Part of what made her easy to underestimate was that she made it easy. She was 6'2", hit the ball harder than almost anyone in the history of the women's game, won Wimbledon in 1999, and then went home. She was constitutionally uncomfortable with the spotlight in an era that rewarded charisma as much as results, self-deprecating in interviews, and genuinely well-liked by fellow players in a sport that does not always make those qualities visible. She won her Olympic gold in Atlanta in 1996 at twenty years old, before any of the Grand Slams, which tells you something about the order in which she arrived. The titles followed because the game was already there.

She married sports agent Jonathan Leach in 2001 and has four children. After the birth of her first child she returned to the tour and reached the Wimbledon final in 2006, pushing it to three sets. That comeback is one of the least discussed remarkable feats of her career, partly because Davenport herself never seemed to think it required discussion. She became a coach after retiring, working with players including Madison Keys and serving as U.S. Fed Cup captain, passing on a way of seeing the court that two decades of elite competition had built in her. The sport has spent years catching up to what she was. She has not seemed to notice or mind.