Not Bad for Six Months’ Work : Since Turning Pro in February, Davenport Has Earned $90,000 on Tennis Tour

Professional tennis is arguably the most individual of games, with friendships hard to develop because of the intense competitive nature of the sport.

But for the next several weeks, Lindsay Davenport will be a team player. And the early results, like nearly everything else the former Chadwick High standout has done on the tennis court lately, have been excellent.

Davenport, 17, who moved with her family to Murrieta last year and is now a senior at Murrieta Valley High, won two sets in her World TeamTennis debut for the Sacramento Capitals July 7 in a 27-17 victory over the Strings before a crowd of 1,680 at the Forum.

“It’s good to get a change,” said Davenport, who led Chadwick to the 1991 Southern Section Division 1-A championship. “If you went to tournaments every week of the year, you’d probably get a little sick of it.”

Davenport said she gets along well with teammates Patty Fendick, Steve De Vries and David MacPherson and is sold on the team concept.

“I love cheering for people and then having them cheer for me,” she said.

Davenport will be a member of the U.S. team that will compete in the Federation Cup--the women’s world national team championship--beginning Monday in Frankfurt, Germany.

“I’m real excited,” Davenport said. “It’s going to be a great experience.”

In about 11 months, Davenport, who was born in Torrance and grew up in Palos Verdes, has risen from 191st to 25th on the Virginia Slims singles rankings.

“(Lindsay is) improving tremendously,” said Lynne Rolley, a U.S. Tennis Assn. national coach who has worked with Davenport for several years. “I couldn’t be more pleased with her progress.”

Rolley said Davenport’s improved fitness has been the key to her improved performance.

“She’s trying to be the best tennis player in the world and that requires strength, stamina and speed,” Rolley said. “She’s grown a tremendous amount (six inches to 6-feet-2 from the time she was 14 to 16), so she’s not going to have the same muscle strength that someone with a different body type would have.

“But that is what also made her an excellent tennis player. With the improvement in her strength, her serve has become a weapon. Her ground strokes were always good. Her forehand has improved and that’s a weapon also. Her two-handed backhand has always been great.

“Right now, she’s trying to work on coming into the net, and that requires a lot of quick, agility movement, and that’s something we’re tying to incorporate into her movement skills.”

Since turning professional in February, Davenport’s achievements have included winning the $150,000 European Open in May and reaching the quarterfinals of the Evert Cup and Virginia Slims of Florida. She defeated Gabriela Sabatini, the world’s fifth-ranked player, in the latter tournament.

“There’s been some ups and downs,” Davenport said. “A lot of it has been mostly positive. It’s really hard to stay with it for the whole time week in and week out. I’ve been doing good. I just have to get more consistent.”

To Davenport, the high point was winning the European Open. She is among 20 players to have won a Kraft Tour event this year, and one of only four first-time winners.

“I played really solid for a whole week,” said Davenport, who had victories over Helena Sukova, Sabine Hack and Nicole Provis in the tournament.

Davenport advanced to the third round at Wimbledon before losing to 16th-seeded Nathalie Tauziat, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). To Davenport, Wimbledon was “fun. I liked it a lot.

“I wasn’t that nervous because I played the juniors the year before,” she said. “(This year,) I got there a couple of days ahead of time and got used to it a little bit. I don’t like (playing) on grass too much, so it was a little hard.”

But she did have one complaint.

“We thought the security there really stunk,” Davenport said. “(The French Open) was so much better.”

Security has been a growing concern on the women’s tour since the April 30 on-court stabbing of Monica Seles, then the world’s top-ranked player.

In addition to her singles success at Wimbledon, Davenport reached the second round of doubles and mixed doubles. Her earnings at Wimbledon were $21,265.50, increasing her season total to $90,533.50.

When asked about the money she has made, Davenport laughed and said: “It’s nice. I don’t see the money, so it’s not that big a deal.”

Davenport said the move out of the South Bay was her father’s decision.

“He wanted a new life (for our family),” Davenport said. “So we went with it.”

Does she miss the South Bay?

“A little bit,” Davenport said. “I’ve been gone a lot and I have a new life, so you just go on.”

And in tennis, Davenport figures to be going a long way.