THE MODERATOR: Eric, why don't go ahead and introduce our guest today, Lindsay Davenport.
ERIC ABNER: Thanks, Doug, and thanks, everybody, for joining us this morning. I hope all of you guys are doing well.
I think I know everyone who is attending this call, but if you guys give me just a second, I want to put my contact info into the transcript and the recording for anyone looking at this later on. This is Eric Abner, Tennis Channel Communications. Anyone can find me at my direct line 310-314-9445. That's 310-314-9445. My email is first initial, last name, so eabner@tennischannel.com. Tennis Channel is one word. Feel free to reach out to me before, during, after the March tournament. Anything related to Tennis Channel any time, you can find me.
As you all know, March is a great time for our sport and for our network. Once again, Tennis Channel is going to be the exclusive media home of Indian Wells and Miami. Like we've done in years past, we're going to show live matches all day starting at 11:00 a.m. local time when the first matches of the day through the end of live and then we'll run encore replays all night.
Fans are going to be able to follow both of these tournaments on our original Tennis Channel TV Network, our second channel T2, our app, and our website TennisChannel.com. What's new for us this year and something we're really excited to be able to offer to fans of this sport for the first time is the opportunity for anyone in this country to watch everything at both events for less than $10.
What that is about is in November we unveiled a new app and website that basically merged our traditional Tennis Channel TV Network with what we used to call Tennis Channel Plus, our subscription streaming service that gave you the opportunity to bounce around from court to court, watch matches on demand, choose the matches you wanted to watch, watch several matches at once, et cetera, et cetera.
As of November, anybody who subscribed to the traditional Tennis Channel TV Network also got what used to be called Tennis Channel Plus for free, no extra charge. They just needed to go into the app, and they're good to go. Likewise, the reverse is true. If you subscribed only to what used to be called Tennis Channel Plus, now it's just our app, you would now get the Tennis Channel, the traditional network. It's right there, no additional cost to you.
The part of this that is new it on top of that is the introduction of a monthly option. So now anybody in this country can dip in and out at a month. It's $9.99 to check it out. You've never been able to watch both of these tournaments for so little.
I would just say, last, as always, our teams at Indian Wells and Miami include a roster of former players, award-winning anchors, announcers, reporters. Among these we're going to have Hall of Famers Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Jim Courier, Andy Roddick, and of course, Lindsay Davenport, who is going to be working for us at both events again this year. I want to take a second to thank you, Lindsay, for taking the time this morning to share your thoughts with us going into March as well.
Last thing, we're going to be about 40 minutes today. We'll make transcripts available later this afternoon. I want to thank you guys again for taking the time. I hope all of us have a great month of tennis ahead of us. Doug.
THE MODERATOR: Great. We will open it up for questions.
Q. Lindsay, I'll make this easy. Madison Keys. Madison Keys, go. I know you probably have a tremendous amount of thoughts and emotions about her play and would love to hear you go off for a little while about what it was like to watch her do this and what you see and, I don't know, just everything you want to say about Madison Keys.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, it has been amazing to be a part of what an incredible journey for an amazing woman that I met when she was about 19 years old. So for me just to see her kind of evolve not only as a player but also a person and really kind of stay true to her core and her beliefs...
The tour is tough, and it is a tough life. A lot of players kind of go through the journey and come out on a side where they're not super happy about. Even early on with Madison it was always about keep good people around you. Your career is one part. Yes, you can achieve so much.
I was at her wedding in November with a pretty small group with a lot of people there that just really were so happy for both Bjorn and Madison. I left the wedding I have to say on the early side because I'm getting older (laughing). I was going to stay until the parties hours, but I left with her agent, Max. We left so happy with where she was in life and so happy and so content.
We were kind of talking about it, I wonder what this means for her tennis. It can go one of two ways, right? She might sail off into the sunset with a happy life, or maybe this will free her up.
