Davenport Feeling Left Out at Open

Lindsay Davenport stands 6-foot-2, has won three Grand Slam tournaments, is ranked second in the world and is the reigning Olympic singles champion.

Yet she’s almost an afterthought when it comes to picking the contenders for the U.S. Open.

“It’s fairly predictable on the women’s side,” said John McEnroe, a four-time Open winner himself who will be in the announcer’s booth for CBS Sports and USA Network during the tournament, which begins Monday.

There are the Williams sisters--Venus is the reigning Wimbledon champion, Serena the defending U.S. Open winner--and top-ranked Martina Hingis, who hasn’t stood on the winner’s stand since the Australian Open in January 1999.

Oh, yeah, there’s Davenport, too. All she’s done is win the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, the U.S. Open in 1998, Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open this year. But ask any of the pundits, and her name is at least fourth on the list.

“There’s a lot of great players out there,” Davenport said Thursday when asked if she felt overlooked by those predicting the Open outcome.

The oldest of the group at 24, Davenport is not 100 percent healthy coming into the year’s final Grand Slam tournament. She retired with a sprained left foot in her third-round match in Montreal earlier this month. She said the injury hampered her preparation for the Open, but felt the foot would be much better by the time she played her first-round match against Gala Leon Garcia of Spain.

Tracy Austin, twice the women’s champion at the National Tennis Center and now sharing the USA Network broadcast booth with McEnroe, said Davenport couldn’t be too happy with her draw, noting she could play Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.

“Lindsay’s 5-1 down in her head-to-heads with Serena,” Austin said.

Hingis and Davenport have traded the No. 1 ranking six times since the American first bumped Hingis from that spot after winning America’s premier tournament two years ago. In her latest run, Hingis has held the top spot since May.

Davenport was in the forefront of the women’s power parade, hitting equally hard from either side and setting up points with a big serve. Mention power, and it was Davenport and Mary Pierce, who will be seeded fourth next week and could be Davenport’s opponent in the semifinals.

The book on Davenport and Pierce was to keep the ball away from their power zones, if at all possible, and make them move, since neither could be considered agile.

Davenport, however, lost weight and gained mobility as she pounded her way to the top of the women’s game.

But then along came the Williams sisters, who combine as much if not more power with quickness and speed.

“It’s mental,” Austin said of the sisters. “The players are not used to all that power coming at them. The frustrating part is when you think you’ve hit a great shot. Not only do they get it back, but they hit a winner off it.”

Davenport has a better record against Venus Williams than against Serena, leading their personal duel 9-5. But Venus has won four of their last five meetings and the last three times they have played on hardcourt.

“Maybe the Williams sisters were not consistent enough before to (win) all the time,” said Hingis, who won three of the four Grand Slam tournaments in 1997 when she was 16 and three more since. “They would have one or two good matches and, when they had to play someone good, they couldn’t do it any more.

“But in the last two years they’ve learned a lot, and that’s why they’re at the top of the game right now.”

Austin believes the Williams sisters are just getting started.

“I don’t think they’ve reached their potential,” she said. “Now it’s a question if they can continue that consistency. I think both are working on learning how to construct points. They can really take over the game.”

Of course, Davenport knows how to stay in the spotlight. She is the only woman to win a Grand Slam event in each of the last three years.