Gilbert Is Davis Cup Substitute : Tennis: Veteran will replace Michael Chang on U.S. team that will play Mexico.

Brad Gilbert, selected Wednesday to replace Michael Chang on the U.S. Davis Cup team that plays its first-round match against Mexico, said the United States would be difficult to beat no matter who is playing.

“In the Davis Cup, you never know what can happen, but we probably could put together four different teams and beat them,” Gilbert said. “We should be in solid shape.”

After reaching last year’s semifinals, where it lost to repeat champion West Germany, the U.S. team begins 1990 Davis Cup play Feb. 2-4 at La Costa.

Chang had been named to the squad by U.S. captain Tom Gorman but injured his left hip last month while practicing in Florida. Robert Kerlan, an orthopedic surgeon at the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Medicine Clinic in Inglewood, said there was a separation of bone in Chang’s hip.

“He needs to get much more solid healing before he can place that degree of pressure on the joint without risking long-term damage,” Kerlan said.

Chang is no longer on crutches, but he said he does not want to rush back on the court.

“You never know how long it’s going to take to heal,” said Chang, who isn’t sure if he will be able to play as scheduled in a tournament at Memphis, starting Feb. 26. “You never know.”

Gilbert considered not playing for the U.S. team, angered slightly at being passed over when Gorman announced last month that Chang and Aaron Krickstein would play singles. Gilbert said he had a change of heart, though, when he remembered how well he had played after taking the injured John McEnroe’s place against West Germany.

“It really gets me ready for my schedule--San Francisco, Toronto, Philadelphia--so I’ll just use the Davis Cup to train for a month, and hopefully it’ll be a springboard for me for the rest of the year,” Gilbert said.

“Plus, maybe most important, I get to play at home, in California, so I reconsidered.”

Gilbert has never played a Davis Cup match in the United States. In 1986, he won both his singles matches in Mexico, but lost two in Australia. Last year against West Germany, Gilbert won both his singles, the only matches the United States won in a 3-2 defeat.