Then to see the level of tennis she played in January. Obviously her and Bjorn have put in a lot of hard work and have taken a lot of time to really think about what kind of player she wanted to be, what would help her become that type of player, and they went to work. That's the kind of stuff that a lot of people on the outside don't see, tinkering with equipment, making her uncomfortable in practices, pushing her to a spot where previously maybe she was uncomfortable to get to, learning how to handle each kind of step in that process along the way. It was pretty remarkable.
Then just watching her pass through the Australian Open, I thought, you beat a player like Swiatek, and you think, okay, maybe it would open up the draw, or you beat a player like Rybakina a little bit earlier, and you think, okay, maybe it will open up. It never did, and that never seemed to bother her either. She just kept going. That was remarkable.
I thought about jumping on a plane to go down there. My son was still in the juniors, and she was obviously making a good run. I felt like, okay. My boss at Tennis Channel, Bob, was like, You should go down there tonight. I'm, like, No, I can't do it, I'm going to jinx them.
I was watching in the middle of the night in California fine and was super happy.
Q. Yes, you talk about her mental changes. Technically were there things that you have seen, having worked with her over the years at different times? Is there stuff she's doing now where you are, like, Okay, now it's different, now I see why this is making a difference?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, I still talk to her all the time and talk about things. I mean, Bjorn has done an amazing job, so I do know what has been going on. Not a part of it on court, so I'm not saying that, but the first focus was the serve.
In tournament after tournament Madison was coming up with a leg injury, and the shoulder had started to bother her in the last few years. So they did a lot of work on her serve. Mat Cloer, a great USTA coach, was also on court with them involved in trying to how do we get her serve to remain effective but take pressure off of certain areas of her body so she doesn't get injured when she comes to the quarters and semis of a tournament? She now changed where she now drags her foot up.
It was uncomfortable for her last fall, but trying to keep the bigger picture in mind and trying to serve better down the road, which paid off in Australia. Physically that's the best I've ever seen her body hold up.
It used to be when the clock got to about -- I used to get nervous at about two hours, like an hour, 45, an hour, 50 in a match. Like, will her body hold up? Even if she gets through this, will her body hold up tomorrow?
Even watching her in the last couple of years, that was always kind of like my stopwatch time. I think that was one of the greatest things also in Melbourne was seeing that matches were going so deep. Obviously the Swiatek match followed by the Sabalenka match, and her body just was fine. That was a huge change from any other tournament where she was running deep. Typically the body would start to break down as the tournament went on.
Q. I wanted to ask you actually also a couple of things connected to Madison, one of which is whether -- I just don't recall this -- during your playing days whether you made big equipment changes or played with one racquet for ten years and then switched to a different one? Aside from how that kind of a change might affect the way one plays, whether there also might be psychological things wrapped up in that in terms of comfort with something that you are used to and then making a change?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Absolutely. One of the stories you hear a lot are players will do really well. They'll then, in theory, sell out to the money, switch racquets, and their game goes down.
First of all, personally I'm a creature of habit, so it was way too scary for me to even think about. I loved my racquets as well. I actually still play with the one from 20-plus years ago. So I never entertained that. I didn't even entertain switching the frame with the same company. So maybe that was not the right thinking, but there was a lot that went into this.
She wasn't so sure in the beginning. Her husband/coach was very sure that he wanted to try a change also to help the shoulder and maybe some other benefits as well. Her agent and I were maybe more skeptical. So he was telling me at the wedding, he's like, I'm not doing a deal because so many players try other racquets. He has talked about it himself, Max, on a podcast, and I think Bjorn spoke about it as well on Andy Roddick's podcast. He is, like, I don't like to do deals right away. I want her to play through a few tournaments. Then we'll talk. That's fine.
So all of a sudden after she won Adelaide, it was like, Oh, man, okay. She was, like, You see, I really like this racquet. Obviously things changed then.
It's a big step to take, and I've seen it go both ways. Madison is probably at the extreme of that was amazing. She felt like it changed everything and unlocked things for her. For a lot of other players it goes the other way.
I know Bjorn was really looking at the science of it. He also tinkered with the string pattern and the strings and the equipment, like full-on change. You have to believe as a player, because if you have any doubts in your mind, typically you fall to that excuse then when things around going well on the court. It's easy to kind of get wrapped up in that.
