THE tennisreporters.net NEWSLETTER: THURSDAY, JULY 3, NO. 37

King of the Fed Cup Hill: Billie Jean's rules don't always sit well with Davenport, players

By Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net

Siggi Bucher

FROM WIMBLEDON – Billie Jean King is the arguably the most important woman in the history of sports and it showed Thursday when she eloquently discussed the history of equal pay. She was flown into London by the sports bra company, Shock Absorber, which will award the winner of the Wimbledon women's singles 40,000 pounds to make up for the prize money deficit with the men's winner.

When asked whether she supported British legislation for equal pay, King commented, "We need minds and hearts to match the legislation; that is the most important thing."

Well said.

But because King knows that she's a true sports pioneer (would the WTA exists if not for her activism?) and is a 39-time Grand Slam champion, she's occasionally insensitive in her role as Fed Cup captain and doesn't appear to have won the minds and hearts of all the American players with her legislative rules.

She's a tremendous communicator, but doesn't always absorb what her players are saying, though, as she says, she loves "feedback."

Billie Jean is King of Fed Cup Kingdom and no player is allowed to aspire to royalty – not Serena Williams, not Venus Williams, certainly not Jennifer Capriati – and now, not even old stalwart Lindsay Davenport.

DAVENPORT ASKS FOR A BREAK
King came to Wimbledon with the full knowledge that she had to address the Davenport situation, because Davenport and Monica Seles have been the two biggest Fed Cup devotees over the past decade. Last summer, Davenport was even willing to drag herself to Missouri to play a Fed Cup qualifying match even though she was just coming off knee surgery and probably should have waited another week to come back. Serena and Venus weren't willing to play that critical tie in the dead heat of July. Lindsay was.

Lindsay said that she wanted King to be more flexible for next week's tie against Italy, and claims that she asked Billie Jean to allow her to arrive a day late because her mother, Anne, is having knee surgery Monday.

"I was more disappointed in the amount of years I've put into Fed Cup and how many ties I've put in and how many times I've asked for special favors, which is about zero, and one that I think is pretty understandable," Davenport said. "I'm obviously not going to miss being with my mom when she needs some support."

Billie Jean said that on May 19 Davenport told her in an e-mail that she wouldn't be available. So she named Venus, Seles, Meghann Shaughnessy and Lisa Raymond to the team. That's not Davenport's version of what occurred, but King did speak to her on the phone two days ago and said that they made up. However, King said that she won't make an exception for anyone on their arrival date, not even Lindsay, who wants to be by her mother's side.

"If you know you want to play Fed Cup, do you think her mother could have done that operation some other time? That's a question I didn't get into it with her," King said.

Davenport is often painted as a straightforward, girl-next-door type who never attempts to spin situations in her favor. But those who have been around the sport long enough know that's not always the case and that someone as political as Davenport is very aware of how to paint a controversial situation, where the bright colors highlight the positive parts of her personality. If you don't believe that, ask Venus or Alexandra Stevenson about what Lindsay said and what Lindsay did when they first came on tour.

But being left off the team hurt Davenport and needed to air her feelings publicly to her fans, something the extrovert has done consistently over her career. But the captain wasn't pleased.

"The only thing that's hurt my feelings is that you talked to the media for two or three days and you didn't have the courtesy to call me on the phone, and sock it to me," King claimed she said to Davenport on the phone. "I said, 'We go way back, Lindsay.' I didn't understand. … We ended in good form again. I thought it was very unfortunate and I thought it was very inappropriate she talked to [the media] before she talked to me."

E-MAIL OR SPAM?

Susan Mullane/ Camerawork USA, Inc.

What likely happened is that Davenport did send an e-mail saying that her mom was having surgery and was hoping that King would say, 'Okay, show up on Tuesday,' but didn't clearly ask for an exception to be made. King took her e-mail as a flat-out no. That the two didn't communicate vocally before Davenport laid out her feelings at Wimbledon is the fault of both women.

