Lindsay Davenport sat down at a table on the grounds of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, a sigh of relief swept away in a warm desert breeze. It was a rare moment of relaxation for the tennis champion-turned-mother of four.
“It’s crazy fun,” Davenport said of her post-tennis life that is filled with TV commentating, potty training and school lunches.
“The days are long and tough, but a good tough.”
While Davenport was in Indian Wells in March providing commentary for the Tennis Channel, her mind largely was back home in Laguna Beach, where three of her four young children were waiting for their mom to get home.
She had the youngest, Haven, then 2 months old, with her, yet the yearning for the rest of her family hits her hard every time she is away, whether she is in the Southern California desert, Wimbledon or New York.
Davenport, 38, decided not to leave her family behind this week when she headed to Newport, R.I., where she will be officially inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame on Saturday. The whole family, including husband Jon Leach, accompanied her on this largely unexpected trip into tennis history.
“This was never a kind of plan for anybody, my parents and myself included,” Davenport said.
“Each step along the way we had to readjust. At first, it was, ‘Gosh, she’s pretty good, guess she should play national tournaments,’ or ‘I guess we’ll have to fly to New Jersey (for a tournament),’ and I was 10.
“Then it was, ‘Wow, the USTA is calling and wants you to play on the national team.’ Every step, everything surprised us.”
Davenport’s punishing groundstrokes and big serves caught many by surprise when she joined the professional ranks in 1995. Unassuming and quiet, her big serve and an arsenal of devastating shots quickly made her a force on the WTA Tour.
“She was one of the first big hitters in the game,” said Robert Van’t Hof, Davenport’s longtime coach. “She definitely had all the talent and deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
Davenport powered her way to three Grand Slam championships – the 1998 U.S. Open, 1999 Wimbledon and 2000 Australian Open – an Olympic gold medal (1996), plus 38 tour titles, cementing her place in tennis lore.
“I never thought about the Hall of Fame until after my second slam and (TV commentator) Bud Collins said something to me. I was like, oh I guess. Then I figured the last few years, yeah, it’s coming,” Davenport said.
Before she could accept the induction from friend and former tennis player Justin Gimelstob, Davenport first had to get to Newport, R.I., which proved almost as difficult a task as beating Serena Williams in a Grand Slam final. She tweeted:
“Trying to get 4 kids under 7 years old ready & into the car by 5am to head to airport could be our biggest challenge to date. Off to Newport”
“It (life) is so completely different now. (The days are) almost like a blur. First of all, we’re still getting used to four kids,” said Davenport, who gave birth to her fourth child in January.
“We’re up early. We’re up in the middle of the night. We take them to school in the morning. Come back. Try to play with the younger ones before they go down for a nap. I tried to work out once, but that doesn’t happen much anymore.”
Don’t misread Davenport’s comments. Truth is, she wouldn’t trade the diapers and baths for all the trophies in the world. OK, maybe the diapers, but certainly not the rest.
Even while she was dominating the women’s tennis circuit, Davenport talked about wanting to be a “soccer mom” complete with a minivan full of rowdy kids. She said that even her husband playfully says she was born to be a mother.
“I totally play the part now,” Davenport said. “I have the big Suburban. There are four car seats in it. It’s so completely different (than her previous life). … We are so blessed.”
Sometimes Davenport is so involved with Jagger, 7, Lauren, 4, Kaya, 2, and Haven, she forgets what daily life was like on the WTA Tour, when what to eat before a match was your biggest concern.
“You’re so totally selfish when you’re a pro,” Davenport said. “Obviously, I had a lot of time for myself and time for my goals, and I feel I probably got that out of my system.
“So now I’m fine that it’s not about me so much. I love the sport. I love my playing days. But I love what I’m doing now.”
Contact the writer: jcarr@ocregister.com
