Davenport Bandaged Like A Mummy

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday June 26, 2008

Linda Pearce in London

HAVING initially returned so seamlessly from the maternity leave that occupied her for 11 months, Lindsay Davenport's progress has stalled.

The former No.1 has limped into the second round of her comeback Wimbledon with subdued expectations and a sore, heavily bandaged, right knee. Seeded 25th, Davenport needed three sets to eliminate lowly Czech Renata Voracova at the tournament where the triple major winner reached the final in 2000 and 2005.

The knee injury has troubled her for several weeks and is still undiagnosed, although MRI scans have cleared the 32-year-old of structural problems.

Thus, although the first-round damage to the women's seeds was limited to No.17 Alize Cornet and below, Davenport gave no indication that she considered herself a chance to seriously threaten the new guard now established at the top of the game.

"It's not ideal," Davenport said before Thursday's second-round match against Gisela Dulko. "I'm just hoping it pulls up well. Some days it feels OK, and other days it is a problem. Two days ago it felt perfect. It's frustrating. I'm not really sure what to say every day."

And yet, as it was at her comeback grand slam in Australia, Davenport did not expect to be back at SW19.

"I did not. It's a real treat, a real honour and privilege," she said. "Real excited to be back here and be able to play. You know, I've had some of my greatest memories here. What started off as a grand slam that I probably liked the least, definitely turned into one I liked the most in the latter part of my career."

If Davenport's main accessory is now her young son Jagger, then Roger's cardy, Serena's trench coat and now Maria's shorts have ensured that fashion has been a topic almost as hot as the temperature during the opening days. Various balding, besuited weathermen have breathlessly forecast scorching conditions of, well, about 23 C. But this is England, after all, and any summer will do.

The roof is back over what was effectively a nude centre court last year, and all is in place except the clear retractable cover that will be ready for 2009.

Naturally, as the local media have been quick to predict, that will guarantee the driest, sunniest Wimbledon fortnight in history. Even this time, in blessed contrast to the dampness of last year, there is unlikely to be even a drop of rain until at least the weekend.

But back to Sharapova, and her partially sheer tuxedo-style top and shorts combination, which had the shutters clicking on court one and reporters twittering almost idiotically in the interview room.

"Not to bore you with a tennis question, but ..." someone said eventually.

"It's the tuxedo look. I was very inspired by menswear this year and every time at Wimbledon I want to do something classy and elegant," Sharapova said.

"This year I said, 'Why don't we do shorts' and I have never worn shorts before at a grand slam. There is a place to do it and that's Wimbledon."

In the event, Sharapova allowed France's Stephanie Foretz just five games - a satisfactory opening considering she had chosen not to play a lead-up event, preferring to return to California to regroup after her choke against Dinara Safina at Roland Garros.

"It was definitely a good start, considering I didn't have a warm-up tournament like I usually do," Sharapova said. "My main goal was just to go out there, get a feel for it as fast as I could and get the job done.

"It was great to get out there and get a feel for court number one. It was my first match on grass this year, so I did pretty well considering.

"You never know what is going to happen. You can have a great practice week, you can have a terrible practice week and then go out on court and things can feel totally different."

Venus Williams saw off one British opponent (Naomi Cavaday) on centre court after a competitive first set, and now faces another, Anne Keothavong, the only local woman who did not need a wildcard into the main draw.

Venus nominated her father Richard as the man who transformed women's tennis.

Her advice to Cavaday if she wants to reach the Williams level would be "to train with Mr Williams".

"That would definitely help, because he's a great coach," she said "That would be my recommendation. I think he's a real innovator on the court.

"Serena and I, we came out and we were able to play the game that he taught us. I think in essence it was really him who changed women's tennis, because we were just the students."

© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald

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