Lindsayfan32
Aug 22nd, 2006, 04:21 AM
Here is an article from the New york times that among other things tells you about what lead to Lindsay getting concussion. It was down right scary. Here is the article and the link to the orginal if anybody wants it and also could be Lindsay's last US open.
Davenport Tries to Overcome Disappointment as Well as Injury
By LIZ ROBBINS (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/liz_robbins/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: August 22, 2006
Lindsay Davenport (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/lindsay_davenport/index.html?inline=nyt-per) is enthusiastically approaching what may be the last United States Open in her 13-year career. Her smile, however, does not reflect the summer of calamity she has had nor the bitterness she feels toward the leadership of women’s tennis.
Enlarge this Image (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/22/sports/22tennis.1.ready.html', '22tennis_1_ready', 'width=370,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/08/22/sports/22tennis_190x285.jpg (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/22/sports/22tennis.1.ready.html', '22tennis_1_ready', 'width=370,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Paul Buck/European Pressphoto Agency
‘It’s tough to also enter the final stage of my career with such a bitter taste in my mouth about the Tour. It’s a shame.’ - Lindsay Davenport
Davenport began the year ranked No. 1, but she was sidelined in March by two bulging disks in her back. Her comeback from that injury has been complicated by a mysterious fall at her home in June and the WTA Tour’s refusal to grant her exemptions into tournaments.
“It’s tough to also enter the final stage of my career with such a bitter taste in my mouth about the Tour,” Davenport said Sunday in New Haven, where she was preparing for the Pilot Pen tournament, which began yesterday. “It’s a shame.”
For the first time, Davenport also described in detail the freakish accident that left her with a concussion and contributed to her withdrawing from Wimbledon.
She said she remembered getting out of bed one Friday morning at her home in the Los Angeles area. “The next thing I knew I was five feet from the bed, on the ground,” Davenport said. “I woke up, I was on my back, holding my head. I didn’t know what had happened. I must have hit my head on the dresser.”
She awoke to find her Rottweiler, Scout, standing over her with a tennis ball in his mouth. Her husband, Jon Leach, was already at work. Her mother, Ann, rushed over. Davenport, 30, did not go to a hospital until Monday — she even worked out Friday. During that weekend, however, the pain in her head was searing and the bruise on her right elbow from the fall turned blue and green.
Doctors said she had sustained a concussion and whiplash in the fall. Her elbow had to be immobilized. Davenport anxiously went through a round of heart tests. She declined a brain scan because she is claustrophobic, but she agreed to a week of bed rest.
“I’m over it,” she said Sunday, shrugging. “It’s the only time it’s ever happened to me. I don’t exactly know why I passed out, but I don’t think it’s anything serious. I feel great.”
She was cleared a week later to practice. But when Davenport sought to enter more tournaments to prepare for the United States Open, the chief executive of the WTA Tour, Larry Scott, denied her request. Scott said that she had not met the commitment requirements to be eligible for a wild card, and that he would not invoke a rule that would have given her an exemption.
Davenport, a popular player and the winner of three major championships, an Olympic gold medal and 51 WTA singles titles, considered suing the Tour.
“I have always tried to be very diplomatic and understanding,” she said. “I feel like he is using me as the example as what could happen to a few more players in a few more years.”
The United States Tennis Association spoke to Scott on Davenport’s behalf, asking that she be allowed to play in Montreal and in San Diego. The women’s tournaments this summer have been plagued by numerous star players withdrawing because of injury and breaking their commitments. Davenport, meanwhile, said she wanted to play.
“You’re talking about one of the greatest champions and ambassadors of the sport, someone on the player council for years,” said Arlen Kantarian, the U.S.T.A.’s chief executive of professional tennis, in a telephone interview yesterday. “This seemed to contradict what would have been in the best interest of the sport. They can’t let the rules get in the way of common sense.”
Last fall, Davenport volunteered to forfeit $500,000 of bonus money she receives for entering tournaments so that she could have a more flexible schedule, rather than make commitments she could not keep because of injuries. She said she was not looking for an exception, but believed that her veteran status qualified her under a specific rule to earn wild cards. But Scott interpreted the rule — created for Monica Seles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/monica_seles/index.html?inline=nyt-per) so she could enter tournaments while she was semiretired — to exclude a player who began the season ranked No. 1.
Scott’s long-range goal is to enforce player participation so tournaments can better market their events. Davenport said the Tour must make its calendar more realistic.
“I feel bad about that, that she’s a little bit disheartened,” Scott said yesterday in a telephone interview. “But I’m frankly more concerned right now that we’ve got tournament directors and fans upset. We’re at a juncture where I’m sending a signal that we have to toughen up our entry and commitment rules.”
Ultimately, Davenport did not file suit. “It’s just not my style,” she said. “I didn’t want to be going to court instead of trying to enjoy the last few months, tournaments, or whatever it is.”
Davenport, ranked 11th, is scheduled to play Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia today in her first match since losing in the first round two weeks ago in Los Angeles. As for the United States Open (which she won in 1998), she said, “I’ve shot myself in the foot before, but chances are it’s the last one.”
She has nothing scheduled beyond next year’s Australian Open. Although she said she wanted to start a family, tennis remains paramount for now. “I’m just not ready for it to be gone yet,” she said. “However many more tournaments I play or however much longer I play, I don’t have anything to lose.
