Injury-plagued Davenport soldiers on

Lindsay Davenport struggled to beat Australian wildcard Samantha Stosur 7–6 7–5 in the first round at Wimbledon yesterday.

The fifth–seeded American seemed a shadow of the player that won the title in 1999. She looked as if she would rather be catching the rays at her home in Laguna Beach. The 27-year-old has been plagued by injuries for the last couple of years and following her marriage to Jonathan Leach before the French Open, her commitment to the game is questionable.

After a poor showing at the warm-up event in Eastbourne where she lost to Silvia Farina Elia in her first match, she said she hoped to be able to get motivated for the grand slams - on this performance, it is hard to see how she can add to her Wimbledon title collection.

Her opponent, the 19-year-old debutant from the Gold Coast, was given a wildcard into the tournament after an agreement with Tennis Australia in which Briton Elena Baltacha received a wildcard for the Australian Open and the courtesy would be reciprocated for Stosur at Wimbledon.

The 147th ranked Stosur put on a good show and served exceptionally well, her serve invariably getting her out of trouble. Unfortunately, her forehand was too erratic and she made too many errors off that wing. Davenport drew first blood and broke for a 5-4 lead only to be broken back straight away. The set reached the tie-break where Davenport took command winning it 7-3.

Stosur broke in the ninth game of the second set after Davenport foot-faulted and then double faulted to gift her the game, but, serving to level the match at a set apiece, sent a backhand long to let Davenport back into the set. The Californian made no mistake, winning the next two games to win the match with a crunching crosscourt forehand winner on match point.

There were only fleeting glimpses of the form that took her to number one in the world and her plucky opponent had a big chance of causing an upset. At times Davenport, who missed the event last year after undergoing knee surgery, looked slow and disinterested.

Davenport retired from the fourth round of the French Open after being troubled by a foot injury and she struggled with her mobility throughout the one hour 25–minute contest yesterday.

"It's a nerve problem, and so the more you irritate it, the more painful it is. Whenever you're injured, you need to adapt. I'm not able to do everything I would love to do or that I sometimes need to do," said Davenport, who took a cortisone injection last week while playing at Eastbourne.

"My expectations are probably lower slightly lower than they used to be, but it's still really frustrating when you're not playing as well as you'd like to play," said Davenport.

"I just hope that I'm able to rebound with a little bit more consistent performances and hopefully one last Slam in me and keep improving", she said as she looks forward to her second round meeting with Rita Grande.