As Far as Gorman Is Concerned, This Davis Cup Group Just Fine

Tom Gorman had to be in a foul mood at worst, an impatient mood at best.

Here he was, only three days from playing Mexico in the first round of the 1990 Davis Cup tournament Friday at La Costa, and it seemed as if the team captain was stepping into the O.K. Corral with only a round or two in his six-gun.

There he was at center court Tuesday, supervising a practice session that, for assorted reasons, did not involve John McEnroe or Andre Agassi or Michael Chang. And where was that seemingly forever-and-always doubles team of Ken Flach and Robert Seguso?

And here was the USA, already perceived as the American Football Conference of the tennis world.

Tom Gorman was smiling.

Smiling?

He must have bet the ‘Niners and given the points, gone for the over, picked Jerry Rice to score the first touchdown and tossed in a side wager that an extra point would be missed.

It had to be the Super Bowl.

Why else would Tom Gorman be smiling?

Tom Gorman was comfortable with the guys he will go to war with. What’s more, he’ll tell you why.

“I’ve still got the top guys,” he said. “Four of our top six aren’t here, but we’ve still got the fourth- and ninth-ranked guys in the world. I don’t know how much better you can get than that.”

Indeed, the U.S. singles players, Brad Gilbert (No. 4) and Jay Berger (No. 10), are both Top 10 guys in the latest ATP rankings. And the doubles team of Rick Leach and Jim Pugh finished No. 1 in Nabisco Grand Prix points in 1989.

The problem is that the average sports fan does not take note of tennis players until they get maybe to the singles semifinals at the U.S. Open or Wimbledon, and he or she generally disregards doubles players altogether. Be advised, for example, that Jay Berger earned $332,168 in prize money in 1989. Who knew that ?

“And in the latest rankings,” Gorman said, “Gilbert has moved ahead of McEnroe. That shows how many top players we have right now.”

It would appear, thus, that U.S. tennis is quietly enjoying a bit of an upswing.

“We had six in the top 10 of the ATP computer rankings at the end of ‘89,” Gorman continued. “No country has ever had that many players in the top 10 since the ratings were started back in 1973.”

To say that anything is wrong with the American team, Gorman suggested, may be fashionable . . . but hardly up-to-date.

“What that question meant four years ago,” he said, “was really a question like, ‘Do we have any players with No. 1 material?’ That was when McEnroe had just taken his leave for six to eight months and Jimmy Connors was no longer the force that he was. We had been conditioned, over a 12-year period with Connors and McEnroe, to so many grand slam finishes and winning so many. Not another American was taking their place.”

And people such as Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander became the names in the men’s tennis world.

“But that ,” Gorman insisted, “is different than the overall state of the game.”

The problem is crashing that party at the very top, a breakthrough which Michael Chang made when he won the French Open last year. That was a nibble, albeit a very big nibble, but not a bite.

So how soon will an American get there and stay there?

“I think we’re a couple of years away,” Gorman said. “We’ve got a number of players in the Top 10 working hard within themselves to crack into the grand slam winner category. Now it comes down to doing it. It’s a matter of hard work, dedication and discipline and how they approach that.”

All of that stuff, of course, relates to individual glory and gain. That is not what Davis Cup is all about. This is a red, white and blue deal, country against country. Win this tournament and dine in the White House. This is rah-rah tennis.

The number of quality players certainly puts the United States in contention, though hardly in the driver’s seat. Mexico would not seem a formidable first-round opponent, its players ranked Nos. 135, 290 and 351 in the world. The going gets much tougher thereafter, beginning with the winner of Czechoslovakia and Switzerland in Round 2 at the end of March.

Regardless, it doesn’t seem likely Gorman is going to be doing much fretting when he rolls over his cards and sees which Americans he has in his hand.

The USA might just be stronger than the world realizes.

Tom Gorman seems inclined to say, “I’ll play these.”

And he’s smiling.