo in the final for the second consecutive year. The win made her only the tenth woman ever to win 50 career WTA singles titles.
InZürich, Davenport saved two match points while defeatingDaniela Hantuchová. The win assured Davenport of recapturing the world no. 1 ranking from Sharapova the following week. In the final, Davenport defeated sixth seededPatty Schnyder for her fourth title in Zürich and her sixth title of 2005, second only to Clijsters's nine. It was also the first time Davenport had saved match points en route to a victory since the1999 U.S. Open. The Zürich title left her with eleven Tier I titles, second among active players.
Davenport was a semifinalist at the WTA tour year-end championships (losing to Pierce in two tie-breaks), which ensured that she finished the year ranked no. 1. 2005 was the fourth time that Davenport ended the year ranked No. 1, joiningSteffi Graf,Martina Navratilova, andChris Evert as the only female players to end a year ranked first at least four times.
In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked Davenport 29th in its list of the 40 greatest players of the tennis era.
On February 22, 2006, Davenport became just the eighth woman in WTA history to win 700 singles matches, when she handed out her fourth career "double bagel", defeatingElena Likhovtseva in the second round of theDubai tournament.
At the March tournament inIndian Wells, California, Davenport lost in the fourth round toMartina Hingis. She was then absent from the tour until August because of a back injury. She returned inLos Angeles, losing a second-round match toSamantha Stosur. It was Davenport's earliest exit from a tournament since early 2003. Davenport attributed the loss to her having resumed training only three weeks prior to the start of the tournament. Davenport had re-hiredAdam Peterson as her coach, with whom she worked during her 2004–05 resurgence.
At the tournament inNew Haven, Davenport defeated world no. 1Amélie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals, but was forced to retire with a right shoulder injury while playingJustine Henin in the final.
Despite injury, Davenport reached theUS Open quarterfinals, where she again lost to Henin.
Davenport's last competitive match before the December announcement of her pregnancy was a quarterfinal loss inBeijing to top-ranked Mauresmo. It was Mauresmo's first win over Davenport after nine consecutive losses.
On July 18, 2007, Davenport announced that she would return to theWTA Tour. At her first tournament, she partnered withLisa Raymond in the doubles competition atNew Haven, where they lost in the first round to top seedsCara Black andLiezel Huber.
Davenport returned to singles competition inBali, where she won her first title since 2005, defeatingDaniela Hantuchová in the final. En route to the title, Davenport defeated third rankedJelena Janković, among others. Davenport and her partner Hantuchová also advanced to the semifinals in Bali, before withdrawing from the tournament.
Davenport's second tournament was inBeijing, where she defeated fourth-seeded RussianElena Dementieva in the quarterfinals, before losing to Janković in the semifinals.
Davenport's third tournament was inQuebec City, Canada, defeating second-seededVera Zvonareva in the semifinals andJulia Vakulenko in the final. This was Davenport's 53rd career singles title and lifted her to no. 73 in the WTA rankings.
Davenport won theASB Classic inAuckland, New Zealand, the firstWTA tour event of the year. Davenport defeatedAravane Rezaï in the final. This raised her ranking to world no. 52. She was the only player in the WTA top 100 that had fewer than 10 tournaments counting towards her world ranking.
At the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open, Davenport lost in the second round to eventual championMaria Sharapova, 1–6, 3–6. This was the first time that Davenport had lost to Sharapova in straight sets.
On January 14, 2008, Davenport surpassedSteffi Graf in career prize money earned on the women's tour, garnering a total of US$21,897,501.
In her first clay-court tournament since 2005, Davenport reached the semifinals of theBausch & Lomb Championships inAmelia Island, Florida, where she defaulted her match with Sharapova before it began, due to illness. Citing undisclosed personal reasons, Davenport withdrew from theFrench Open five days before the tournament began.
At Wimbledon, Davenport was seeded 25th, won her first-round match, and then withdrew from the tournament because of a right knee injury.
On August 8, 2008, Davenport withdrew from the singles competition at the Olympic Games in Beijing because of a lingering knee injury.[20] She and her partner, world no. 1 doubles playerLiezel Huber, lost in the women's doubles quarterfinals.
At theUS Open, Davenport was seeded 23rd and lost to 12th-seededMarion Bartoli in the third round. Davenport was scheduled to play theFortis Championships Luxembourg in October, but withdrew before the start of the tournament.