She didn't. She totally trusted what Bjorn was doing. I think also because it was a process of working with some people in that industry and the business of it, she understood what the science meant to it, so it wasn't just a coach handing her a racquet saying, This will help you.
Madison is much better when she gets the info and she understands and she trusts the person giving it to her. So I know that they put in a tremendous amount of thought on it, and pretty crazy the story and how it worked out for her.
Q. It worked out okay.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, exactly (laughing).
Q. One other thing. You kind of touched on this a little in talking to Matt, but I wonder if you can go back to your first Grand Slam title and how, if and all, that might have changed things for you or what the biggest change was for you once you had reached that goal and then were looking ahead and moving into the rest of your career?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Yeah, different eras. So for myself I was 22. Honestly, in that era that was considered quite old. Like when I turned 20, it was typically people in that era and champions won their first majors at teens. It was Novotná at Wimbledon of '98 that kind of changed that narrative a little bit that you didn't have to be 16 to win your first major.
So I was 22, but I remember feeling a tremendous amount of relief for the first one. Obviously happiness, but when you kind of carry that burden, and some of it is due to yourself and the pressure you are putting on yourself as well as what you maybe hear from others or the media or other coaches, that can be pretty heavy. I was really happy to see Madison be able to celebrate it with a lot of happiness.
You can see it in the hours after she won, but I know there was probably also a little relief that she was able to accomplish essentially what is most tennis players' goals. I think now, similar to what I was saying about after the wedding, it can go one of two ways here. Either unlock more going forward, or maybe now she really goes off into the sunset as happy as can be. I think it's going to unlock her for more.
I know they're hunkered down and focused on how she can really make a good run at Roland Garros. She's a great mover on clay. So what does this mean for her going there? I think everybody in kind of U.S. tennis and everyone hoping that this great kind of run is just the beginning really.
Q. Looking ahead to Indian Wells with the excitement and everything around Tennis Channel and now that there's three American women in the top 5, Goff, Pegula, and of course, Madison. This is kind of a two-parter, but how well do you think they'll maintain the top-5 rankings? Out of them and a few others who are in the top 20, who do you think has the best shot at going the farthest at Indian Wells?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Well, that's a tough one, but it's honestly amazing what this generation has been able to achieve. Three in the top 5 is amazing, but you still feel like, like I know, they can even do more.
If you look at the players and their game styles, where they're at in their career, I believe Coco at No. 3, I believe she can go higher. I believe the same of Jess. We saw that at the US Open. She kind of unlocked some stuff for her by getting past the quarters of a major for the first time and getting to her first final. Obviously we've discussed Madison.
So I do think there's more on the horizon. I like to look at the conditions in Indian Wells quite a bit. The courts there typically play a little slower. The ball bounces a little high are, but it still travels through pretty quick. It's interesting.
If you look back at results from years past, Madison has played okay there, but it's never been like her favorite conditions. She's got some early losses there, but I think it should help her. It's just tougher to hit through the court there.
I do think it's a great surface for Goff in terms of it bounces up higher, she gets a lot of bounce and height on her forehand. She has that good kick serve. So I think it would be great conditions for her.
She didn't have a great trip in the Middle East, so I know she gets more motivated when that happens. I really expect her to kind of bounce back for the Sunshine Double pretty well.
I think Jess in Miami the conditions are really great for her. They're a little faster. The ball gets through the court. I think that rewards her game a little bit more.
Swiatek has been very comfortable in Indian Wells for a lot of years, so for me she's the favorite going into Indian Wells. Curious to see how Sabalenka rebounds. She called the Australian Open loss one of the toughest of her career. She didn't play great in the Middle East either. I'm just curious where kind of her mindset is at.
Once you've won a bunch of majors and won, sometimes you get so wrapped up in that, it's hard to think of some of the other tournaments. Sabalenka, you have to play well all year-round to give yourself chances at majors. She knows she needs to kind of rebound here soon also.
