Lindsay Davenport Biography - Athletic Family, Breaks Through In 1996, Knee Surgery In 2002, Chronology, Awards And Accomplishments
tennis french top australian
1976-
American tennis player
Lindsay Davenport has won three Grand Slam women's tennis tournaments—all but the French Open. Davenport, who rose to a No. 1 ranking with little of the fanfare of some of her peers, looked to return to top form after missing much of 2002 to knee surgery.
Playing in her first big test of 2003, Davenport reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. She found herself adjusting from a No. 1 rank more than a year earlier to just barely in the top ten. Davenport's Grand Slam victories are the U.S. Open (1998), Wimbledon (1999) and the Australian Open (2000). She has never made it past the quarterfinals in the French Open.
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Davenport's father, Wink, played on the 1968 U.S. Olympic volleyball team and her mother, Ann, served on the board of the U.S. Volleyball Association. Both were tall and Lindsay grew to 6-foot-2. (She has worn a size 10 men's tennis shoe.) She broke from her family's volleyball tradition, took up tennis, and played under the tutelage of the U.S. Tennis Association as a pre-tee…
She lost weight, however, and regained confidence. 1996 was a breakthrough year. Davenport won the Olympic gold medal in Atlanta, defeating Spain's Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in the final, and was one of only four players to defeat Steffi Graf. In addition, she helped the U.S. capture the Federation Cup tournament. Davenport finally won her first major, at the U.S. Open in New York in 1998. Sh…
Davenport, who injured her right knee at the season-ending championships in 2001, underwent arthroscopic surgery in January, 2002, to correct a full-thickness cartilage defect; she missed the first half of the year. In the U.S. Open, she lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Serena Williams. In the 2003 Australian Open, Davenport struggled at times but reached the fourth round before losing …
She is self-effacing, lacks the dominance of Serena and Venus Williams, the stridency of Hingis and the sex appeal of Anna Kournikova. Some in women's tennis and media circles feel Davenport has been shortchanged in publicity, particularly in June, 2000, when Sports Illustrated ran on its cover a photo of Kournikova, who has never won a professional tournament, in a sexually suggestive pose…
McCann, John T. Lindsay Davenport. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2001. Barovick, Harriet, "Who Are You Calling an Old Lady?" Time (September 7, 1998): 68. "Davenport Out to Reclaim Winning Form." New York Times (January 17, 2003): 5. Dillman, Lisa. "Davenport Planning Her Own Ring Ceremony." Los Angeles Times (November 1, 2002): D3. "Justi…
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