American Tennis Needs Lindsay Davenport
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

As two of Russia’s less-heralded young tennis stars took center stage at the U.S. Open Saturday night, it’s safe to say that Lindsay Davenport wasn’t watching.
With a bit more luck, Davenport would have earned a spot in the women’s final, and almost certainly would have won it. She had played superbly all tournament long after recovering from knee and foot operations. She was on the brink of beating Maria Sharapova, the icon of Russian tennis, at Wimbledon, and had scorched the summer hard court season. By the time she had drubbed eventual U.S. Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 in the first set of their semifinal match, Davenport had won 22 consecutive matches and seemed to have a lock on no. 23. U.S. Open champion, no. 1 in the world, comeback player of the year – that’s the story she was supposed to write over the weekend.
We all know how it turned out. When a hip injury she sustained in practice flared up, Davenport went from slugger to slowpoke. She stood helplessly as the hard-hitting Kuznetsova flicked a final backhand winner by her on Friday afternoon, and left Flushing dejected after a 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 loss.
Hardly a tournament has gone by this year without Davenport having to answer questions about retirement. After Wimbledon, it seemed a foregone conclusion; she was married and had a flourishing life outside of tennis. The competitive fire wasn’t always there, she said, and practice and traveling were more of a burden.
Then, after getting a taste of winning again over the summer, she sounded more positive. Last week, Davenport couldn’t be blamed for sending mixed signals.
“Some days I’d like to; other days, I don’t want to,” Davenport said about the possibility of retiring. “It would be tough to walk away knowing that, ‘Oh, I still could have won a Slam,’ or, ‘I was still at the top.’ That probably makes it a little bit more challenging of a decision.”
Let’s hope Davenport decides to stick around for a while. Women’s tennis – and even more so, American tennis – needs her.
Davenport has always been a little bit different. At 6 feet, 2 inches tall, she stood out among her opponents and was a little more awkward on the court. While other young stars like Anna Kournikova raced for the cameras, Davenport shied away. The sport in her family was volleyball, not tennis, and she was allowed to take her time and find her own way when her career began at 16. For Davenport, doing things on her own terms meant blooming late: she won her first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open as a 22-year-old pro in 1998.
Despite the hardships of the last year, Davenport is in better health now – and perhaps moving better – than she has in five years. At 28, she can certainly challenge for another Grand Slam. The Williams sisters are more erratic these days, and Davenport’s game has the variety to counteract the hard-hitting Russian contingent. If Justine Henin-Hardenne rediscovers her form and Kim Clijsters recovers from a yearlong layoff, Davenport won’t be the outright favorite in many tournaments, but she should have as good a chance as anyone.
“If I feel like I have a great opportunity and can challenge for the title in Australia, I’ll go,” Davenport said. “If I feel like, ‘Okay, maybe not totally into it,’ it’s going to be tough.” She will have a great opportunity there if she wants it, especially if she performs well at the year-end championships in Los Angeles, her home tournament, and keeps her ranking above Henin-Hardenne’s.
Sadly, if Davenport retires, women’s tennis in this country will be another step closer to a dry spell that it hasn’t seen in some time. Jennifer Capriati may not play much longer, either, and the country’s tennis hopes may ride on the Williams sisters for the foreseeable future. They are as good as it gets, but only when they want to be.
A lot has been said about Russia’s arrival in women’s tennis, but the real story is the emerging dominance of Eastern Europe as a whole. At this year’s girls’ tournament, more than half the 16 seeds were from Eastern European countries, including two from Russia, two from Romania, two from Belarus, and two from the Ukraine.
Only one of the top 16 girls was American – Jessica Kirkland, who lost in the finals. Of the 15 U.S. women ranked in the top 100, only three are 22-years-old or younger. Kirkland, who is only 16, is ranked 253rd. Amber Liu, the NCAA champion from Stanford University, has had not had much success in pros events. She is ranked 429th.
With American prospects sparse, the U.S. could use Davenport’s services for a bit longer. It’s a long shot, but maybe the competitor in her will win out and this final comment from last week will be the one that sticks: “I feel a lot better about myself this year than I did last year at this time when I felt like I was, you know, barely hanging on, lucky to get to the semis. Now I feel I could have won here. It’s a lot different.”