From

Only registered users can see links on this board! Get registred or enter the forums!

Three-time Grand Slam winner Lindsay Davenport, who is expecting her first child next spring, told ESPN.com on Wednesday that her priorities will shift to family and she has "no plans to play again."


"I hate the word 'retirement,' but this season was such a struggle physically for me, and I can't imagine playing again," Davenport said by phone from her home in Southern California. "I can't say there's any sadness, yet, about missing tennis. My life is with my husband and my future child.


"I feel like the second part of my life is about to begin, and I feel so lucky that if everything goes well, I'm able to go out like this. The timing couldn't be better," she said.


Davenport, 30, missed much of the 2006 season with chronic back pain. She returned to play several late-season tournaments, reaching the final at New Haven and the U.S. Open quarterfinals, and was noncommittal about her playing future throughout the summer and fall. She finished the season as the top-ranked U.S. woman at No. 25.


On Wednesday, Davenport sounded elated about imminent motherhood and unfazed at the prospect of ending her distinguished 15-year career. She said she and her husband of three years, former USC All-American Jon Leach, weren't planning for a pregnancy but took the "if it happens, we'll be happy" approach.


Aside from fatigue, she said she feels great physically.


"It's been wonderful," said Davenport, who said she is due in May. "I'm blessed -- both my mom and my sisters had easy pregnancies. It's just been hard not telling people."


Davenport was still keeping mum when she flew to the East Coast last week to participate in two exhibition events for charity. In Baltimore, where she played mixed doubles with Mike Bryan against Martina Navratilova and Bob Bryan at Pam Shriver's annual benefit, she reflected on the constant questions she fielded late this season.


"It's a little bit my fault," Davenport said last week. "I was probably a little bit too honest with my feelings throughout the years. There's no question after you've played so many years that you go up and down with your motivation."


Davenport openly talked about quitting a couple seasons ago because of the wear and tear and her desire to start a family. She half-wishes now that she had kept her thoughts to herself.


"For the 2½ years since then, I've been dealing with it," she said. "It didn't matter how I did. … 'So if you win here, are you going to retire? If you lose here, are you going to retire?'


"But there's some truth in that I've been playing 15 years and me talking about it gives [reporters] some credibility to talk about it," she said.


At the U.S. Open, Davenport sometimes felt she was being pushed to join Andre Agassi and Martina Navratilova, who took their final curtain calls there.


"I was sitting there, like, 'This might be my last Open, it might not,'" she said. "'I'm not tricking you guys, I just have no plans.'


"I had a great time playing. I was really glad I was able to get healthy and play there. … We were talking about Mary [Pierce] and Jennifer [Capriati]. That's a position I'm very happy I'm not in," she said.


Pierce and Capriati, whose playing futures are threatened by serious injuries, were among Davenport's top contemporaries in a pro career that began in 1993.


Davenport, a tall, good-natured Los Angeles-area native and daughter of two volleyball enthusiasts, was one of several players who ushered in an era of power tennis in the women's game of the late 1990s. Her balanced game and low-key, modest personality made her a popular and admired player on the women's tour.


She won 51 singles titles -- ninth on the all-time list -- captured the WTA's year-end championships in 1999 and finished atop the tour's year-end rankings four times, in 1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005. She also played doubles for most of her career and earned Grand Slam doubles championships on three surfaces.


She won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open singles titles in a three-year stretch from 1998 to 2000, along with an Olympic gold medal in 1996. Injuries sidelined her for much of the 2002 season, but she came back to have sensational years in 2004 and 2005, winning 13 tournaments.


Davenport played in two Grand Slam finals in 2005 and her loss to Venus Williams at Wimbledon that summer was both the longest ever championship match in that tournament's history and one of the most taut, exciting women's matches in recent memory.


"I'm excited for her," U.S. Fed Cup captain Zina Garrison said. "She's very family-oriented, has a great, close-knit family. I don't think she would have any regrets. She can walk away knowing she gave her all."

davenport is now coming back in doubles ?? so soon after the birth of her son

hell, yeah, i was a little bit surprised myself! also because it looked like she would never come back, devoting all her love, strength and time to husband and child.

but i suppose there are only advantages concerning her comeback: i always experienced her being one of the nicest girls on the tour, and she had kind words for her tour fellows everytime (except one time, but this isn't worth mentioning i guess)

so, good luck to her!!

yeah so true i like lindsay and i wish her all the best for her comeback
i m sure she ll be back kicking some butttt on the main tour soon

i just heard that she really wants to compete in the singles as well soon!! very ambitious, lindsay...
but i do not know whether this information is confirmed or when and where she's gonna be playing

.............. already in september??? this is a very fast comeback...!

oh yeah!!! I red it in your Pilot Pen Tennis 2007 thread, she's already into doubles! Well, we will see how she starts then...

watch out Ana....

go davenport i m really excited to see how she is playing so soon after the birth of her child i m sure she will be ok she knows herself better than anyone else!!

from wta tour os
August 21, 2007

Davenport Begins Road Back, Eyes 2008


NEW HAVEN, CT, USA - American Lindsay Davenport sees playing the Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick this week as a first step in what she hopes will be a full-fledged return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, after missing most of 2007 becoming a first-time mother.

"Obviously so much of my life has changed," Davenport said. "It's pretty wild. Anyone who's had a child knows everything changes in that split second when you realize your responsibilities. But you come to the same tournaments and see the same people and when you're practicing, it seems like you haven't missed a beat. It is exciting to be back and be around it. Obviously, it's a lot of fun to try and attempt this."

Last December, Davenport announced she was pregnant and took an indefinite leave from the professional circuit. She gave birth to son Jagger Jonathan Leach on Sunday, July 10 of this year, and just eight days later on Wednesday, July 18 announced her return to action, starting with playing doubles with Lisa Raymond in New Haven. But her short-term goals do include returning the singles discipline.

"The goal of mine is to be able to play singles; that's always in the back of my mind," Davenport said. "I am going at this with a singles player's mentality even though at this tournament I am playing doubles. But I'm hoping it'll give me more time and I'll be able to compete in singles again. I'm supposed to play a singles tournament in about four weeks or so, and hoping I'll be ready to go by then. I am fairly confident I'll be back to playing at a high level in singles by then."

As she regains momentum, the 31-year-old American hopes to be back at her best to kick off the upcoming 2008 season.

"I am really trying to get ready for next year," she continued. "I'm going to have to play a light schedule with Jagger and everything else. For the fall, it is going to be two events and then take some more time to get ready for '08 and hopefully play singles here at the Pilot Pen Tennis in '08."

Since turning pro in 1993 at the tender age of 16, Davenport has amassed an impressive 51 singles titles on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, including three majors (1998 US Open, 1999 Wimbledon, 2000 Australian Open); she also holds 36 doubles titles, three of them being majors (1996 Roland Garros w/Mary Joe Fernandez, 1997 US Open w/Jana Novotna, 1999 Wimbledon w/Corina Morariu). The American was also a regular participant on her country's Fed Cup and Olympic teams, and held onto the world No.1 ranking for 98 non-consecutive weeks, beginning in October 1998 and ending January 2006.

Davenport has also reached the Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick final a total of seven times, winning the event in 1997 (beating Sandrine Testud in the final) and 2005 (beating Amélie Mauresmo in the final).

oh he is soooo cute!!!!!

cute little sunshine!!
hope davenport's return on the tour will be successful for her

yeah i hope so too !! we will see when she returns to full tour what happens she is a great tennis player and a great advert for the sport of tennis