Lindsay smiles through the pain

"It was a Friday when Andrew called,'' said Davenport, clearly recalling a moment engraved on her heart.

"I was completely shocked. There was no sense that anything like that was wrong beforehand. Corina had a foot problem so she went home, that was all. Things took off from there. She found out on Wednesday and was in the hospital on Thursday. Her whole life changed in a second.''

Whether Morariu will ever be able to resume her career is currently unimportant in the scheme of things. But for Davenport, professional business had to be attended to sooner or later.

Yesterday in Eastbourne she would not have beaten Jennifer Capriati. But she did enough to beat the world No54 Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France 6-3, 6-2, and was satisfied.

Afterwards Davenport talked about the usual stuff - her knee, her form, how odd it had been to be out of the game for the longest period since she began playing. She smiled a lot. She even smiled fleetingly when she began to speak of the (thankfully) unusual stuff - her close friend's cancer. It made it seem lighter somehow, as if it is already certain that everything will be all right, which is very far from the case.

"I went to Florida to see Corina for a couple of days over the first weekend of the French,'' recalled Davenport. "We were watching together when Chris Evert said something about it on television and Corina really took it to heart. She heard when Jennifer [Capriati] dedicated her win to her. That meant so much to her. It's been overwhelming to her that so many people are affected by her illness.

"She's got a long way to go but she has great spirit. That's what you need. She's a very strong girl and she's very young, so hopefully her body is strong enough to fight it off. But it's going to be tough.

"She had chemotherapy from the day she went to hospital. She had it very tough in the first week especially. At one point they had to resuscitate her. She's been on oxygen from the beginning although she's much better now.''

Davenport laughed for a moment. "She and her brother Mircea have shaved their heads. She has a really great attitude. She's felt stronger since she was allowed out of hospital, although she has to go back for another load of chemotherapy in a couple of weeks.

"Something like this puts tennis in perspective - that's what they say, isn't it? There I was, upset when I couldn't play because of my knee, when it really didn't mean anything. I've never had anyone around me experience anything like that when they were so young and healthy. I hope I've been strong for her but she has an incredible family and she knows she has many friends besides me that are there for her, and of course her husband most of all.''

Davenport was smiling as she delivered all those upbeat buzzwords about her friend's strength and youth and hope. At such a time the competitive mental attitude has its uses, sifting the positive wheat from the negative chaff, cushioning the worst. Whatever gets her through. Better to smile than the alternative, maybe.