Schnyder game as watersports cool off tropical Bali event

Swiss daredevil Patty Schnyder has risked her tennis form with some Bali surfing while comeback-bound former champion Lindsay Davenport is taking a more cautious approach at the Commonwealth Bank Classic.

Schnyder, seeded third with an opening match later Tuesday against China's Zhang Shuai, was among a group of players who took professional surfing instruction at the beachside resort venue for the WTA tournament.

Davenport, who gave birth just three months ago and is already testing the waters for a possible return to competition as a "working" mum, instead opted to play it safe.

The 31-year-old three-time Grand Slam winner missed the chance to surf and also insisted on a car instead of Harley-Davidson motorcycle transport to a UNICEF awards ceremony.

Davenport won the Bali title in 2005 and lost in the semis in 2006 before announcing her retirement a few weeks later.

But after giving birth in June to son Jagger, her pangs for tennis became just as strong as her maternal instinct.

To that end, she's travelled to the Indonesian island with mother Ann, coach Adam Peterson, a nanny and little Jagger in tow.

Davenport had to make do for a few days after her bag of tennis clothes failed to turn up at the airport, with mum pressed into action for a quick shopping trip to procure replacements.

But by the time Davenport and Daniela Hantuchova won their opening doubles match on Monday, all was well on the clothing front with all gear finally arriving.

Davenport is due to play this week plus next week in Beijing before deciding if she's ready for a full-time comeback. She appears to be leaning towards being ready for the Australian summer season from January.

The American is hoping to get a feel for her big game once again through Bali match practise.

"It's not an easy first match," Davenport said of her singles opener against Greek Eleni Daniilidou. "But it's not really about who I play and winning matches. It's hard to put expectations on myself after everything that's happened in the last year."

"I look forward to playing anybody and being out there in a match situation and playing two full sets or three full sets and trying to build points and trying to see where my fitness is," she added.

"It's going to be exciting and a good test."

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia is travelling from the US Open to play as top seed, with her and number two Hantuchova receiving first-round byes. dpa bs cc