DANGER ZONE : U.S. Captain Tom Gorman Is All Too Familiar With the Pitfalls and Poor Calls of Davis Cup Competition

Today, for U.S. captain Tom Gorman, who knows firsthand about the injustices of Davis Cup play, it all starts again.

The drums. The noise. The near-riot conditions.

These circumstances are such that Gorman will probably be hearing drums and cymbals in his dreams for the next two weeks . . . no matter what happens in the three-day American zone semifinal at Lima, Peru, which opens today with two singles matches.

As a player in Davis Cup, Gorman was basically “conned out of a match” against Ilie Nastase in Romania, in the words of former teammate Stan Smith and many others.

Gorman, as captain of the U.S. team, had watched lines judges make premature calls--that is, before the ball hit the court--in last year’s Davis Cup match in Asuncion, Paraguay.

The hazards of Davis Cup, knowing that playing in certain South American countries might mean that lines judges will applaud their player’s shots is not unthinkable. It happened when Paraguay played host to France in 1985.

This familiarity with partiality was nothing new for Gorman. It hasn’t bred contempt, rather, these struggles have made him relish the challenge more.

He first encountered a similar challenge, though under very different circumstances, 25 years ago in the Pacific Northwest. Gorman thinks it helps him to handle Davis Cup dramas.

“I played enough high school basketball in small, little gyms to experience that (partiality) early on,” Gorman said. “The referee looked like the guy who sold shoes at the local Florsheims to guys on the team. And they’re calling him by his first name. They’re saying, ‘Bob, that was charging!’ ”

And, about 25 years later, very little has changed. Except that, instead of a referee, Gorman has to deal with the person calling lines on a tennis court.

The similarities are not lost on Gorman.

In 1972, Gorman and his teammates were in Romania to play the Davis Cup final, leading the United States to victory under incredibly difficult circumstances. Then, two years ago, he became Davis Cup captain, meaning more fun and games in places such as Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, and now, Peru.

Places where the phrase on guard has taken on a new meaning--as in around-the-clock security and police escorts whenever you leave your hotel room.

However, despite being mired in American zonal competition and unable to compete for the Cup until 1989 at the earliest, Gorman remains a steadfast fan of the concept, if not the built-in hazards that accompany it.

“I love it,” Gorman said recently at his new tennis club in Rancho Mirage at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which is two time zones to the west of Lima, but seemingly more like a million miles. “I think Davis Cup presents an athlete with the ultimate challenge. You know it’s tough. You can kind of compare it with St. Louis having to go into the Metrodome to win the World Series.

“But we have to do that every other time. And, as the United States, we have to deal with the fact we have to play in countries that have a love-hate relationship with us. Can you be tough enough to say, ‘I can get above this stuff and beat them?’ ”

Which brings us to who is Tom Gorman, the man who faces the thankless task of trying to get the United States out of the zone competition. The guy who seemingly gets too much blame if the Americans falter, and far too little credit if they succeed.

Gorman’s first significant tennis accomplishment was merely getting on the pro tour. When Gorman was growing up in Seattle, indoor courts weren’t readily available.

After playing No. 1 for three years at Seattle University, Gorman made his first international trip in 1969 and spent 12 years playing on the pro tour. In between, he was ranked in the U.S. top 10 in singles and doubles five times, and reached the singles semifinals of Wimbledon (1971), the U.S. Open (1972) and the French Open (1973).

The highlight of his first Wimbledon trip in 1969 was a five-set, first-round loss against Nastase.

“I think there were four or five people watching,” Gorman said. “(Ion) Tiriac was there. We were out on the back court. And what I really remember, because he didn’t have a temper then, was that this guy is really fast. Tiriac? He didn’t have the mustache then. He wasn’t the same menacing character back then.”

Nastase and Gorman met again--in Davis Cup play in 1972--under different circumstances. That time, Gorman lost after holding a two-set lead in a best-of-five set match filled with controversy.

Gorman singled out his victory in the Stockholm Open in 1973 as his most significant moment on the court. He defeated Bjorn Borg in the final after recording wins over Smith, Marty Riessen and Tom Okker. And, Gorman’s 1971 Wimbledon quarterfinal victory over No. 1-ranked Rod Laver is a close second.

While it is easy for Gorman, 42, to recall his on-court moments, he finds it harder to describe himself and his interests.

“I’m a fairly positive person,” he said. “I mean very, very positive. Generally speaking. I’m trying to be more decisive . . . answering questions like that. I’ve always been very easygoing on the surface and not expressing much anger, disappointment or frustration. If you would ask other people, they’d probably say he’s kind of goofy, he likes the other side, the lighter side of things.”

Smith, one of Gorman’s closest friends, concurs.

“He doesn’t get mad,” said Smith, who was the best man at Gorman’s wedding four years ago and who asked Gorman to be the best man at his wedding.

“I’ve never seen him get too upset. I think it does help him (as Davis Cup captain). It gets pretty heavy. You have to be able to stay calm, and you have to keep the respect of your players. I think he’s been able to do that.”

Smith has seen consistency from Gorman ever since they met back in juniors. He related a story that probably tells more about Gorman’s character than anything else.

Smith and Gorman were playing a semifinal match at Barcelona, Spain, in the 1972 Masters, and Gorman worked his way to match point in the fourth set. It looked as though he was going to meet Nastase for the title.

“He defaulted at match point,” Smith said. “He knew the sponsors were counting on a final between Nastase and me. And, Tom had hurt his back in the fourth set, and he knew he couldn’t have played the next day. So he defaulted the match. It’s something very few players would have done.”

Smith paused and thought for a moment.

“I really don’t know if anyone would have done that.”