McEnroe Fires Several Volleys : Tennis: He is critical of Gorman, saying he doesn’t think there is any chance that captain of U.S. Davis Cup team will be retained.

What are the two words that either chill your Davis Cup bones or warm your racket string?

Captain Mac.

As far as U.S. Davis Cup fortunes go, and that’s not real far right now, there is a chance that John McEnroe will replace Tom Gorman as captain in 1994, a possibility that might have grown a little larger after the United States lost its first-round match in Australia two weeks ago.

Since then, McEnroe has come to the conclusion that while he isn’t sure if he will be captain next year, he is absolutely certain that Gorman won’t be.

“I don’t think there’s a chance in hell Gorman will be back next year,” McEnroe said. “And if there is, it would be the biggest joke of all time. I mean, enough is enough. . . . Eight years.”

McEnroe, 34, has been in virtual retirement since December, when he played in the Grand Slam Cup in Munich after leading the United States to the 1992 Davis Cup title in Ft. Worth. Only two weeks ago, he picked up his racket to practice in earnest for a five-night exhibition barnstorming tour with Andre Agassi that concludes April 17 at the Forum.

Although McEnroe said he has no plans to come back and play tournaments, he still monitors the game and was upset by Australia’s 4-1 first-round Davis Cup victory over the United States in Melbourne.

McEnroe was especially critical of Gorman, particularly for not fighting hard enough to get Agassi and Pete Sampras to play and for choosing No. 47 David Wheaton instead of No. 12 Mal Washington to play singles with Brad Gilbert.

“Look at the selections he made,” McEnroe said. “Not to give a guy like Washington a chance is completely absurd. And not to pressure a guy like (Ivan) Lendl to play. Why doesn’t Lendl want to play? It’s such a joke. This guy sits back and mouths off about everyone and then when he has a chance to do something, he bags it. He should be (dumped) on for it.

“I think the focus is off a little bit. People started dumping on the guys who chose not to play, (but) I think you could see the writing on the wall as far as the scheduling and that they didn’t make the change and stuck with Tom.

“(Gorman) got another chance because basically I stepped away from it and said you don’t change a guy on a winning note. Even though I was coaching these guys anyway. It wasn’t like he was doing anything.”

Gorman said that McEnroe did some coaching in Ft. Worth when the United States defeated Switzerland, 3-1, in the Davis Cup final, the second title in three years for Gorman’s teams.

“He was invaluable and I felt very comfortable in those situations,” Gorman said. “It was a very important part of what he added to the team. But I think I did a fair amount of coaching myself.”

Gorman, whose 17-6 record makes him the winningest U.S. Davis Cup captain, said passing over Washington was the most difficult decision he had to make, but insisted that Wheaton’s grass-court experience made him a better choice. He also said he was turned down by Lendl and Michael Chang and had polled Agassi and Sampras, who told him that whether he was captain would not affect their decision to play.

“I tried everything I could,” Gorman said. “I was very, very disappointed that neither one of them played. They definitely should have been there. But they made their choice.”

McEnroe said he would not have expected Jim Courier to play, since grass is a poor surface for him and because he has not thrived in the Davis Cup. McEnroe also said he understood that scheduling Davis Cup was a problem. For instance, Sampras would have played in consecutive events in California, Florida, Australia and Spain.

But in any case, McEnroe said Gorman could have done more.

“Let’s put it this way, if I was captain, I wouldn’t have gone down there without Agassi and Sampras,” he said.

J. Howard Frazer, president of the U.S. Tennis Assn., which runs the U.S. Davis Cup team, would not speculate on Gorman’s tenure.

“Tom has a contract for 1993, then we’ll look at the situation,” said Frazer, who also praised McEnroe.

“I always say the same thing when I’m asked about him,” Frazer said. “John has been the greatest contributor to the U.S. Davis Cup team in recent history and I think he would make a fine captain.”

McEnroe isn’t sure he will ever be asked to do the job. And if he is asked, he isn’t sure he wants it.

“I’m losing interest,” he said. “I feel like I would make a good Davis Cup captain, but what I don’t like is this perception that I’m going around begging for the job. But with the hemming and hawing like there is now, I’m less interested than I was.

“I guess there is an argument in certain circles that picking me is somewhat of a chancy thing because they are worried about me yelling at an umpire or something. So it would be a lot easier for them to pick a guy like (Stan) Smith. I don’t think he would be good for the job at all. I think he would stink. He’s totally out of touch. All he talks about is himself. He’s a complete joke.”

Said Smith: “I guess that’s his opinion and he’s welcome to it.”

The U.S. team and the seven other first-round losers in the World Group drop into a relegation round Sept. 26-28. Eight more teams that win in zonal competition in late May fill out the bracket. If the United States wins its relegation-round match, it moves back into the World Group for 1994. But if it loses, the United States remains in the zone group, the Davis Cup minor leagues, for 1994.