Confidence Is Elusive, but Davenport Prevails

Even to the untrained eye, she looks the same -- perhaps even fitter -- plays the same powerful baseline game and sounds the same.

After all, Lindsay Davenport isn’t going to start changing radically at 26. But it doesn’t take much detective work to sense there has been a difference. She’ll be the first to say it.

The departure of her longtime coach, Robert Van’t Hof, late last year was not her only loss. Davenport has been searching for that often-elusive commodity -- confidence. Though she won a tournament in February in Tokyo, working with future brother-in-law, Rick Leach, confidence has been slipping through her fingers like sand.

“There’s no question,” she said Thursday. “When I stopped working with Robert, there’s no question a piece of confidence is gone just because I relied on him for so long. I think he’s a brilliant coach. He worked with me so well.”

Van’t Hof was always more than a coach. He was a friend and a training partner. When she had questions about her future following her knee surgery more than a year ago, Van’t Hof was there for emotional support then and later when she returned before the U.S. Open.

“When I came back last summer, I felt I played with a lot more confidence and a lot more energy than I have so far this year,” she said. “I was surprised how well I was able to come back last summer.”

A prime example of her inconsistency was on display Thursday in a second-round match at the Pacific Life Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The fourth-seeded Davenport was up a set and 3-0 against Daja Bedanova and suddenly the Czech teenager was back in the match, winning the second set and breaking Davenport in the first game of the third.

Though Davenport prevailed, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, she was shaking her head afterward. There were two mild upsets in the second-round: Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia beat No. 9 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-2, and Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, defeated No. 7 Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-3.

“I feel like it was so streaky, and that frustrates me more than anything,” Davenport said. “I just kind of let up again and the next thing I know, it’s a really tough match, and I’m in the third set.

“I’m still just frustrated overall with how my game’s been going. I have to pull myself up and out of that. Overall, I’m just not as consistent as I need to be. My confidence is not at an all-time high. In this game, so much of it revolves around confidence and playing and letting tennis happen.

“There’s no question I’ve been fighting to try and play better for a little while now.”

Second-seeded Jennifer Capriati put her own spin on the issue of confidence. Capriati, who had not played here since 2000, beat Antonella Serra Zanetti of Italy, 6-4, 6-2, and is in the same half of the draw as Davenport and No. 5 Amelie Mauresmo of France, who beat Myriam Casanova of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-0.

“My expectation is not to expect too much from myself,” Capriati said.

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Pacific Life Open

Today’s featured matches at Indian Wells. TV coverage begins Monday on ESPN and ESPN2:

STADIUM COURT

* Marion Bartoli, France vs. Chanda Rubin

* Barbara Rittner, Germany, vs. Jelena Dokic, Serbia

* Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, vs. Petra Mandula, Hungary

* Kim Clijsters, Belgium, vs. Fabiola Zuluaga, Colombia

* Lisa Raymond vs. Silvija Talaja, Croatia