Lindsay Davenport Talks Roland Garros, Coco Gauff, & Sinner/Alcaraz

A conversation with TNT broadcaster and tennis Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport about Roland Garros 2025.

Lindsay Davenport reflects on Roland Garros 2025. | IMAGO / Panoramic by PsnewZ

TNT Sports did not disappoint with its coverage of Roland Garros 2025. This year marked the first in a new 10-year agreement, and it will be hard to top going forward.

Among the star-studded roster of contributors was Lindsay Davenport. Sports Illustrated's Serve On SI spoke with the Hall of Famer about TNT's coverage, Coco Gauff, and the rivalry between Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

What are some of the things that you look forward to the most about making the trip to Paris? 

You know, anytime you get to go back to a Major, it is pretty exciting. I've always been in love with this sport. I've always acknowledged it has pretty much given me my whole life something to focus on when I was little and certainly my family now. So, I still get goosebumps when I walk through the gates at Majors. 

This one was the toughest for me to play at. I didn't have a game that really did well on this surface. Being from California, I also never really learned how to move on, so this one presented the most challenges.

Ironically, it's the one I like to come back to the most because Paris is so awesome, and this one just has a vibe that's so different from the others. So, I've really kind of learned to embrace it. I wish I had embraced it more when I was playing, but certainly the atmosphere, the quality of tennis, and all of that I really take to heart now. 

I think you have a pretty strong resume in Paris. You were number one seed one year and 1996 double's champion. You got some hardware from the event!

I struggled through a couple of decent years, but this was always the one that was like, oh man, it could go any which way out here in any match.

TNT Sports has enlisted 30 tennis stars for Roland Garros 2025. | TNT Sports

How are you feeling about tennis entering that space for fans and what made you want to join the TNT team?

It's been really exciting to be a part of this kind of new age of covering tennis and to be here with TNT. They've done a remarkable job here of trying to showcase this sport the best way that we can to the fans in the United States.

It's been a fun group as well. Working with, not only my best friends in the sport but the smartest people in the sport that can story-tell, who can break down a match, who have personality, and we were really given free rein. We were told to be exactly who we are and call it like we see it.

So, I think that's been kind of really fun to have a relaxed kind of broadcast, but also be able, to be honest with what we're seeing, what we're feeling, and to see kind of the new inventions that we're trying to come up with, some new cameras with the show to try and be a little more relaxed and a little more conversational. I really enjoy being here. The people have been amazing. I'm really excited for the next few years as well. 

You've worked with some really dynamic personalities in the booth during your career. Is there anyone that you've been new to working with on the TNT team that's really impressed you? 

Oh, that's interesting. You know my oldest, and I call him my work husband, is Jim Courier. So, I'm always happy to see Jim. Everybody knows Jim, I've been lucky to work with him for a while. This is my first time working with Mary Joe Fernandez, who's my best friend. We've always been on other networks.

But Sloane Stephens has done a wonderful job here. She had come in with just a little bit of TV experience, but you get some people who are just kind of natural when the camera starts rolling, and that's definitely Sloane.

We keep encouraging her to, you know, jump in during the matches, but she's been great here. It's been fun to get to work with her and to be able to get to know her a little bit better. 

Sloane Stephens commentating for TNT during the French Open. | Susan Mullane-Imagn Images

Visually, Roland Garros has really upgraded itself in the last few years with retractable roofs, night lights, and designated evening sessions. Still, unfortunately, women's matches have been excluded from primetime evening sessions for the past two years. What do you personally make of that? And do you think it's sending a certain message across at all? 

You know, I've been covering this tournament for a lot of years, and unfortunately, it's just kind of been the mindset of the tournament here that the men get to play in the more preferable slots, the ones that are seeing more.

Everyone's making a big deal about the night session. I get that. I had a bigger argument, and it's starting to become more of a topic now, with women always being first. Always the first match on there was not one day where the women were not first on Chatrier.

Everybody knows that's the least attended match, probably the least viewed television-wise in all the markets, especially in the States, but also here in Europe. 

So, I'd like to see the women get a little bit more equal footing for some of the later afternoon sessions. I think it was four times out of all these days that the women got to play third; that is another time slot here, the third afternoon match.

Hopefully, we can start to talk about a little bit of change and start to give the women their fair share. They've had some amazing matches as well. You know they always talk about length. There's been some men's matches that have been very one-sided as well. I'm a believer in both. I love both sports, and I believe that they should be showcased equally.

Court Philippe Chatrier at sunset | IMAGO / Panoramic by PsnewZ

Speaking of equality, it's June, and a lot of tennis fans are celebrating PRIDE both on and off the courts. The USTA has changed its branding to pride colors this month, and Coco Gauff even showed her support for the LGBTQ community with a social media post. I'm wondering where you think tennis is right now in terms of being a space for professional athletes to compete while also, as you said, being true to who they are.

I think tennis has always kind of led the way in that area. Since I came on tour, I was like 15 or 16, and I've always felt that it has been a very inclusive environment on the WTA side.

Some of my best friends throughout the years are part of that community. Billie Jean King was my biggest mentor. I give her so much credit for helping me kind of get over that line and becoming a champion, but I think it definitely takes the top players and their support as well.

Coco's obviously such an amazing leader at such a young age also. She is always willing to speak her mind and always willing to defend whatever she believes in, and that's been really important for our sport, but I do believe that women's tennis is a big supporter, and I believe a great supporter of all the rights for that.

