The Open Era
United States · born Palos Verdes, California, 1976 · Wimbledon singles and doubles champion 1999
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1999
Wimbledon singles and doubles champion
3
Wimbledon singles finals, 1999 to 2005
49-11
Wimbledon singles match record
98
Weeks as world No. 1
2h 45m
Length of the 2005 final
Lindsay Davenport was born in Palos Verdes, California, in 1976, the daughter of a 1968 Olympic volleyball player. She won the singles gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and three major singles titles: the US Open in 1998, Wimbledon in 1999 and the Australian Open in 2000. She first reached world No. 1 in October 1998, held the ranking for 98 weeks in all and finished four seasons on top. She won 55 singles and 38 doubles titles and played in three winning Fed Cup teams. She took breaks to start a family, returned to win in Bali in 2007 and played her last match in 2010. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014 and later coached Madison Keys.
| Wimbledon singles | Champion 1999. Finals lost 2000 and 2005, both to Venus Williams. Semi-finals 2001 and 2004 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon doubles | Champion 1999 with Corina Morariu, beat Mariaan de Swardt and Elena Tatarkova 6-4, 6-4. Final 1998 with Natasha Zvereva, lost to Martina Hingis and Jana Novotná 6-3, 3-6, 8-6 |
| Wimbledon mixed | Semi-finals 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2004 |
| Eastbourne | Singles 2001, beat Magüi Serna 6-2, 6-0. Doubles 2003 with Lisa Raymond |
| Finals to remember | 1999: beat Steffi Graf 6-4, 7-5. 2005: lost to Venus Williams 4-6, 7-6, 9-7 after holding a match point at 5-4 in the third set |
| Wimbledon | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Women's doubles | with Corina Morariu |
| 1999 | Women's singles | |
| Eastbourne | ||
| 2001 | Women's singles | |
| 2003 | Women's doubles | with Lisa Raymond |
Leading grass titles only: the grass majors, tour-level grass events since 1968 and the leading grass championships before 1968. †single source; ‡ sources disagree. Roll of champions
"I don't have anything to be ashamed of. But it's tough when you work so hard to achieve something like this, and it just doesn't quite work out."
The person behind the player.
Palos Verdes, 1980s
Her father, Wink Davenport, played for the United States volleyball team at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, and her mother, Ann, led the Southern California Volleyball Association. Their daughter grew to 1.89m, and Serena Williams later named her the hardest hitter she had faced.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 1999 · Fourth round
Against Barbara Schett she converted match point just as the rain began. Play was washed out for the rest of the day, and hers was the only match completed. She went on to beat Steffi Graf in the final and called it "one of the best days of my life".
Source: Tennis.comWimbledon 1999
A year after losing the 1998 doubles final 8-6 in the third set with Natasha Zvereva, she came back with Corina Morariu and won the title in straight sets. With the singles title, she left with two Wimbledon trophies from the same fortnight.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 2005 · Final
Serving at 4-2 in the third set, she felt her lower back stiffen and was broken back. She played on with treatment from the physio and had a match point at 5-4, which Venus Williams saved with a backhand down the line. "I was a little nervous there that on one ball, it might completely lock up," she said.
Source: Tennis MajorsOn tour, 1990s
Opponents struggled to describe her pace in anything but plain terms. Gabriela Sabatini said she liked "to hit the ball hard into the corner. Very, very hard." Gigi Fernández rated her forehand as good as Steffi Graf's. Davenport's own explanation was simpler: hitting the ball, she said, had always come naturally to her.
Source: International Tennis Hall of FameBali, 2007
She stepped away late in 2006 to have her first child, returned in 2007 and won the Bali title, her first since 2005, and was named WTA Comeback Player of the Year. She played her last Wimbledon in 2010, in the mixed doubles with Bob Bryan.
Source: WikipediaFree membership: player news, the grass court Atlas, the rankings and the grass season calendar.
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