Growing Pains, Steady Gains : Davenport, on Verge of Joining Pro Ranks, Is Adjusting to New Heights

It seems as if Lindsay Davenport’s body grew as fast as her tennis ranking. The 16-year-old from Palos Verdes grew about six inches in two years and at 15 dominated the U.S. junior circuit, winning the 1991 18-and-under national clay court and hard court titles.

“It’s very unusual to dominate so young and in the midst of such a biological growth spurt,” United States Tennis Assn. Coach Lynne Rolley said. “When you grow that fast you end up with a lot of weaknesses physically. You have to take that development slowly.”

At 6 foot 2, Davenport is one of the tallest women on the pro tennis circuit. She is known as a baseliner with powerful ground strokes and a solid work ethic.

“She really hits the ball well, probably harder and deeper than most kids,” Rolley said. “She has exceptional ground strokes for her size.”

Davenport’s mother, Ann, says her daughter went through a difficult time during the rapid growth spurt.

“It was hard for her,” she said. “Here you are on your 16th birthday and you’re 6 foot 2. You have to catch up to your body and it doesn’t happen overnight. You’re just a little uncoordinated.”

Bill Dunkle, an assistant pro at the Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates, says Davenport has trained extra hard to overcome her body’s sudden change. Dunkle has worked with Davenport for almost three years.

“She was a little lanky and had trouble with her back and knees,” Dunkle said. “Parts of her body were suffering from it. But she’s getting a lot stronger. She’s working with a track coach and doing a lot of quickness drills.”

Although Davenport has maintained amateur status by not accepting prize money, she has played in about 10 professional tournaments and is ranked 191st in the world by the Women’s Tennis Assn.

This weekend, she will compete in a 32-player qualifying tournament at the Virginia Slims of Manhattan Beach. Davenport must win three matches--two on Saturday and one on Sunday--to earn a spot in the 28-player main draw event, which begins Monday at the Manhattan Country Club.

Kimberly Po of Rolling Hills Estates and Stella Sampras of Rancho Palos Verdes will be among the other players attempting to qualify.

Only four players from the qualifying tournament will earn a spot in the main draw, which includes the world’s top-ranked player, Monica Seles, fourth-ranked Martina Navratilova and fifth-ranked Arantxa Sanchez--Vicario.

“I’m real excited and I’m real nervous because I know a lot of people in the area,” Davenport said. “My friends and family will be out there.”

Davenport comes from a family of tall volleyball players. Her father, Wink (6-foot-8), was a member of the U.S. national volleyball team that competed at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico. Now he serves as an international and collegiate volleyball official.

Her mother, Ann (5-10), is the president of the Southern California Volleyball Assn., and her 19-year-old sister, Shannon (6-0), is an outside hitter on the St. Mary’s volleyball team.

Davenport’s parents steered her away from volleyball to prevent a conflict between the sisters.

“Shannon was playing volleyball and we thought it was better if the two girls were not competing in the same sport,” Ann Davenport said. “I had just started playing tennis and Lindsay wanted to give it a try. She had a lot of determination when she started playing.”

At 13, Davenport was ranked third nationally in the 14-and-under division. At 14, she was the nation’s top 16-and-under player. She also went undefeated in two seasons on the Chadwick High team. Last season she led the Dolphins to the Southern Section 1-A Division title.

Davenport says the highlight of her career came at the 1991 United States Tennis Assn.’s junior nationals in San Jose. She won the 18-and-under national clay court title in Memphis, Tenn., two weeks earlier but wasn’t expected to repeat the feat at the more prestigious and competitive USTA hard court tournament.

Davenport was seeded fourth at the event, which features the nation’s best junior tennis players, many of them from California.

“I wasn’t expected to win so there wasn’t a lot of pressure on me,” Davenport said. “It was pretty much shocking when I won. It took a while to adjust.”

This year Davenport reached the final of the Australian Open junior division and she won the girls’ doubles title with Nicole London of Rolling Hills Estates. Davenport also reached the semifinals of the French Open juniors. She is in her second year on the USTA junior national team, which competes internationally year-round.

The USTA pays for traveling expenses, coaching and equipment as long as Davenport is an amateur. But she is considering turning pro and plans to make a decision before the U.S. Open later this month.

“She’s really in a hard situation in the respect that there’s nothing left for her to do in the juniors,” Dunkle said. “There’s pretty good competition on the U.S. junior team, but only a couple of girls give her good competition.

“For her, she needs to be really stimulated. She needs to keep getting pushed. . . She’s close to being ready maturity-wise to turn pro.”

Rolley says taking that step would require greater commitment, an increase in training and more travel.

“She doesn’t want to play at too high a level too soon,” Rolley said. “Often you have young people that just want the starry picture. She wants to be in an arena where she’s comfortable. She has set realistic goals for herself.”

If Davenport holds off on playing professionally, she will remain on the U.S. junior national team for another year and compete in selected pro events. She says a good professional ranking will be a lot tougher to attain.