McEnroe Sparks a U.S. Rally

John McEnroe hid his face in a towel.

For the U.S. Davis Cup team, this was not particularly a good sign, but it was a pretty fair indication of how things were going Saturday in the doubles final against Switzerland.

McEnroe and Pete Sampras had dropped the first two sets to Jakob Hlasek and Marc Rosset, which meant that the Davis Cup title was close to disappearing like money into a Swiss bank account.

The prospects were so grim, McEnroe couldn’t look. McEnroe, the preeminent doubles player of his time, the player who has spent so much time around the tub-like Davis Cup trophy he probably considers it an undersized Jacuzzi, was close to seeing the Swiss all but score the tennis upset of the decade and he couldn’t bare to watch.

How bad was it?

“A very big bummer,” Sampras said.

Yes . . . until McEnroe and Sampras revived the fortunes of the U.S. team and rallied for a 6-7 (7-5), 6-7 (9-7), 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Hlasek and Rosset in the pivotal match of the Davis Cup final.

As a result, the heavily favored Americans took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series and can wrap up their 30th title in 57 appearances in the final by winning one of the two singles matches today.

The United States will be going up against a Swiss team that may need ski poles to stand up.McEnroe and Sampras worked 4 hours 18 minutes, and that’s not good news for Rosset against Andre Agassi, for example, because Rosset went 4 hours 23 minutes Friday night to beat Jim Courier.

“Better say I like our chances,” McEnroe said in a statement through a pool reporter after refusing to attend a post-match news conference.

Maybe, but there weren’t many who thought much of the United States’ chances after Switzerland won the first two tiebreaker sets in fairly unbelievable fashion.

In the first set, McEnroe double-faulted on a third Swiss set point after Rosset blew the first two with double faults.

In the second, the United States blew two set points in the tiebreaker, and McEnroe ended it with a service return into the net.

“It was too much,” Sampras said. “I remember at one changeover, we sort of said ‘God, this is too bad.’ I felt or chances were pretty slim.”

Actually, they were about to fatten up considerably. Sampras and McEnroe claimed the third set on the fourth set point when McEnroe cracked a forehand service return cross-court at Rosset’s feet.

Then they ran to the locker room to take a break. In the locker room, McEnroe took over.

“Mac was just ranting and raving,” Sampras said.

Ranting and raving?

“He was getting pumped up--’Let’s kick some . . . .’ It was on that level,” Sampras said.

The Swiss were sinking to a lower level, largely because of fatigue.

“I think we ran out of steam,” said Hlasek, who plays Courier in the first match today. “We are two against much many more.”

McEnroe and Sampras did not face a break point in the last three sets. After tying the match with a snappy fourth set, the United States put itself into position for another Davis Cup title with a startlingly easy fifth set.

Hlasek double-faulted to put the United States ahead by two breaks. Then McEnroe served out the match at love with an ace down the middle on match point.

Said Hlasek: “You shouldn’t forget, this is David against Goliath. We are two against four.”

Davis Cup Notes

Pete Sampras coined a new term for the togetherness of the U.S. team--”comraderieship.” Whatever it was, the Swiss team didn’t like it too much. Team captain Dimitri Sturdza complained Saturday about the U.S. players yelling from the stands during the match and International Tennis Federation referee Stefan Fransson asked U.S. captain Tom Gorman to tell them to be quiet, which Gorman did. Jakob Hlasek ended his interview session by making a little speech: “I have tremendous respect for the American sport, but . . . I would have even more respect if the American players would treat us a little bit with more respect. . . . And one more thing, I’m so proud to be Swiss. You can not believe how proud I am to be Swiss.” . . . Gorman said he has no qualms about sending Courier out to play Hlasek in the first match today, despite Courier’s lackluster performance Friday night in a five-set loss to Rosset that lowered Courier’s Davis Cup record to 2-5. “I feel very good about him,” said Gorman, who worked with Courier in a practice session Saturday night, Courier’s second of the day. . . . In the second match, Andre Agassi plays Marc Rosset, who took exception to Agassi’s laughing during the Rosset-Courier match. As a result, Rosset said he had great motivation to play Agassi.

* MIKE DOWNEY: C2