Davenport announced her intention to play in the 2009 Australian Open in January, ending speculation that she would be retiring from the sport. However, she withdrew from the event when she learned that she was expecting her second child. It was announced on June 30, 2009, that Davenport had given birth to a baby girl.[21]
Davenport also announced her intention to play doubles at two tournaments in the American hard-court season. The first tournament was the women's doubles event at the2010 Bank of the West Classic, where she won the title partneringLiezel Huber. She followed this with the2010 Mercury Insurance Open, again with Huber. They lost in the quarterfinals toBethanie Mattek-Sands andYan Zi.
Davenport won multiple league honors during her WTT career including Female MVP 1997 and 2010; Women's Singles scoring leader 1997, 1998; Female Rookie of the Year 1993; Mixed Doubles scoring leader 1998 (w/ Brian MacPhie).
Davenport was anaggressive baseliner,[24] whose game was built around her powerful serve and groundstrokes, which were used to dominate play, and hit winners both crosscourt and down-the-line.[11] Due to her aggressive and risky playing style, she typically hit large numbers of both winners and unforced errors.Gabriela Sabatini once commented that, "[Lindsay] likes to hit the ball hard into the corner. Very, very hard". She would typically utilise aggressive serve/groundstroke combinations to finish points quickly, and, by aiming for the corners and the lines, Davenport was able to dictate play from the baseline.[25] Davenport has been described as one of the cleanest ball strikers in WTA history, as well as one of the most powerful;[12][26] in 2021,Serena Williams described Davenport in retrospect as the "hardest" hitter she had ever faced, and the most "powerful" player of all time.[27] Davenport possessed an exceptionally powerful first serve, which peaked at 121 mph (195 km/h), allowing her to serve multiple aces in any given match. She also possessed powerful and effective kick and slice serves, which she deployed as second serves; these prevented double faults, and allowed her to dictate play from a defensive position.[28] She was known for her forehand, which was hit flat with an Eastern forehand grip, affording consistent depth, power, and penetration;Gigi Fernández once remarked that Davenport has developed "a forehand as good asSteffi Graf's."[12] She was also known for her powerful two-handed backhand, which was similarly hit hard and flat. Her lack of court speed and mobility was her greatest weakness throughout her career,[29] until she overhauled her conditioning program and lost 30 pounds beginning in 1995; she was also known for her mental strength.[7][24] She was a thirteen-time grand slam finalist in doubles, although she typically only approached the net in singles matches to retrieve short balls, or to finish a point when she had created an opportunity to attack with her powerful overhead smash.[30] Throughout her career, Davenport rarely used defensive shots, instead predicating her game on pure power and aggression.
Davenport was endorsed byNike for clothing, shoes, and on-court apparel.[31] She was also endorsed byWilson for racquets throughout her career, typically utilising a racquet from the Wilson Hammer range.[32]
Named the U.S. Olympic Committee's female athlete of the month for July 1999 after winning the women's doubles and singles at Wimbledon.
Voted by journalists at the 2000 French Open as the winner of the Prix Orange, which goes to the player who has shone in the tennis world the international essence of fairness, kindness, availability, and friendliness.
Re-elected to the WTA player council in 2002.
Voted by the International Tennis Writers Association as a joint winner of the 2004 women's Ambassador for Tennis award.
2007 Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Comeback Player of the Year.
(W) winner; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (P#) preliminary round; (DNQ) did not qualify; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (S) silver or (B) bronze Olympic/Paralympic medal; (NMS) not a Masters tournament; (NTI) not a Tier I tournament; (P) postponed; (NH) not held; (SR) strike rate (events won / competed); (W–L) win–loss record.
^Wolff, Alexander (September 13, 1993)."Lindsay Davenport".Sports Illustrated.Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. RetrievedSeptember 21, 2014.
World No. 1 October 12, 1998 – February 7, 1999 July 5, 1999 – August 8, 1999 April 3, 2000 – May 7, 2000 May 15, 2000 – May 21, 2000 November 5, 2001 – January 13, 2002 October 18, 2004 – August 21, 2005 August 29, 2005 – September 11, 2005 October 24, 2005 – January 29, 2006
Succeeded by
Martina Hingis Martina Hingis Martina Hingis Martina Hingis Jennifer Capriati Maria Sharapova Maria Sharapova Kim Clijsters
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