Weekend Belongs to McEnroe : Davis Cup: He’s looking ahead to Wimbledon and other summer tournaments with optimism after his second victory against Spain.

The slingshot, skidding left-hand serve. The volleys flaring from his racket like sparks from a torch. The biting blasts at linesmen who do not conform to his sense of justice and vision.

With Wimbledon looming, is it possible that this 32-year-old chest-thumping American patriot could actually win?

On the grounds of the closest approximation to the All-England Club that the United States can provide, John McEnroe gave the closest approximation to his old Wimbledon-winning ways that he can offer.

Even with Sunday’s Davis Cup match against Spain’s Emilio Sanchez reduced in meaning because the United States already had clinched the team victory a day earlier, McEnroe crackled and popped in his three-set struggle with the world’s No. 12 player.

“His strokes and his way of touching the ball is against the normal rules of tennis,” Sanchez said after losing, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. “It is like he takes the ball with the racket, holds it, then throws (it) away.”

McEnroe lost his concentration briefly in the second set--the first set the American team dropped to Spain--but recovered and took the match in the third, including a perfect dropshot off the neck of his racket.

The singles matches on the grass of the Newport Casino and International Hall of Fame were reduced to best-of-three after the United States clinched the victory Saturday. The American team next will play Germany in the semifinals in Kansas City Sept. 20-22.

In the other match Sunday, with Brad Gilbert out because of a blister on his foot, Spain escaped a sweep when Tomas Carbonell defeated doubles specialist Rick Leach, 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-4, making it a 4-1 U.S. victory.

McEnroe, coming off his personal straight-set blistering of Carbonell on Friday, looked almost as sharp against Sanchez, a player much better suited to faster surfaces than Carbonell.

“I think I’m heading in the right direction,” McEnroe said. “So I am optimistic about my chances. I feel like it’s going well. And you know the other cliche, if not (at Wimbledon), then the summer.

“I feel confident that I can maybe pull out a couple of wins and hopefully challenge one of the big ones.”

Sanchez, who said he was happy he could win a set after losing in straight sets to Gilbert Friday and in straight sets in doubles Saturday, wasn’t sure if McEnroe had the stamina to go all the way in a major event against Boris Becker or Stefan Edberg.

“I think it is going to be very tough because he has to win every day,” Sanchez said. “In two weeks, he has to win seven matches, best-of-five (sets), and that takes a lot from you.”

McEnroe hasn’t won a Grand Slam event title since the 1984 U.S. Open. It was also after that year that McEnroe began skipping Davis Cup play after carrying the banner from the late 1970s. He didn’t play for America again until 1987, and has only recently made himself available whenever the U.S. team needs him.

“Mac had to play well and he did,” U.S. team captain Tom Gorman said. “I think these are some of the best matches he’s played in a while. Now I just hope he continues it on further, and there’s no reason he can’t do very, very well at Wimbledon.

“I think this was the ideal preparation for Wimbledon, to practice all week on the grass, then to play such high-level players in a real pressure situation. And I hear it’s raining in England now, (with players) not getting a lot of practice time over there.”

Several young American players, including Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang, turned down Gorman’s offer to play Davis Cup this weekend, preferring to prepare for Wimbledon on England’s grass courts.

McEnroe says he can’t see himself playing more than a year and a half more on the tour, and says if he does happen to steal Wimbledon or the U.S. Open in the next few months, he will be very tempted to end it then and there.

“Last year, I wouldn’t be thinking about that,” McEnroe said. “This year, I would be. I really would. I mean, what a way to go out.”