McEnroe Will Not Play on U.S. Davis Cup Team

If the United States is going to repeat as Davis Cup champion, it will have to do so without John McEnroe.

McEnroe, 33, who led the United States to a 3-1 victory over Switzerland in the 1992 Davis Cup finals, apparently isn’t interested in playing on the squad again. McEnroe, passed over for the captain’s position when the United States Tennis Assn. reappointed Tom Gorman, told Gorman that tennis of any kind isn’t in his plans.

“At the moment, he’s just not committed to playing any tennis at all,” Gorman said Monday. “He stated to me he was very, very sure that at least the first couple of (Davis Cup) matches weren’t even going to be a consideration at all.”

The U.S. plays its first-round match, against Australia, March 26-28 on the grass at Kooyong in Melbourne, and Gorman will have to abandon his plan to use the same four players that won the Davis Cup--Jim Courier, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and McEnroe.

The doubles team of McEnroe and Sampras won important matches against Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd of Sweden in the semifinals, and against Jakob Hlasek and Marc Rosset of Switzerland in the finals. Against Australia, Gorman said, he may be leaning toward a doubles team of Jim Grabb and Richey Reneberg.

Gorman has led teams to the finals in three consecutive years and has come away with titles in 1990 against Australia and last year against Switzerland, losing to France in 1991. But he was put in an awkward situation in the finals against the Swiss last month when the USTA delayed its decision to reappoint him as captain at the same time McEnroe picked up support for the job from Agassi, Courier and Sampras.

Gorman said he has told Courier, Agassi and Sampras of McEnroe’s decision, and they asked to delay agreeing to play the first round until after the Australian Open.

Gorman also said he believes McEnroe’s decision against playing is unrelated to Gorman’s reappointment. McEnroe has acknowledged that he and wife, actress Tatum O’Neal, are experiencing marital problems, but Gorman would not speculate on whether aspects of McEnroe’s personal life are influencing his tennis decisions.