Davenport says it happened this way:
"I originally had talked to her when she sent out an e-mail asking if I wanted to play," Davenport said. "I said, 'Oh, my mom's having knee surgery, I'm not sure.' And I never heard back from her. It was here when Lisa Raymond told me, 'Oh, I think I'm on the team.' I said, 'Oh, that's weird. She never got back to me.' So, then I wrote her back and said, 'Well, you know, I can be there but … ' And I got an e-mail saying 'Don't worry about it.' So … as far as talking to her, no, I haven't talked to her probably since … six months, five months, I don't know."

King says it happened this way:
"On May 19, she wrote me an e-mail and said, 'Unfortunately, I will be unavailable to play Fed Cup because my mother is having a knee operation. Thank you for asking me, though.' Now when I got that e-mail, I moved on because I had to get a team together. … There was never a misunderstanding."

The Williamses, Shaughnessy, Raymond and Seles say that King runs a tight ship but they are willing to accept it for the good of the team.

But two prominent American players – Capriati and Chanda Rubin – won't accept King's stringent practice and coaching rules. As Capriati found out when she arrived in Charlotte last year when she was booted off the team, King doesn't not allow private coaching during the week of the tie. Davenport claimed that King has given other people permission to show up late before. (She means Seles). But that hasn't happened since last year, when King instituted the new rules.

"I didn't ask to have my coach on the court. I didn't ask to not practice with the team. I asked to come later, and I've been part of the teams where other members have come later, even later than being at practice Wednesday morning," Davenport said.

But King believes that she is flexible, more so than US Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe.

"I've already cut them a lot of slack," she said. "Patrick makes the boys go on Sunday. I would much prefer them to be there Sunday. I let them start at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Do you know how tight that is when we have a press conference and an ITF dinner on Thursday and have a clinic on Wednesday? … Believe me, I've given them as much slack as I can. It's not fair because what will happen every player will start trying to get later and later. I already know, I've been through it."

CAN ITALY TAKE OUT THE MIGHTY US?
Unlike the coach of the Belgian, Slovak, Spanish and French teams, King is fortunate to be heading a squad for a nation that features five active Grand Slam champions and a strong group of top-30 players behind them. But unless Serena and Venus change their pattern and commit to every tie for the next five years – a highly unlikely prospect – King will need mentally capable players like Davenport around to pick up the slack. Recall that last year when she kicked Capriati off the team, she left it up to the shaky Shaughnessy to fill in and Meghann didn't come up at crunch time. The result? A stunning loss to Austria.

King and assistant Zina Garrison do an excellent job coaching the team and you can really see how much they add to their players' games after a week of practice. King is a huge personality and terrific promoter who not only can claim credit for the success of the WTA, but for Fed Cup's existence. The competition badly needs to have her around.

But as it stands now, it sounds like King has a long fence to mend with Davenport, even though she thinks that Lindsay will come back to the team. The last thing that King wants is another Austria debacle and should Venus get hurt and be unable play next week, who's she going to turn to against the very capable Italians? The same trio (Seles, Shaughnessy and Raymond) who lost to Austria?

King was able to make peace with Raymond three years ago after Raymond sued her for leaving her off the Olympic team, but Davenport is clearly hurt and it sounds like should the US reach final, Lindsay will be staying home, saying she's less inclined to play.

"Probably less," she said. "I don't see myself going out there and extending my season and possibly my surgery in November. It's just a weird feeling. I feel kind of over it now. I had a lot of good memories. And you don't have to play Fed Cup to play the Olympics. So [I'll] concentrate on other things now."

You have to give credit to King for establishing a set of equal work for equal play rules. There are thousands of examples of sports teams that have been destroyed because a coach had different set of rules for star players than everyone else. But it's hard to imagine anyone – from Serena on down to Stevenson – who would object to making exceptions for family illnesses. That appears to be the feedback that King is getting and maybe in a democratic, legislative way, could eventually be turned into team policy.