Q. Those are fantastic points all around. You mentioned the court conditions at Indian Wells, and I know that's been a hot topic on tour for both the men and women. How do you think the conditions overall that we've seen year-round have helped or hurt players going into Indian Wells considering it's a slower court?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's really up to the individual player. The other big factor at Indian Wells, and it only happens at a couple of tournaments where the difference between day and night in temperature can be at least 30 days. Sometimes it's a little bit more. It's very different if you are second night match or if you play at 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. So the players have to be able to adjust based on the basic weather patterns in a desert climate. A lot of players can struggle with that as well.
I always like to have a mixture of all playing situations with fast courts, slower courts, courts that bounce higher, courts that really skid through. I think it gives more parity. It gives players who play different styles chances at certain tournaments and makes it more of a challenge at others. I think the players will tell you that the difference between Indian Wells and Miami, even though they're both on hard court, the weather is much different, the courts play different. So that's a big challenge for these players.
The courts at Indian Wells I think favor a player like Swiatek or like Goff. They like just a little bit more time. They don't like to be rushed as much. A player like Pegula and Sabalenka, Keys as well, they kind of like the balls skidding into them and feel like they can use court speed to overpower opponents.
Q. Of course, we saw the attendance explosion at a lot of the big tournaments last year after a few slower years during the pandemic. I was just curious, Lindsay, what your observation was being out there at Indian Wells, seeing the crowd so big, and obviously relative to when you were playing or maybe even during those COVID years. What were your thoughts on that?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: It's been amazing the last few years of seeing how the fans have responded to tennis being back. It's been a couple of years, but you go to the first weekend in Indian Wells, and you see signs everywhere. It's sold out. It's so exciting. The final weekend, just the electricity around the grounds, and the players definitely feel it.
You see it at tournaments in the States, Miami. The US Open, another great example where people are really excited to see not only the tennis, but also these players and kind of get up close and personal again after a couple of years of not being able to.
Tennis has a great buzz around it right now. We were a little unsure what would happen obviously when you lose an era of great stars like we've had with Roger and Rafa and Serena. There was a period of uncertainty, but the next generation has really done a great job of taking control of the sport and leading with great people as well as great players.
There's no question that everyone is looking forward to the Sunshine Double. Everyone is always so excited to come out to these tournaments, broadcasters included, and to get a sense of the fans and the atmosphere. It's going to be really exciting.
Q. I would be remiss if I didn't real quick ask you about Carlos Alcaraz coming in and looking for the three-peat. The only players that have done that at Indian Wells are Djokovic and Federer. Pretty elite company that he has a chance to do so early in his career. What are your thoughts on his chances there?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: We were just talking about that with some of the women players. He is a player that is just so comfortable there on the men's side.
What he has been able to do and how he is able to play and also kind of the tension that he is able to handle as well, quite a testament to him and his personality. But even though he will be seeded 2, I believe behind Zverev... I don't think any crazy ranking points are falling off this week... he's the favorite in everyone's mind based on his past play. Obviously without Sinner there as well.
He's one of those types of players that can fill a stadium with people just so excited to see what shots he comes up with, the level that he brings. He has that "it" factor, and tennis is really lucky to have him in our sport. The surface we were talking about gives him more time to set up his forehands. It gives him more time to hit his drop shots. The ball is not skidding into him. He can still hit big enough to hit through the conditions, later in the day, at night sometimes when it gets a little heavier and a little cooler.
He's my favorite there to win the men. Swiatek is my favorite on the women's side followed closely by Goff. We'll see kind of what he is able to bring this season going into one of his favorite tournaments.
Q. You've already talked about a lot of the things I wanted to hear from you about, but I do want to ask you more about Swiatek. You said she is your favorite. She's playing at such a high level here last year when she won, but it seemed like her level has fallen off a little. Is there something you are seeing in her game or something that's changed that you could say explains why she hasn't had as much success recently?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: When Iga plays, there are certain players where you feel like they can't help but wear their emotions, and you get a really good sense of Iga if you are looking into her eyes. For whatever reason and we have no idea kind of what has been going on, but she just looks more stressed out on the court.