“In New York, I’m going to really try to enjoy the experience of being out there. That’s not something you can always do when you’re in the heat of things.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/sports/tennis/22tennis.html?adxnnl=1&ref=sports&adxnnlx=1156220180-LR6prBo9nEpbd0HXPzsDPQ
Davenport Tries to Overcome Disappointment as Well as Injury
By LIZ ROBBINS (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/liz_robbins/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: August 22, 2006
Lindsay Davenport (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/lindsay_davenport/index.html?inline=nyt-per) is enthusiastically approaching what may be the last United States Open in her 13-year career. Her smile, however, does not reflect the summer of calamity she has had nor the bitterness she feels toward the leadership of women’s tennis.
Enlarge this Image (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/22/sports/22tennis.1.ready.html', '22tennis_1_ready', 'width=370,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/08/22/sports/22tennis_190x285.jpg (javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2006/08/22/sports/22tennis.1.ready.html', '22tennis_1_ready', 'width=370,height=600,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,r esizable=yes'))Paul Buck/European Pressphoto Agency
‘It’s tough to also enter the final stage of my career with such a bitter taste in my mouth about the Tour. It’s a shame.’ - Lindsay Davenport
Davenport began the year ranked No. 1, but she was sidelined in March by two bulging disks in her back. Her comeback from that injury has been complicated by a mysterious fall at her home in June and the WTA Tour’s refusal to grant her exemptions into tournaments.
“It’s tough to also enter the final stage of my career with such a bitter taste in my mouth about the Tour,” Davenport said Sunday in New Haven, where she was preparing for the Pilot Pen tournament, which began yesterday. “It’s a shame.”
For the first time, Davenport also described in detail the freakish accident that left her with a concussion and contributed to her withdrawing from Wimbledon.
She said she remembered getting out of bed one Friday morning at her home in the Los Angeles area. “The next thing I knew I was five feet from the bed, on the ground,” Davenport said. “I woke up, I was on my back, holding my head. I didn’t know what had happened. I must have hit my head on the dresser.”
She awoke to find her Rottweiler, Scout, standing over her with a tennis ball in his mouth. Her husband, Jon Leach, was already at work. Her mother, Ann, rushed over. Davenport, 30, did not go to a hospital until Monday — she even worked out Friday. During that weekend, however, the pain in her head was searing and the bruise on her right elbow from the fall turned blue and green.
Doctors said she had sustained a concussion and whiplash in the fall. Her elbow had to be immobilized. Davenport anxiously went through a round of heart tests. She declined a brain scan because she is claustrophobic, but she agreed to a week of bed rest.
“I’m over it,” she said Sunday, shrugging. “It’s the only time it’s ever happened to me. I don’t exactly know why I passed out, but I don’t think it’s anything serious. I feel great.”
She was cleared a week later to practice. But when Davenport sought to enter more tournaments to prepare for the United States Open, the chief executive of the WTA Tour, Larry Scott, denied her request. Scott said that she had not met the commitment requirements to be eligible for a wild card, and that he would not invoke a rule that would have given her an exemption.
Davenport, a popular player and the winner of three major championships, an Olympic gold medal and 51 WTA singles titles, considered suing the Tour.
“I have always tried to be very diplomatic and understanding,” she said. “I feel like he is using me as the example as what could happen to a few more players in a few more years.”
The United States Tennis Association spoke to Scott on Davenport’s behalf, asking that she be allowed to play in Montreal and in San Diego. The women’s tournaments this summer have been plagued by numerous star players withdrawing because of injury and breaking their commitments. Davenport, meanwhile, said she wanted to play.
“You’re talking about one of the greatest champions and ambassadors of the sport, someone on the player council for years,” said Arlen Kantarian, the U.S.T.A.’s chief executive of professional tennis, in a telephone interview yesterday. “This seemed to contradict what would have been in the best interest of the sport. They can’t let the rules get in the way of common sense.”
Last fall, Davenport volunteered to forfeit $500,000 of bonus money she receives for entering tournaments so that she could have a more flexible schedule, rather than make commitments she could not keep because of injuries. She said she was not looking for an exception, but believed that her veteran status qualified her under a specific rule to earn wild cards. But Scott interpreted the rule — created for Monica Seles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/monica_seles/index.html?inline=nyt-per) so she could enter tournaments while she was semiretired — to exclude a player who began the season ranked No. 1.
Scott’s long-range goal is to enforce player participation so tournaments can better market their events. Davenport said the Tour must make its calendar more realistic.
“I feel bad about that, that she’s a little bit disheartened,” Scott said yesterday in a telephone interview. “But I’m frankly more concerned right now that we’ve got tournament directors and fans upset. We’re at a juncture where I’m sending a signal that we have to toughen up our entry and commitment rules.”
Ultimately, Davenport did not file suit. “It’s just not my style,” she said. “I didn’t want to be going to court instead of trying to enjoy the last few months, tournaments, or whatever it is.”
Davenport, ranked 11th, is scheduled to play Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia today in her first match since losing in the first round two weeks ago in Los Angeles. As for the United States Open (which she won in 1998), she said, “I’ve shot myself in the foot before, but chances are it’s the last one.”
She has nothing scheduled beyond next year’s Australian Open. Although she said she wanted to start a family, tennis remains paramount for now. “I’m just not ready for it to be gone yet,” she said. “However many more tournaments I play or however much longer I play, I don’t have anything to lose.
“In New York, I’m going to really try to enjoy the experience of being out there. That’s not something you can always do when you’re in the heat of things.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/sports/tennis/22tennis.html?adxnnl=1&ref=sports&adxnnlx=1156220180-LR6prBo9nEpbd0HXPzsDPQ