Speaking of Billie Jean King. You're the Billie Jean King Cup captain for Team USA. I know you spent a lot of time with members of Team USA. How do some of them prioritize Roland Garros as a tournament, and how nice it has been to see some of them make it into the second week of this year's slam?

Yeah, I like to say I have the greatest job going being captain because right now, it's been amazing for U.S. tennis, both on the men's and the women's side. Bob Bryan, the Davis Cup captain and a great friend of mine, we've had really a blast the last couple of years of being able to lead these amazing people. The vibe between the players is at an all-time high.

There is a lot of support and great camaraderie. These players get along well. They hang out together outside the court, and the Majors are what it's all about.

Right now, having so many great US women's players, we saw a great battle earlier with Gauff and Keys, and you also have Emma Navarro in there. It's a really exciting time for me. Trying to get players and their schedules in this day and age has been a big challenge.

There are so many important tournaments; a lot of the tournaments are over two weeks now, so that makes it a little more challenging as well. These players are on the road a lot and what they crave a lot of times is to just have a little bit of time at home. So it's so important for these players to get their schedules right, have good teams behind them, and try to have fun on certain weeks. That's what we're all about with the team aspect. There is a lot of pressure on these players here at the Majors.

Team USA tennis roster for 2024 Olympics. | USTA

There's been some instability in Iga Swiatek's clay court game coming into Roland Garros. Have you been surprised to see her make her way through the draw in a fairly comfortable fashion, despite not having great lead-ups? 

You know the chips were against Iga coming in here. Going into this year's tournament, she had a total of six wins over the three clay court-leading tournaments she played last year. I think it was like 14. So, she fell well below her expectations in the tournaments leading in. And she's been just a little bit rattled now for about 10-11 months. She has not looked her calm, cool, collected self out there.

I wasn't sure what to expect here. Then, the draw comes out. She got by far the toughest draw on paper, and she has been amazing here. She has really confronted the challenge, played great, and been able to handle a lot of adversity.

She had every excuse in the book to mail it in against Rybakina. She did not. Down 8/1, she changed her game style a little bit, moved back, and figured out ways to win.

So, I've been really impressed with her in how she's been able to problem solve here, going for four in a row, there's a lot of pressure on her. No one's been able to do that on the women's side, so I give her a lot of credit for hanging in there and getting better as the tournament has gone on.

Iga Swiatek falls further in the WTA Rankings after the French Open. | IMAGO / Starface

Do you think there's something to be said for kind of rekindling the magic at a certain place that you've had prior success at? I think there was somebody that you played in your career who may have had a connection to a certain green place that comes to mind. 

Yeah, I think that is the case for players. For Venus at Wimbledon, but also for Swiatek here. When you've won four of the last five years, and you've had one loss, I just think that you feel like, yeah, this is my place.

Someone still has to beat me here on my favorite court. When you're so successful at a tournament, you also spend the most time on that court. You start to understand every single nook and cranny. You understand the wind patterns. You understand kind of everything that's going on out there.

For players that don't get a lot of matches on those big courts, sometimes the matches come down to just a couple of occasions, and the player that's most comfortable in that situation Typically comes out ahead, and for Iga, this is her favorite court.

I think part of the reason why her year started to turn last year was she didn't win the gold medal here. I think it was shocking to her to lose in the semis. Maybe she didn't handle that loss so well; the Olympics meant a lot to her, but I think it's given her that extra little pep in her step here at Roland Garros so far.

Keeping with Roland Garros, we've entered a new era without Rafa Nadal (and Novak Djokovic is nearing the end). Do you think we'll have different names in the Grand Slams, or are we already seeing the beginning of a new era with the freshly dubbed "New 2" in Alcaraz and Sinner? 

Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz at Roland Garros. | IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

Yeah, I'm sure Sascha Zverev hopes that's the case and that there's some more to go around. He's been close a few times and hasn't been able to pull through, but looking at this tournament so far, it's hard to imagine a winner other than Sinner and Alcaraz.

They have been so good throughout. We can't forget, obviously, Novak, who's played so well. It's just been different for Novak in the last year, where injuries have really been a huge talking point for a guy who seems like an Iron Man. All of a sudden, Father Time has it caught up?

He had the knee operation last year after Roland Garros had to withdraw in Australia with the hamstring; it just seems like the injuries are becoming more of a talking point for Novak.

When you play 3 out of 5 sets, then you have to win seven matches; you can't have your body breaking down. It's tough to see Sinner and Alcaraz not winning here, especially how they've both played in their previous matches, but we'll see these last few days. Hard to bet against the 24-time Grand Slam champion as well.

Do you think there's any connection between some of the players that we're seeing being successful at Roland Garros that we may see again in a couple of weeks, go deep at Wimbledon because the surfaces aren't drastically different like they used to be? 

Yeah, it used to be clay court specialists, right? And then it used to be the fast court specialist at Wimbledon and sometimes the players that won here; sometimes they didn't even show up at Wimbledon.

Now, it's a little bit easier to transition between the two. They've slowed the grass down at Wimbledon. They added that extra week. So there are now three weeks between Roland Garros and Wimbledon; it used to be two.

I think they're trying to get the players to be able to play better tennis at Wimbledon, to have the rallies be more exciting, but it's still grass and it's still going to favor the player who is aggressive and serves well.

We've seen, though, in the last 10-15 years, players be able to make deep runs at both. That wasn't so much the case in the 90s, so a lot of credit goes to these players and their teams who are able to reset in such a short amount of time and get ready for another Major. 

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