Whether that's because maybe the results haven't been there or the change of coach, I don't know. So I'm speculating. She just doesn't look as calm or at ease on the court when things kind of get a little bit close as she has in the past when she plays her best tennis.
She is just looking a little bit kind of pressed out there. Sometimes it only takes one tournament, one match, one set, something that clicks in for a player and things start to turn around. She's fortunate she's coming into one of her favorite tournaments, the tournament she's been so wildly successful at. A lot of times those kind of good emotions can kind of flip the switch also.
The court is perfect for her. It gives her time. Similar to Alcaraz, she still hits big enough. She can hit through the conditions. But mentally that is the biggest challenge for her. Is she fresh? Is she confident? Does she believe going in that she can play her best tennis and win one?
Similar to Sabalenka where she's playing to win Grand Slams, she was very disappointed to not win the Australian Open or to lose that match to Madison. She had it there for a period of time; let it slip away. Again, another player that didn't play great in the Middle East swing.
So she'll come in want and needing to do well I think just to try and get back to No. 1 also, keep that in reach. We'll have to see what her mindset is at.
I always say look at her and how she's comporting herself out on the court, how is she on the practice court, is she relaxed, because she is one you can kind of see pretty early on how she's feeling.
Q. You're right. Both those women, their body language tells a lot. Like you said, you can look in their eyes sometimes and know how they're feeling.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She's one of them pretty quickly for me, especially is she looking over a lot, is she snapping at her camp? I've seen that sometimes. When she's playing her best, her head is up. She's kind of within herself out on court, and she's not looking over or kind of conversing with anybody. We'll get a sense when her first close match kind of comes at Indian Wells.
Q. I wonder if you could give me a couple of quick breakdowns on two rising teenagers. Start with Mirra Andreeva. Just eight slams in her career. I wonder if you have seen enough to say she projects maybe a future No. 1. And what in her game in your opinion allows her to be so successful at such a young age?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: She's obviously got that in her. You never really are quite sure what it is. I believe that Goff was the last one that I saw play in the juniors, and you could tell immediately the transition to pros wasn't going to be as tough for Mirra as it maybe is for most junior that are transitioning to the pros because it just looked so easy for her. She's so good naturally.
Sometimes it's how they move about the court and how they can kind of read the shot, the understanding of the game. She seems to know what's going to come back at her from her opponent. I just don't think you can teach that. A lot of these players, you play for thousands of hours, and you are still, like, not totally sure.
She's very calm and comfortable when she's playing points. She has a couple of different ways to win them. She obviously can hit through opponents, but she also uses angle and drop shots and other ways to kind of win matches. She's getting more mature emotionally.
I think a couple of years ago sometimes she was acting like 15 or 16. Imagine that. Now I think she's starting to kind of totally accept that she belongs where she is. She can achieve more. Obviously Roland Garros was huge for her last year kind of breaking through to the semis. Just won her first 10000. She comes into Indian Wells pretty confident.
With that comes even more expectations, even though there's always been a lot on her, but she seems to handle it pretty darn well.
Q. Another teenager, this one on the men's side and one you know well I'm sure, Learner Tien. He has 73 wins since the start of 2024. He has played in nine finals since then. How do you explain the remarkable level of success he's having, and what are some of the things that make him special as a talent?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: I have known Learner since he was in the 14 and unders. I used to drive him to USTA practice and Carson, with my son. We would carpool.
He's always been wildly talented. The shots that he was able to hit, you would laugh at in the juniors. Nobody is hitting these crazy angles and these drop shots.
He's incredibly smart as well. I remember him telling me he was in school, like, two grades ahead of where he should be. He has a very high intelligence factor, out there, out there. I love the way that he and his family have gone about it as well. He played so many of the smaller ITF pro tournaments just in the States, in California.
You hear about that a lot with Italians how she they have this great system in their home country, and they don't really want their players to travel too far. Like, we want to be able to get champions and keep them nearby. Obviously Europe is a great avenue for them, but a lot of tournaments in Italy.
