Lindsay Davenport

Lindsay Davenport is the daughter of Wink Davenport, who was a member of the U.S. volleyball team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and the former Ann L. Jeberjahn, the president of the Southern California Volleyball Association.

Davenport was born to an athletic family.

While her two older sisters, Leiann and Shannon, played volleyball, Lindsay began playing tennis at age six.

She was coached by Robert Lansdorp, who had previously coached Tracy Austin.

She attended Chadwick School in Palos Verdes Peninsula, California.

At age 16, her family moved to Murrieta, California, where she attended and graduated from Murrieta Valley High School, and she began to work with, among others, Robert Van't Hof.

At age 16, Davenport joined the United States Tennis Association junior national team.

She had a rapid growth spurt — about six inches in two years — which affected her coordination, but did not hinder her performance.

Lindsay Ann Davenport Leach (born June 8, 1976) is an American former professional tennis player.

She won the women's singles in the Ojai Tennis Tournament in 1990.

She excelled at junior level competitions and swept the singles and doubles titles at the National Girls' 18s and Clay Court Championships in 1991 and won the Junior U.S. Open in 1992.

While Davenport's first play dated back to 1991, she officially became a professional two years after her first professional-level matches.

Davenport's doubles success in 1993 was a 17–16 record while she reached the top 100 in doubles rankings.

She reached the third round at the 1993 Australian Open doubles competition with Chanda Rubin.

Davenport entered the top 20, despite coming into her first tournament that year ranked no. 162.

She qualified for the 1993 Australian Open, reaching the third round before falling to Mary Pierce.

She reached the third round at the 1993 Wimbledon Championships, and at the 1993 US Open, the American reached the fourth round ranked no. 24.

1993 is also notable because it was the one time she faced Martina Navratilova, falling in three sets, 6–1, 3–6, 5–7, in the Oakland semifinals.

Davenport won the first professional tournament she entered in Brisbane, Australia.

At the Australian Open, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, defeating no. 5 Mary Joe Fernández in the fourth round, before losing in the quarterfinals to top-ranked Steffi Graf.

Davenport then reached the semifinals at Indian Wells, California and Miami and won the title in Lucerne.

At Wimbledon, Davenport reached her second Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Ranked ninth, Davenport defeated tenth ranked Gabriela Sabatini, before losing to third ranked Conchita Martínez, who went on to win the tournament.

In November, she reached her first WTA Tour Championship final, losing to Sabatini.

In doubles, Davenport won Indian Wells with Lisa Raymond and reached the French Open doubles final with Raymond, where they lost to Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva.

Davenport teamed with Arantxa Sánchez Vicario to win the title in Oakland, defeating Gigi Fernández and Martina Navratilova in the final.

In December 1994, Davenport hired Craig Kardon as her coach.

Davenport started the year by reaching the final of the tournament in Sydney, where she lost to Gabriela Sabatini.

Davenport again reached the Australian Open quarterfinals and the following week, lost to Kimiko Date in the final of the tournament in Tokyo.

On clay, Davenport won the tournament in Strasbourg on her first attempt, defeating Kimiko Date in the final.

Noted for her powerful and consistent groundstrokes, Davenport won a total of 55 WTA Tour singles titles, including three major titles (one each at the Australian Open, the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open), the gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, and the Tour Finals.

She also won 38 WTA Tour doubles titles, including three major titles (the French Open partnering Mary Joe Fernández, Wimbledon partnering Corina Morariu, and the US Open partnering Jana Novotná), and three consecutive Tour Finals (partnering Fernández, Novotná, and Natasha Zvereva).

Davenport was ranked singles world No. 1 for a total of 98 weeks, and was the year-end singles world No. 1 four times (1998, 2001, 2004, and 2005).

She also held the doubles world No. 1 ranking for 32 weeks.

At the Indian Wells Masters, Davenport reached the quarterfinals ranked no. 99, but lost to 7th-ranked and future doubles partner Mary Joe Fernández.

Later that year, Davenport won her first Tier III title at the European Open where she beat Nicole Bradtke in three sets in the finals.

In 2005, TENNIS Magazine ranked her as the 29th-greatest player (male or female) of the preceding 40 years.

Davenport amassed career-earnings of US$22,166,338; currently eighth in the all-time rankings among female tennis players and formerly first, prior to being surpassed by Serena Williams in January 2009.

Davenport was coached for most of her career by Robert Van't Hof.

Davenport was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.