Czech Signals: Agassi Off Davis Cup Team : Men’s tennis: Player’s schedule is a little tight, so Krickstein will join Gilbert in Prague.

In perhaps the shortest Davis Cup tenure in history, Andre Agassi’s stay on the U.S. team lasted one day when he changed his mind and said he would not play against Czechoslovakia, after all.

When the U.S. team was announced Monday, Agassi was in the lineup, but Tuesday he told Captain Tom Gorman he was pulling out. On Wednesday, Aaron Krickstein accepted Gorman’s invitation to replace Agassi and join Brad Gilbert as singles players for the quarterfinal matches in Prague on March 30-April 1.

Agassi’s sudden withdrawal was unexpected since he had accepted Gorman’s invitation to play only last week.

Agassi does not believe that pulling out of the Davis Cup after he agreed to play and after the team has been announced reflects poorly on him.

“Not if all the facts are laid out on the table,” he said.

Gorman said he was disappointed, adding: “It’s his choice. I’m not happy. . . . We aren’t going to force him to come. It’s certainly becoming more of a concern for me to question his commitment.”

Agassi said he ultimately decided against playing not only because of his schedule, but also because Krickstein was physically sound. Krickstein missed the first round of the Davis Cup because of a pulled hamstring.

“If I had known Krickstein was fine, there was no way I would have accepted,” Agassi said.

As Krickstein walked off the court after a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 second-round victory over Brod Dyke in the Newsweek Champions Cup, Gorman asked Krickstein to play against Czechoslovakia.

Krickstein was not caught totally off guard by Agassi’s change of heart.

“You never know with Agassi,” Krickstein said. “You never know what he’s thinking one day to the next. He said something about his schedule. My schedule’s not too great either.”

Now that he is committed to Prague, Krickstein will play four consecutive weeks--at Key Biscayne, Fla.; Prague; Orlando, Fla., and Tokyo.

Agassi said even though he had first agreed to play in the Davis Cup, he could not find a place for it in his schedule following the International Players Championship in Key Biscayne.

“I need to take the three weeks off after Key Biscayne,” he said.

Bill Shelton of IMG, who represents Agassi, told one reporter that Agassi would play in “special events” during that three-week period.

In a somewhat confusing explanation of why he chose to play and then not to play in the Davis Cup, Agassi began by admonishing the media. “I’ll say it once, so try to pay attention,” he said.

According to Agassi, when he was not initially chosen to play in the first round of the Davis Cup against Mexico, he did not expect to be asked to compete in the second round.

Gorman’s first choices to play Mexico were John McEnroe and either Michael Chang or Krickstein, but McEnroe rarely plays in opening rounds, and both Chang and Krickstein were injured. Gorman turned to Gilbert to replace Chang. But when he asked Agassi to take over for Krickstein, Agassi refused, and Jay Berger filled in.

“Six weeks ago, I’m the fifth choice to play,” Agassi said. “I never thought that in six weeks I would be one of the two people they chose.”

Agassi also mentioned the return to form of Krickstein, who had pulled his hamstring in the Australian Open.

Agassi agreed to play even though he told Gorman that he didn’t think he would be in top form. Agassi also said he didn’t want to play in such a condition and be criticized as he was when the United States lost to West Germany in last year’s Davis Cup semifinal.

Then, when Krickstein played well in an exhibition at Scottsdale, Ariz., last weekend, Agassi telephoned Gorman and told him to choose Krickstein instead.

“I told Tom, ‘Pick him,’ ” Agassi said.

“I’m not doing this for Andre, I’m doing it for my country’s sake.”

Gorman said Krickstein’s status is not relevant to the decision by Agassi to withdraw, adding: “I told Andre that he and Brad were my first two choices.”

Krickstein said both his eyes were open when he made his decision to play in the Davis Cup. “No one wants to go to Prague,” he said. “It’s a tough play. It’s not exactly the Bahamas.”

Boris Becker, whose quickest serve Wednesday was timed at 116 m.p.h. on the radar gun, said he does not watch the on-court clock when the speed is registered.

“When I serve, it’s difficult to look,” said Becker, going through an imaginary serve.

The top-seeded Becker made it look easy as he blasted his way past Javier Sanchez, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, and into a third-round match against Horst Skoff.

While Becker cruised, neither seventh-seeded Tim Mayotte nor 13th-seeded Pete Sampras was as lucky.

Sampras, who won the Ebel U.S. Pro Indoor title two weeks ago in Philadelphia, was ambushed by Richey Reneberg in the second round, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

“I’m disappointed, but I’m not sad,” Sampras said. “Now, players are coming after me because I’m ranked high (No. 17) and I’m having a good year.”

Reneberg, ranked No. 49, withstood an erratic Sampras serve and waited for a mistake. “He’s a very, very underrated player,” Sampras said of Reneberg.

Jim Pugh, whose first-round victory had featured a 15-13 third-set tiebreaker against Alexander Volkov, upset Mayotte, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

The sixth-seeded Agassi, wearing pink tights beneath coal-black shorts, was color-coordinated as he defeated Jimmy Arias, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5).

It took third-seeded Brad Gilbert 22 hours to get here and 81 minutes to win his first match. Gilbert beat Niclas Kroon, 6-4, 6-2, in a semi-tough match, but not nearly as difficult as getting to the Coachella Valley from Eastern Europe.

Gilbert, his wife, Kim, and their son, Zachary, arrived at their hotel at 4:30 a.m. Monday. He won a tournament Sunday afternoon in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and what followed was the itinerary from hell--flights from Rotterdam to Amsterdam to Houston to Los Angeles and a rental-car ride to the desert through a sandstorm.