Davenport Earned Her No. 1 Ranking in Grand Style

The tennis world never heard Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach proclaim she was going to be No. 1, not when she was 16, 18 or 22. Even when she crept close to No. 1-ranked Martina Hingis, winning three consecutive hard-court tournaments in August, Davenport said her primary focus was winning the U.S. Open, not supplanting Hingis.

Which is why her ascension to the top spot in women’s tennis--it became official Monday, when the latest WTA rankings were released, despite her loss in the final Sunday at Filderstadt, Germany--is not a hollow honor for a couple of reasons.

* The Grand Slam factor: Davenport has won a Grand Slam event, the U.S. Open, and reached the semifinals of three others. Marcelo Rios, No. 3 in the men’s rankings, reached the No. 1 spot on two occasions this year and is still looking for his first Grand Slam title. He has been in one Slam final, the Australian Open in January.

“I’ve always thought Grand Slams are very important,” Davenport said. “A ranking is almost separate from that because it’s 52 weeks, and Grand Slams take up eight weeks of our year. I think [the Open victory] maybe justifies it a little bit more to true tennis followers. But the U.S. Open helped me a lot, in [ranking] points and getting the doubters off my back.”

* The incumbent factor: Rios never had to beat Pete Sampras to reach No. 1. In fact, he has not played Sampras in 1998. Davenport has defeated Hingis three of four times this year, in straight sets in the U.S. Open final.

Hingis, who held the top spot for 80 weeks, fell when she lost to Dominique Van Roost at Filderstadt on Friday. Hours later, Davenport won her quarterfinal match against Nathalie Tauziat and that would have been enough to make her No. 1, even if Hingis had won.

“You work your whole life to try to be the best you can, even if it’s for only one day or one week,” said Davenport, the first American-born female player to become No. 1 since November 1985, when Chris Evert was top-ranked for the last time in her career.

“It’s a great feeling. I’m going to have to play well to stay there. I think it’s going to go back and forth.”

Actually, that may be the case because Davenport lost in Sunday’s final. However, her two closest challengers are out because of injuries. Hingis injured her ankle jogging before a match last week and withdrew from the Zurich event, which started Monday. Jana Novotna hurt her back in Filderstadt and retired in the third set against Serena Williams and could be out for as long as a month.

The next tournament Hingis and Davenport are both scheduled to be in is at Philadelphia, Nov. 9-15. Besides Davenport, only seven players have held the No. 1 ranking since the computer system started in 1975--Steffi Graf for 374 weeks altogether, Martina Navratilova for 331, Evert for 262, Monica Seles for 178, Hingis for 80, Tracy Austin for 24, and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario for 12.

Davenport did not get the chance to celebrate, although she said her coach, Robert Van’t Hof, sprayed her with champagne.

“I couldn’t believe it for those couple of moments,” she said. “I was really kind of in shock, sitting there, almost wondering how it happened, funny as that sounds. Some players are born with people telling them they are going to be the best. And some people do it on their own. I just think I did it my own way.”

Hingis congratulated Davenport Sunday night at a dinner in Zurich and joked about the ranking.

“She’s always been really nice to me,” Davenport said. “She said, ‘Good job. I’ll see if I can get it back.’ ”

CUP UPDATE

The United States might be having a hard time getting its top male players to show up for Davis Cup, but things are slightly better among the women when it comes to Fed Cup.

This year, Monica Seles played in both matches for the United States and Davenport played in one round. Now, Venus Williams said at the recent Grand Slam Cup in Munich that she would like to play in at least one round of Fed Cup in 1999, possibly two.

As for the 1999 Davis Cup draw last week, it is somehow appropriate that the United States is playing Great Britain in the first round on April 2-4 in England. It will be the 100th year of Cup play, and the competition began with the United States playing the British Isles at the Longwood Cricket Club in Boston in 1900.

The surface will be a quick carpet indoors, and the front-runner for the site appears to be Manchester. Other venues mentioned include Wembley Arena, Birmingham and Newcastle.

CLASS ACT

Sampras is doing everything he can to finish No. 1 for an unprecedented sixth consecutive year--which would break his tie with Jimmy Connors--and is so motivated he will end up playing in Europe for five straight weeks.

If it happens, give Boris Becker a subtle assist.

Sampras, upset at having lost in the first round at Basel, Switzerland, had intended to head back to the United States. But he slept on it and called another player, asking him for his wild card at this week’s event in Vienna.

It was Becker.

Becker, understanding the chase of history, graciously surrendered his wild card to Sampras.

Wonder if Becker, a hoops fan, will be spotted courtside someday--post-lockout--at a Laker game, courtesy of Sampras?

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

* “I’d have to say Sampras, Sampras, Sampras, Sampras, Sampras.”--Andre Agassi, on the five all-time best players.

* “You’ve got to make sure you can deliver when you give an auction item. I wouldn’t be able to deliver on that one.”--Agassi, on whether his recent charity event included a travel package to see him playing Davis Cup in 1999.

DROP SHOTS

“A Legend and Her Friends, Billie Jean King Day,” which includes a tennis clinic, celebrity exhibition match and pro-am event, dinner and auction, is scheduled for Nov. 8. The fund-raiser, for athletics at Cal State Los Angeles, will feature tennis events at Cal State L.A. and the reception, dinner and auction is at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. Besides Billie Jean King, Rosie Casals, Tracy Austin and Pam Shriver are scheduled to participate. Details: (323) 343-3080.

The 1999 ATP Tour calendar was released last week, and the Los Angeles event at UCLA, which starts July 26, kicks off the outdoor hard-court season leading up to the U.S. Open. This year, Los Angeles followed Washington--Agassi won both events. In 1999, Washington moves to the week of Aug. 16, sharing the slot with Indianapolis. Gone from the men’s schedule is New Haven, Conn., sold for $1.7 million to organizers of the Kitzbuhel tournament in Austria. Financial losses hurt the New Haven men’s event, but it will continue as a women’s tournament, Aug. 23-28. This year, the women’s event outdrew the men’s.