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Lindsay A. Davenport (born June 8, 1976 in Palos Verdes, California)
is an American and current World No. 1 professional female tennis player.
She has won three Grand Slam tournaments: the 1998 U.S. Open, 1999 Wimbledon,
and the 2000 Australian Open. She also won the Olympic gold medal in 1996.
Davenport was ranked as a #1 women singles and doubles player several times
between 1998 and 2001, and twice again in 2004. She has been ranked number
one throughout the 2005 season. She was the year-end #1 player in 1998, 2001,
2004, and 2005. Only 3 other women have finished number 1 at least four times
since the computer singles ranking was established in 1975; Steffi Graf (eight
times), Martina Navratilova (seven) and Chris Evert (six). Davenport has
won three doubles majors: the 1996 Roland Garros, 1997 US Open, and 1999
Wimbledon. Her father, Wink Davenport, was a member of the US Olympic volleyball
team in 1968.
Her game is built largely around her groundstrokes, which
are considered to be among the most cleanly-struck in women's tennis. Lack
of court speed is perhaps her greatest weakness, partly because of her size;
at slightly over 6'2" (1.89 m), she is one of the tallest women ever
to play top-level tennis. However, she has worked to overcome this by losing
weight, overhauling her conditioning program, and becoming mentally stronger.
She is an advocate for the mental game, as evidenced by her comments on the
cover of "Smart Tennis: How to Play and Win the Mental Game."
She has a reputation amongst the tennis press, and thus much
of the tennis-watching public, of being thoughtful, polite, and balanced,
unlike some of her contemporaries. She is also known among fans and subject
experts to be a good autograph signer. However, her relative lack of "charisma"
(or, more likely, her less glamorous appearance than some others on the tour)
has resulted in less attention being paid her than some contemporaries with
inferior results (see Anna Kournikova).
Davenport married investment banker and former All-American
footballer Jon Leach, brother of tennis player Rick Leach, in 2003.
Lindsay had an excellent year in 2004. She won a tour-high
seven titles including four straight during the summer, and posted the most
match wins on the WTA with 63. She finished the year ranked Number 1 for
the third time in her career. Her success continued into 2005 when she made
her first Grand Slam final, at the Australian Open, since the US Open in
2001. At a tournament in Indian Wells, California in March, Davenport made
history by defeating world number three Maria Sharapova 6-0 6-0. It marked
the first time that a player ranked in the top three had ever been "shut
out" on the WTA Tour, and was also the first time Sharapova had ever
lost 0-6 0-6.
Davenport bypassed the European clay-court warm-up season
and went to the French Open without having played a professional competitive
match for some weeks. She confounded expectations with a run through to the
quarter-finals on her least favourite surface after four tough three-set
matches, including a thrilling come-from-behind win against Kim Clijsters.
Davenport lost to eventual runner-up Mary Pierce but returned for Wimbledon
as the top seed.
She easily made it to the fourth round, where she was tested
by Kim Clijsters again, but she came through in three sets to win her second
successive match against the rejuvenated Belgian. Davenport then sailed to
the semi-finals, where her match against Amelie Mauresmo was interrupted
by rain and was completed over the course of two days. Davenport eventually
defeated Mauresmo 6-7 7-6 6-4 and faced 14th seeded Venus Williams in an
all-American final. The thrilling epic found Davenport leading most of the
way including holding one match point at 5-4 final set. Williams went on
to win 4-6 7-6 9-7 in the longest and possibly one of the most dramatic Wimbledon
finals in history. In that match, Davenport sustained a serious back injury
while leading 4-2 40-15 in the final set. The injury forced her to withdraw
from Fed Cup competition. Davenport returned to the tour in Palo Alto, California.
After re-injuring her back in a warm up just hours before her match, Davenport
retired while trailing 5-0 in the first set. This back injury then forced
her to withdraw from other hardcourt events in Carlsbad and Los Angeles.
Davenport returned to the WTA Tour in August, winning her
comeback tournament in New Haven, Connecticut without dropping a set. Davenport
went on to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open, where she held a match
point on Elena Dementieva before falling 7-6 (6) in the third set. Davenport
lost the #1 ranking following the event.
After the upsetting loss at the US Open, Davenport went on
a tear during the fall season. She captured title in Bali without dropping
a set, and subsequently qualified for the WTA Tour Championships. She then
won the title in Filderstadt, Germany, defeating Amélie Mauresmo in
the final for the second year in a row. The win made her only the tenth woman
ever to win 50 career WTA singles titles.
In Zurich, on October 20, 2005, Davenport defeated Daniela
Hantuchova 3-6 7-5 6-2, saving two match points. By winning the match, Davenport
was assured of recapturing the World No.1 ranking from Maria Sharapova the
following week. In subsequent matches she inched past Francesca Schiavone
6-4 4-6 6-4 and defeated seventh seed Anastasia Myskina 6-0 6-4 to reach
her 6th Zurich final in as many visits and set up a rematch of the 2002 final
with Swiss Patty Schnyder, which she had lost in a close encounter. She overcame
the sixth seed 7-6(5) 6-3 for her fourth title at Zurich and her sixth title
of 2005, next only to Kim Clijsters' nine. It was also the first time Davenport
had saved match points en route to a victory since the 1999 US Open. The
Zurich Open victory leaves her with 11 Tier I titles, the most amongst active
players.
She finished a semifinalist at the prestigious WTA Tour year-ending
Championships - losing a tight match to Mary Pierce 7-6 7-6 - which ensured
that she finished the year ranked No.1. 2005 was the fourth time in her career
that Davenport ended the year ranked No.1.
In 2005, TENNIS Magazine put her in 29th place in its list
of 40 Greatest Players of the TENNIS era.
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