Learner took advantage of a lot of the summer circuit in California, all these 15Ks, 25Ks that are played. He stayed close to home for a long time. He's just slowly built his confidence kind of at every level. He's been successful at every level he's played at.
It seems like he burst on the pro tour pretty fast, but he has done a lot of hard work at the lower levels to get the confidence to rise. Everyone saw him at the Australian Open, which was just awesome. He's got a great setup SoCal, great parents.
To see him be able to put it together and get more power on his shots as well to be able to hang in there with the pros has been fun to see. I've always been a huge fan. I always call him a kid. Love the kid. He was another story line at the Australian Open which I was just so happy about. Michelsen was the other one.
Two kids kind of growing up in the same system in SoCal. I think those guys will be wildly popular out in the desert. Everyone who is in Southern California tennis has been following them for years. I think that will be super fun to watch them out there come to Indian Wells this time and be really well-received by all the fans.
Q. I have two questions. They're kind of related and kind of not. What is your perspective because you are a tennis mom, and you are the Billie Jean King Cup Captain. As a tennis mom watching your son come up the ranks, I'm wondering what those emotions are like for you. The second part is how in the world are you going to pick a U.S. team that has been so good? We've had Amanda Anisimova. We've had Ashlyn Krueger. We've had some people start to break through besides Madison. You have a great job. I don't know how you're going to do it. If you could just expand upon that.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: That's so funny. I'm not sure I do either job all that well. You can ask all of the players. But, yeah, it's kind of this wild time.
You know, you would never know how these decades go, and all of a sudden in my 40s, I think I'm more stressed in my 40s than I've ever been.
The tennis parent journey is obviously a tough one. You could ask any of the parents out there. I think also sometimes it's more of a challenge when you know so much and you're kind of watching your own child go through it. Luckily my husband kind of balances it out.
I grew up just wanting to go play at Stanford and had a dad that was really strict on education and 'stay in school' and, you know, 'you have to go to college.' Then my husband was, like, Oh, I'm going to be a pro. This is what's going to happen for me. Like the exact opposite happened for both of us.
We see it kind of as anything can happen. You never know what is in your destiny or on your path. We kind of relayed both messages to him. He gets it. It's fun to watch him compete. He's a great kid. He's gone through a lot. He works incredibly hard.
So obviously we're just proud as parents of who he is and the reports we get back from other people about him. Obviously he's a 17-year-old boy. He has his moments, but we'll take him.
It's hard for me to watch him. I don't know why it's getting harder as I'm getting older. Trying to get better at watching him.
Billie Jean King Captain is maybe one of the greatest honors I've had in my career. Amazing group. I mean, when we were talking about the American women before, I failed to mention not only how good they are, but how supportive they are of each other. It is pretty crazy how close they are, how supportive they are, how they'll practice together, they're cheering for each other.
I know Jess was over the moon for Madison when she won, as well as the other players. I think you could see it not only publicly, but I can tell you privately the reception was awesome.
The same when Jess did well at the US Open. I think that has been a remarkable part of Team USA on the men's and women's side. I think both Bob Bryan and I are lucky in this era that we are captaining.
Sometimes the schedule and the demands of the pro tour make it a little tricky to be Captain on who will play and who will go where, but like I said, I'm pretty ecstatic with all the players all the way down the rankings.
Q. I have a couple of questions sort of related to what you were saying. You have had four or five incredible chapters in tennis: a fantastic player, a really good broadcaster, coach and Captain, and not to be forgotten, a tennis mother. Sort of like Matt said at the beginning, can you just sort of go off on this? Are there connections between that? How does it help is being one and the other, and what's the toughest aspect?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Gosh, honestly the toughest aspect of kind of what I am doing is also having three daughters that don't play tennis. So I've been really trying the last five years. I think COVID kind of kicked it in that these are the years that I need to try and be there for them the most as possible. That is obviously personal, but the tennis part is amazing to be able to honestly work at Tennis Channel, be the Captain, and also go through this journey with our son.
They do intertwine quite a bit. My son trains at the USTA Center in Orlando. A lot of the pros go through there. So it's easy for me to get there and kind of watch him a little bit, but also check in with the amazing players that train there.
