| | Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England -- Out-hit and often caught flat-footed
by Venus Williams in the Wimbledon women's final, Lindsay Davenport
was just two points away from possibly turning the match around.
|  | | Lindsay Davenport served for the second set but wasn't able to take advantage. |
Leading 6-5 in the second set and love-30 on Williams' serve -- Williams would later admit she was "feeling pressure and rushing"
at that juncture -- Davenport was in a spot to slow the march of
tennis history.
"A few shots here and there, and I could have pulled that set
out," Davenport, last year's Wimbledon champion, said after
Saturday's 6-3, 7-6 (3) loss.
"Who knows what would have happened? She was getting a little
tight serving."
But Williams won four straight points -- one with a thumping ace,
others as Davenport sent groundstrokes long or wide -- to force the
tiebreaker.
"I tried really hard to get back into it ... but it didn't fall
into place today," said Davenport, who had been 3-0 in Grand Slam
tournament finals.
Davenport's serve deserted her Saturday.
She had no aces, five double-faults, and won only 29 points on
her serve. Williams had three aces and won 40 points on serve.
"Sometime you just don't serve that well. I was just out of
rhythm, maybe," Davenport said. "I don't know. I wish I knew. I
would have figured it out, then."
She played with her left thigh taped, has been nursing various
injuries for months -- and suggested she deserved an award for
simply making the final.
"It kind of seemed to be the story of the whole tournament:
just not playing my best but playing well enough to win," she
said.
But against Williams, that wasn't nearly enough.
"She was hitting the ball a lot deeper than I was," Davenport
said, "and that didn't give me a chance to hit the shots I wanted
to hit."
Davenport's biggest booster after the match was Williams'
father, Richard.
"I don't have nothing to say at all except that Lindsay is a
great player," he said. "I love Lindsay. And I think she's a
wonderful human being.
"Everyone should write about Lindsay more. Lindsay is a
terrific human being. She plays well, and she never has nothing
derogatory to say about no one."
Davenport smiled when told of the praise. But, as usual, she
turned the spotlight elsewhere.
"That's nice of him," she said. "You know, she (Venus
Williams) deserves all the headlines. That's the way it goes."
Now Davenport leaves for a week's vacation in Hawaii as one of
Wimbledon's best-liked and least recognized champions.
The last two weeks she often would go to Wimbledon village, a
five-minute walk from the All England Club, for a morning coffee --
and rarely was noticed.
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