Davis Cup Team Includes Agassi but Not McEnroe

John McEnroe isn’t back and probably won’t be, as far as the U.S. Davis Cup team is concerned.

When the U.S. team that will play Czechoslovakia later this month was announced, McEnroe was not mentioned.

U.S. Captain Tom Gorman said No. 4-ranked Brad Gilbert and No. 8-ranked Andre Agassi will play singles, and the team of Rick Leach and Jim Pugh will play doubles.

McEnroe’s absence from the U.S. team was not altogether unexpected. McEnroe, who led the United States to Davis Cup titles in 1979, 1981 and 1982, had told other players that he had already decided not to play Davis Cup matches this year.

“I haven’t gotten the feeling from John that he was into Davis Cup this year,” said Gorman, who spoke with McEnroe at the Ebel U.S Pro Indoor Championships two weeks ago at Philadelphia.

“(Davis Cup) doesn’t seem to quite fit in with John’s mental processes,” Gorman said.

McEnroe did not play in last year’s first round against Paraguay but won both his singles matches against France. A shoulder injury prevented his playing against West Germany in the semifinals.

Gorman said both Agassi and Gilbert are playing well. Agassi won the Volvo/San Francisco tournament, and Gilbert won last week at Rotterdam.

“It looks like (Agassi) is back on track,” Gorman said. “You’ll all agree that ’89 was a pretty tough year for Andre in a lot of ways.”

Gilbert and Jay Berger played singles for the United States in a rain-shortened, 4-0 victory over Mexico last month at La Costa.

The selection of Leach and Pugh over the more experienced team of Ken Flach and Robert Seguso was made easier, Gorman said, because Seguso had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last week in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

“He’s physically not ready to play, so (Flach and Seguso) never really became part of the consideration process,” Gorman said.

Leach and Pugh made their Davis Cup debut at La Costa and defeated Leonardo Lavalle and Jorge Lozano of Mexico.

Pugh said he always thought that he and Leach were one of the best doubles teams in the world, although he was not sure after La Costa that they would be chosen to play against Czechoslovakia in Prague.

“It was kind of iffy, but I thought we had a slightly better chance to play, and then, after Seguso hurt his knee, I figured we were the only choice,” Pugh said.