They’re Looking for a Few Matches to Light the Old Fire

Apparently a woman of divided attention, Serena Williams kept glancing up at a television monitor during her brief question-and-answer session with the media at the Home Depot Center in Carson on Monday afternoon.

It was footage of none other than Maria Sharapova, including a shot of the then-17-year-old Russian on the cover of Sports Illustrated after she won Wimbledon in 2004.

Well, why not keep an eye on the competition? After all, the top-seeded Sharapova is the literal, and symbolic, leading opposition for two former No. 1s on the comeback trail in Carson -- Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport. Williams, 24, and Davenport, 30, have a combined 10 Grand Slam singles titles with Williams holding seven of them.

For Davenport, out since March because of an injured back, the road back starts this week at the JPMorgan Chase Open. For Williams, this is stop No. 2. She resumed competitive tennis last month, reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati, after being out since January because of an injured knee.

Though short on specifics about her knee and rehabilitation, and seeming almost bored, Williams did show a lighter side. “My first goal is to get back in the top 100,” Williams said, laughing. “That’s really exciting. Once I get there I’ll obviously move forward in the rankings.

”... I’m really confident or else I wouldn’t be out here. I don’t feel any problems as to me getting back to the top at all.”

For the record, Williams is ranked 110, a number holding virtually no relevance other than the fact it reflected she was off the circuit from mid-January through mid-July. Proof that she’s back came in her first match at Cincinnati, where Williams overpowered 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina of Russia, 6-2, 6-2. “Yeah, I was really surprised, that was a really tough round,” said Elena Dementieva of Russia, who is seeded third in Carson. “She was looking for some easy matches. That was a tough one she won quite easily. It just takes some time when you are coming back after a long break, just to get your confidence back. You need some matches to play, some matches to win.”

That’s what Davenport is trying to do. She lost to Martina Hingis in the fourth round at Indian Wells in March, and paid the price of playing too long with an injured back. In May, Davenport said, she was finally able to start walking “half normally,” and her husband, Jon, was a key to her return, urging her to hit a few tennis balls in early July.

Davenport said she trained on a court in Laguna Beach, her hometown, next to Andre Agassi. She said it would have been nice to arrange a hitting session with Agassi’s wife, Steffi Graf, but it didn’t work out.

Not having a specific date in mind for a comeback helped to decrease the pressure, she said. Davenport is ranked 10th and seeded fourth and will face qualifier Alexandra Stevenson or Samantha Stosur of Australia in the second round. The months of missed match play tend to raise questions even among pros such as Williams and Davenport.

“That remains to be seen, what my level is at -- I could play like the No. 1 in the world and be ranked 100,” Davenport said. “I remember coming back from knee surgery and I took 2 1/2 months of practicing and really making sure everything was good.

“This definitely has more of a feel of I’m winging it a bit. But I wanted to get some matches, wanted to see where I’m at. I certainly don’t think I’m going to make a fool of myself. I know I’ve been hitting the ball well. For me, it’s a matter of learning to play points, play the matches and seeing how it goes.”

And so, two of the best players of their era, Williams and Davenport, will be entering the U.S. Open this month in a new role, not among the top two or three favorites, unless things change quickly in the next couple of weeks. The timing of the year’s last Grand Slam event did factor into the comeback equation.

“I definitely counted the weeks when I started, that would be about eight weeks,” Davenport said of timing it to the Open. “For the first time in many years, I have nothing to lose. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders with taking a break and stepping away from tennis and relaxing. With that, your ranking falls. And I don’t have to be the 1 or 2 seed. I can be the floater and that’s kind of an exciting time. I haven’t had that in a really long time.”

The Williams sisters have made an art of rounding into form just in time for a Slam event. It may be harder for Venus, who was scheduled to play in Carson but withdrew citing a lingering wrist injury, but Serena has made a career of surpassing lowered expectations even before she won her first Slam event.

Dementieva knows Serena is more than capable.

“I remember her playing at the Kremlin Cup many, many years ago and she came with Venus and she was warming up with her, and I thought she will never play. She was that bad,” Dementieva said of the tour stop in Moscow. “In one year, she did an unbelievable move in the rankings. I was just surprised how quick she became a very solid player.”

Williams, a wild-card entrant, will play 11th-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia in the first round tonight, and Dementieva spoke about the importance of having the Williams sisters in the sport.

“I think it’s good for the tour to have them back,” Dementieva said. “Especially Serena, like I said, she’s a very spectacular player. I think people and players enjoy watching her play.”