"Overwhelmed and a little bit too excited."
By her own admission, that was the state Lauren Davis found herself in as she walked out on Rod Laver Arena to pursue the career she had opted for only two weeks ago.
It was a rough, tough introduction to the big time for the 17-year-old from Cleveland, and she admitted as much after being brushed aside 6-1, 6-1 by Sam Stosur of Australia.
Stepping into the main arena in a Grand Slam to face the No. 5 seed — who is also the hometown favorite — is about as tough as it gets for a rookie, but Davis has enough confidence in her own ability to put this down to experience and move on. "I've got a lot ahead of me and next time I won't be as nervous, I don't think," she said. "I will tell myself to calm down and relax and play my game."
The game is there as she showed while fighting back from 0-40 at 4-0 down in the second set with some nicely placed winners. But her court craft, anticipation and positioning is going to have to be good, because at 5-foot-2 she has to make up a lot of ground while scrambling for the ball.
"But it's OK, I've beaten a lot of girls who are giants," she smiled.
Earlier, she had been surrounded by giants, both male and female, in that area outside the players restaurant here at Melbourne Park where competitors gather to book practice courts and watch the matches on a row of TV screens.
Coaches Tom Gullikson and Craig Cardon were amongst the throng when tournament referee Wayne McKewen elbowed his way through the crowd and asked, "Anyone seen Lauren Davis? Marcos Daniel looks as if he might default any moment against Nadal and she's next match on Rod Laver. But I'm not sure I'd recognize her."
In fact, Davis wasn't far away but, amongst the mass of Eastern Europeans, most of whom stand well over 6 feet, she was literally lost in the crowd. After a few seconds, however, Cardon spotted Davis and introduced her to McKewen.
"Could you be ready to go on earlier than you might have expected?" asked the Australian official. "We might have a default."
Davis nodded and went off to get changed. She was going to follow Rafael Nadal on court. Heady stuff and her mind must have been swirling. But Davis presents herself as a young lady who knows what she wants and where she's going.
"I really only made up my mind to turn pro two weeks ago," she insisted. "Before I had just been happy playing juniors. But I won five tournaments in a row and talked to a lot of people — especially my family who mean most to me — and decided that this is what I want to do."
Stosur, who enjoyed a dream start as the nation pins their hopes on her shoulders, was sympathetic to her opponent's plight. "Yeah, I know what it feels like," she smiled. "I've lost 6-0, 6-0 on center courts before. It wasn't quite that bad for her, but it's not a good feeling. For me, I've got to go out there and focus on myself and what I want to do. You can't have anything like that pop into your head, because in tennis things swing around very quickly. So you've got to stay on it every point."
Another American teenager, 19-year-old Coco Vandeweghe, was also in action. She, too, got a lesson in what Grand Slam tennis is all about. The setting was certainly different — Court 5 in front of a small crowd at the back of the complex — but the result, unhappily, was the same. Vandeweghe was outplayed 6- 2, 6-1 by the experienced French player Alize Cornet.
Vandeweghe, a tall, well-built Southern Californian, presents a very different image on court to the petite Davis, and she gives all her shots a hefty wallop. The trouble was, too few went in. The forehand, in particular, flew long, and her big serve was never consistent enough. Cornet just maneuvered her about court and waited for the mistakes.
Serbia's Jelena Jankovic, the former world No. 1 who will be hoping to move back up the rankings after finishing last year at No. 8, got off to a good start against the Russian Alla Kudryavtseva but was made to fight in the second before closing it out 6-0, 7-6.
