KEY POINTS:
When the Australian Open draw is made next weekend, more than a few of the 128 candidates will hope they avoid Lindsay Davenport in the first round.
Even though the 31-year-old American is ranked 72 in the world and will be unseeded, the former No 1 is still one of the most dangerous players in women's tennis.
Davenport knows it. Winning three titles out of four tournaments since making a speedy comeback from giving birth to a first child, on top of the three grand slam titles she's collected in the past, tends to send that sort of warning out there.
"I definitely see myself as the biggest floater in the draw being unseeded," she said looking forward to the Australian Open. "I'm sure no one would be excited to get me in the first round."
The first grand slam of the year will provide everyone with the best gauge of how well her comeback has gone, not least of all Davenport. Despite her successes, she's only met one top-five player with a record of one win and one loss against world No 3 and 2007 ASB Classic champion Jelena Jankovic.
"It's hard to say [where my true ranking would be] because I've only played girls in the top 10 two or three times," Davenport said. "It will be a little bit easier to judge against someone in the top five.
"I feel like I'm up somewhere near the top. When you win three of the four tournaments you play and [make] the semis of the other, I think you're a legitimate contender.
" I would like to get to the quarter-finals. I don't know the level of the top girls and where I am compared to them - but I feel I'm better than a lot out there and I would like the opportunity to show that.
"There are about five girls I really don't want to get in the first round."
It's not hard to pick those five. Two of them have the surname Williams, while "one starts with an H and ends in an N," she said of world No 1 Justine Henin.'
