Three-time Grand Slam winner Lindsay Davenport took a winning first step at the US Open on Monday, opening with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak.

But it may be her infant son Jagger who has the final say in how long 32-year-old mum continues her tennis career.

Californian Davenport played into the doubles quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics after withdrawing from singles when her injured right knee flared up.

Her experience in China was also the first time at an event without her son since his birth in June, 2007, and Davenport admits she felt the tug of motherhood.

"When I went to Beijing I left him for two weeks and it was heart-breaking — not so much my husband, but my son," she said.

"It's obviously not easy to be a family when you have two working parents and one travelling.

"We'll have to see how I feel, if there's any motivation, how it affects everybody that's involved with us, and take it from there."

With her previous long-term goal a Beijing appearance, Davenport has said that she will re-assess after her run in New York ends.

Nearly a year ago, she returned to the WTA and won two tournaments in late 2007 and two in early 2008 to bring her career singles total to 55.

That burst of form arrived as a surprise a year after she publicly pondered retirement in New York in 2006 before falling pregnant.

"Each time I play a Grand Slam I always think that it could be my last time playing here," Davenport said. "I've obviously learned that I have no idea what the future kind of holds and what will happen.

"I don't make decisions for the future anymore."

While striving to live in the present, Davenport said her 17th US Open is as pleasing as her first.

"I'm so excited to be back here. I didn't think I would be back playing. You never know how many more chances you'll get to be playing here."

At her main draw debut nearly two decades ago he said that as a teenaged wild card, she was just thrilled to walk through the gates of the tennis complex.

"I was just so fortunate to be able to walk on the grounds, I can't believe the USTA let me have a wildcard. I'll never forget this day," she said.

"Becoming a champion (1998) and now coming back as a mom and as a former number one, it's just all overwhelming. I never thought when I was growing up and playing that I would ever be in a champion-like position."

AFP