I love tennis. There are some people that come out of the sport that have been vocal how it's really hard or maybe they didn't enjoy it. I've loved every single facet of my life in the sport from the juniors to the pros. So for me to be able to go back to the tournaments and see the matches and broadcast them still gives me a lot of enjoyment.
My broadcasting career officially I think is now longer than my playing career, or it's right about the same. Like, oh, my gosh, wow, that went by in a hurry. I did my first tournament for Tennis Channel in 2008. It's been a while.
It's been amazing to see how the game has changed. Trying to understand that I think has been the most challenging part about how the players are able to hit the shots they're hitting because obviously I played, but I stopped in 2008, so that was a while ago now. You just couldn't do that with the shots. It was just starting, right? Rafa had been out there for a few years and was doing some incredible things, like what Alcaraz is able to do.
That's the part where I don't have my finger on the pulse because it seems so crazy the level they're playing at, but it's been a really lucky time for me right now with the Billie Jean King Cup and who the players are. All these wonderful players and women in the top 100, there are so many of them. They're really, really great to be around. That part has been pretty awesome.
Q. I must say that, if you are willing, I am curious about the story behind the naming of your son. The other thing is, getting back to Madison Keys, she emerged early. She had great results, tournament wins, and then some real tough moments in New York and otherwise, and then the injuries. What as a person got her and enabled her to make this incredible emergence in the mid or late of her career?
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: My son's name was not after Mick Jagger. It was just a name we liked. We thought he would have maybe more my husband's personality, and it's not. I'm not sure it's a great name. He's a pretty quiet, kind of calm kid.
He's a 17-year-old boy, but we didn't know what we were having, a boy or girl. If it was a girl, my choice was Marley. Not after Bob either.
My second kid, we knew we were having a girl, and we just looked at each other, like, We are not cool enough to have Jagger and Marley. We have nothing to do with music. Then we had to scrap Marley. It was just a name I liked, and my husband kind of rolled with it.
For Madison I think that in the last five years or so she had some really heart-breaking losses. I think she talked about the loss at the US Open to Sabalenka. That was a killer. I honestly never really talked about it, but I wasn't sure she would be able to come back from that one. She was playing some of her best tennis, and she was shattered.
For the group of us around her and close to her, it was tough. It was tough for many months. There are just some loss that is you always kind of remember or know about, and that was one that she knew she maybe had and got away. I think it was 6-0, 5-3 on Sabalenka and didn't get it.
Then combining that with Wimbledon last year where she was playing some of her best tennis and couldn't get through Paolini. I think it was 5-2 in the third to break. I think some people saw her go through this and maybe even had more empathy for her.
I think that the joy of seeing her win and be able to break through and kind of get over all of that in her own mind was even more -- it made people even love her even more because it has not been an easy road. She's had a lot of setbacks. She's had a lot of injuries, and she's worked really hard the last couple of years with her fitness coach, Lang, to kind of get rid of some of the injuries that would always come up.
She's done the work to kind of overcome a lot of the issues that kind of came her way. I think she started talking openly about working with a therapist as well on the mental side, and it's not easy sometimes for players. It's sometimes easier to kind of give up and go away than to really kind of dig in, but she was willing to do all that, and pretty quietly and privately as well.
I know she talked about it a lot after she won, but this was kind of all done to make her life better, post-career have no regrets, and see what could happen. To see how it all kind of came together for her was pretty overwhelming for all of us that know her and love her. There's probably five people that we started crying in the middle of the night because I was in California. I just couldn't believe it happened for her.
THE MODERATOR: Lindsay, thank you for the time. Eric, do you want to close us out here?
ERIC ABNER: Yeah, just thanks again, everybody, for checking in today. Again, please feel free to reach out to me. For all of our reporters on the call, if you are not on our app, please reach out to me, and we'll get that straightened out. Thank you, again, Lindsay and Doug. Let's have a great March.
LINDSAY DAVENPORT: Thank you, guys.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks again, everybody. Glad we got everybody in.
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