Davenport, Van Roost Suffer the Pain of a Loss

By LISA DILLMAN

June 1, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PARIS —

Despair and disappointment were swirling around Court Central at Roland Garros in the late morning and early afternoon Wednesday. If you include physical and emotional pain, that captures what was, quite clearly, an extraordinarily difficult day for the winner and the loser.

While, in reality, Lindsay Davenport’s dream of a Grand Slam and first French Open title effectively ended almost two weeks ago when she injured her lower back in Rome, she did her best on her least favorite surface. It quickly went from uncomfortable to downright painful against Dominique Van Roost, who was once a top-10 player.

By the end of the match, both needed medical attention. But Van Roost, the 27-year-old from Belgium, had enough for one last push, defeating the second-seeded Davenport of Laguna Beach, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3, in a 2-hour 18-minute, first-round match at the French Open.

“I played a girl who was playing really well. I didn’t really feel like I could move that well,” said Davenport, whose injury situation makes her questionable for the defense of her Wimbledon title.

“Clay’s a little more difficult. But I’m only 23. I’ve got a lot more years. I’m not 29 or 30 yet. It’s going to be very difficult, but like I said, the injury didn’t help. I’ll be back.”

On this sort of devastating day, it was bound to somehow end in tears. After all, it was the first time Davenport had lost in the opening round of a Grand Slam event since the French Open in 1993.

Yet the emotional outpouring in the interview room came from the winner.

The tears flowed and one reporter helpfully supplied some tissue. There were more than a few damp eyes in the room because Van Roost was feeling so much pain on her birthday, her first without her mother, Louise Monami, who died recently from cancer. Van Roost withdrew from a tournament in Key Biscayne, Fla., in March to return to Belgium and got home the day her mother died.

“Usually I cry when I lose,” said Van Roost, mustering a smile. “This is a little bit special for me. I knew it was going to be tough for me to be here today, even if I lost the match.

“It’s not the victory against Davenport that counts for me. It’s a victory mentally for me to be back here because I fought a lot during the last months. I was not sure I was going to start playing again.”

She returned to the circuit in May and promptly lost two matches, in Rome and in Strasbourg, France, leading to the French Open. Her mood hardly improved when she got to Paris and saw the draw, a first-round match against Davenport, the reigning Australian Open champion.

“I arrived here and said, ‘Well, God is not really nice with me at this moment,’ ” Van Roost said.

Van Roost’s husband and coach, Bart, was in the friends’ box, and he leaned forward crying after Davenport hit a forehand return out on Van Roost’s first match point. He was disconsolate for several minutes and one of his wife’s supporters patted him on the leg.

“There is a life behind the tennis,” Van Roost said. “For me, it’s also very important. It’s good to have a husband who is also your coach because he knows exactly the situation. It’s probably a big thing for me today.

“I was ready for this match. Lindsay has the game for me. It’s easier for me to play against somebody who has the same game.”

Although Van Roost has dropped to No. 22 in the world and is not proficient on clay, she was not the ideal opening opponent for Davenport. In the last two years, Van Roost has recorded victories against Martina Hingis, Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova.

“In women’s tennis, in the top 20, if you’re not 100%, it’s going to make things a lot more difficult on yourself, especially on a surface I’m not that great on,” Davenport said. “She might not play that well on it either, but she obviously handled it a lot better than I did, came up with great shots.”

Davenport was still moving gingerly when she appeared for her post-match news conference. She said she did not plan to return to Los Angeles immediately because the long airplane flight would be uncomfortable. In fact, she said, the short flight from Rome to Paris bothered her back last week.

Through most of her career, Davenport has been consistent in Grand Slam events. Ever since a second-round loss at Wimbledon in 1997, she had not lost before the quarterfinals until Wednesday. In 32 Grand Slam events, Davenport has lost only three times in the first round--at the 1991 U.S. Open and 1993 French Open and now against Van Roost.

Even before Davenport wrenched her back late in the second set when she hit a serve, she was struggling. She rallied from a 4-2 first-set deficit and took the tiebreaker, 7-5, squandering four set points before winning it on the fifth. It was going to be a difficult test for Davenport and long day for her recently increased entourage, boyfriend Jon Leach and coach Robert Van’t Hof.

In all, she had 59 unforced errors and double-faulted eight times. Van Roost broke her serve seven times and Davenport responded, breaking her opponent’s serve nine times.

The situation grew serious when her back started going into spasms in the second set and she considered retiring from the match. But Davenport doesn’t recall ever defaulting, saying: “I’m almost 100% positive.”

It was a tough call. Then, early in the third set, Van Roost called for a trainer when she experienced cramping in her arms and legs.

What was Davenport thinking?

“Well, that I was still in a lot of trouble,” Davenport said, laughing. “I didn’t know what was wrong with her. Unless she retired first, it didn’t make it [the situation] too much better.”

Despite the loss, the injury and her immediate, clouded future, Davenport was handling the situation well, making a joke at her expense. She received the Prix Orange award, given by the French media to the most cooperative player.

“That’s probably the only one I’ll be taking back from here,” she said. “That was great. Hopefully, one day I’ll bring home another trophy from Paris.”

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At a Loss

Lindsay Davenport’s losses in the French Open:

* 2000--First round to Dominique Van Roost, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-3

* 1999--Quarterfinals to Steffi Graf, 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3

* 1998--Semifinals to Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 6-3, 7-6 (5)

* 1997--Fourth round to Iva Majoli, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2

* 1996--Quarterfinals to Conchita Martinez, 6-3, 6-1

* 1995--Fourth round to Kimiko Date, 6-4, 6-3

* 1994--Third round to Julie Halard, 6-4, 6-2

* 1993--First round to Judith Wiesner, 6-3, 6-1

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