Tennis Legends: Lindsay Davenport - Triple Grand Slam singles champion who won over 50 singles titles

At the turn of this millennium, Serena and Venus Williams were beginning to usher a new level of baseline power tennis. One player at the forefront of this sea change was fellow American Lindsay Davenport. The statuesque Davenport, standing 6ft 2 and half, was a leading player for over a decade, finishing one leg away from a Career Grand Slam.

Davenport was born on June 8th 1976 in Palo Verdes, California. Her parents are Wink, a member of the US men's volleyball team at the 1968 Olympics, and mother Ann who was the president of the Southern Volleyball Association. Coming from a tall family, Davenport is one of the tallest female players in history.

Davenport enjoyed great success in the junior ranks. The highlight being victory in the girls singles at the 1992 US Open. Although she’d featured in the main draw of Grand Slams as a junior, Davenport officially turned professional in 1993, ending that year inside the world's top 100.

After a first WTA title in 1993, at the defunct Lausanne indoor event, Davenport continued to accelerate up the rankings in 1994. This ascent was underpinned by defending her Lausanne crown and winning a hard court event in Brisbane.

By the end of 1994, Davenport had risen high enough to qualify for the end of season Virginia Slims Championship where she lost to Gabriela Sabatini in the final. The 1995 season proved a little less fruitful, with a solitary title in Strasbourg to show for her efforts.

Davenport had her best season to date in 1996 when claiming three titles. A defence in Strasbourg and a win in Los Angeles was punctuated by Olympic glory at her home Games in Atlanta. A straight sets win over Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario gave Davenport Olympic gold.

Six titles in the 1997 campaign represented a big elevation in Davenport's standing. This sextet of titles included a victory at Indian Wells. Davenport broke new ground at major level, reaching a semi-final at the US Open.

The haul of six tournament wins was matched in 1999 but with the added high of a maiden Grand Slam title. On home turf at the US Open, Davenport got the better of defending champion Martina Hingis in the final. A run to the final at the season-ending Chase Championships (now WTA Finals) was enough for Davenport to clinch the season-end top spot for the first time. Davenport experienced an even more successful year in 1999. A total of seven titles were accumulated. The year peaking when Davenport ruled the roost at Wimbledon.

In an all-American final, delayed by a day because of the rain, Davenport bested Steffi Graf - playing in her last major final - to double her Grand Slam tally. Despite victory at the Tour Championships, Davenport missed out on ending the season at number one.

Davenport enjoyed another hugely consistent season in 2000, reaching eleven finals and coming away with a trophy on five occasions.

The year began with a third Grand Slam triumph at the Australian Open. Victory over Hingis meant the American had now won three of the four Slams, with only the French Open proving elusive. A second Indian Wells crown provided a great highlight. She also lost successive Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and the US Open to Venus Williams. These two were very much battling for supremacy at the beginning of a new century.

Davenport bagged seven titles in 2001, claiming successes in locations such as Eastbourne, Los Angeles and Zurich. A pair of semi-final appearances was the best she fared in the majors. However, Davenport's volume of success and consistency enabled her to finish the season as world number one for the second time.

Due to ill health, Davenport didn't begin her 2002 campaign until July. She made four finals before the season finished but with no silverware to show for it.

Davenport settled into the 2003 season quickly with a triumph at the Pan Pacific Open in Japan. This would turn out to be her only title in a 2003 season that saw her fail to reach a major final for the third season running.

The Californian native returned to her serial winning days in 2004. A total of seven titles were hoovered up in a season that ended with Davenport back as world number one.

In 2005, at the Australian Open, Davenport made her first Grand Slam final since 2000. She was beaten in three sets by Serena Williams. Later that year, Davenport would face Serena's older sister in a Wimbledon final for the ages. Davenport and Venus Williams’ clash in the 2005 Wimbledon final is a bonafide classic. The best women's singles final I have watched at SW19. In a match of baseline power and big serving, Venus eventually prevailed 9-7 in the decider. At two hours and three quarter hours, it remains the longest women's singles final in Wimbledon history.

The 2005 season was consistent and yielded six titles. This haul and making two major finals underpinned Davenport maintaining her number one season-end ranking. Four more titles were won by Davenport through the period between 2006 and 2008. The last of these was the Cellular South Cup in Memphis, coming in March 2008.

Injuries led to Davenport playing no Grand Slams in 2007. Her final appearance at a major was a third round exit at the 2008 US Open. Davenport retired later in 2008, having won 55 WTA singles titles from 94 finals. This included three major victories from seven finals. The final total of singles titles leaves her tied in 7th place with Britain's Virginia Wade in the Open Era.

Davenport combined a storied singles career with one in doubles that produced 38 titles. This included a treble of doubles Grand Slams.

The first of this major triumvirate came at the 1996 French Open in tandem with Mary Joe Fernandez. A year later, Davenport partnered the late great Jana Novotna to win the US Open. In 1999, alongside compatriot Corina Morariu, a Wimbledon doubles title was added to Davenport's stacked CV.

Remarkably, during the 1998 season, Davenport in unison with Natasha Zvereva, lost all four Grand Slam doubles finals. Martina Hingis appeared on the opposition team in all four of these finals. Representing her nation in team competition, America’s Davenport was part of winning Fed Cup squads in 1996, 1999 and 2000. She is now the captain of her country. Her 33-3 win/loss record across doubles and singles rubbers is outstanding.

In alliance with James Blake, Hopman Cup Glory was attained in 2004 with victory over Slovakia. Davenport made six mixed doubles Grand Slam semi-finals without ever winning one. Five of these were at Wimbledon.

Davenport is one of four players in the Open Era - the others being Steffi Graf, Serena Williams and Chris Evert - to win three different Grand Slams without dropping a set. In 1998 and 1999, Davenport was bestowed with WTA Player of The Year awards. Big-hitting Davenport became only the 10th woman to win at least 50 WTA singles titles.

In February 2006, Davenport became the eighth woman to win 700 matches in WTA history. Davenport was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2014.

Davenport was once briefly coached by US doubles specialist Rick Leach. The coaching relationship was short, but Davenport embarked on a much longer relationship with Rick's brother Jon. The two were married in 2003 and have four children together. One of her four children, Jagger, born in 2007, has recently turned professional after a solid junior career.

Davenport has carved out a successful career in the media, working for several broadcasters. She's often heard on the Tennis Channel at a number of tournaments. British television viewers would've seen Davenport work in the past for ITV and the BBC. Her analysis is erudite and provides nuanced detail over technique and strategy. Madison Keys had a spell being coached by Davenport. Their spell together saw Keys reach a Grand Slam semi-final together.

The Williams’ sisters proved a barrier to Davenport adding to her trio of Grand Slam singles titles. She remained hugely consistent for the first half of the 2000s, but couldn't quite convert one of many appearances in the latter stages into a fourth or fifth major.

One of only five players to finish season-end number one at least four times or more. She features on a list that also contains Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Serena Williams and Graf.

To be keeping this sort of company underlines Davenport's own greatness. When you consider players of the stature of Venus Williams, Justine Henin and Evonne Goolagong are not on this list, it reinforces how special a club Davenport is part of.