Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Davenport may be best known for her three Grand Slam titles, winning the U.S. Open, Wimbledon and Australian Open in 1998, 1999 and 2000, respectively. But she holds Olympic achievement in equal esteem.

Her father was a member of the 1968 U.S. Olympic volleyball team. And Davenport inherited his passion, representing the United States at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where she was the surprise gold medalist in singles, and again in 2000.

She called a halt to her pro career in September 2006, and her first child, Jagger, was born the following summer. But she was drawn back to the sport, in part, by Beijing and a chance to compete in one last Olympic Games.

Now 32, Davenport had remarkable success upon returning from an 11-month layoff, compiling a 13-1 singles record in her first three tournaments. But her 2008 campaign has been slowed by injury, and a strained knee forced her to withdraw in the second round of Wimbledon. Still, she has her sights on Beijing, where she'll compete in singles and pair in doubles with Liezel Huber, a South Africa native who earned her United States citizenship in July 2007.

-- Liz Clarke