Australians Are Next Up for the U.S.

If the United States thought the orange bunch from the Netherlands was a tough group, wait until they get a load of the team from down under.

Although the United States leads all nations in Davis Cup titles with 31, Australia is second with 26. And while the United States struggles to piece together its team every few months, the Australians have no problem getting their best players to participate in the Davis Cup.

Australian Davis Cup Coach Tony Roche knows every year he will have his top-ranked players on board. His U.S. counterpart, Tom Gullikson, wonders which of his top players will develop an injury, have a scheduling conflict or will simply want to take the week off.

Gullikson did his best to appease his best players, Pete Sampras and Michael Chang, by playing the quarterfinal round against the Netherlands on the West Coast and making their trip to Asia shorter. But that wasn’t enough to entice Sampras and Chang, so Andre Agassi and Jim Courier filled in.

Agassi, who has participated in 17 Davis Cup rounds and is 24-4 in singles, said he has never understood why top American players don’t value the Davis Cup more.

“There is no question that the Davis Cup has held a piece of tennis that you really don’t get anywhere,” he said.

“I think it should be respected by the players. It’s disappointing not to have guys come in. Guys like Jim Courier and Todd Martin are just off the charts now--the quality of people that they are to make the decision to tough out Davis Cup. It is not easy.”

Who will play for the U.S. team in September in the semifinals against Australia? That all depends on who’s available and what surface the U.S. Tennis Assn. chooses.

If the USTA picks clay, Courier, a two-time French Open champion, would be a natural. Gullikson said Sampras, the world’s No. 1 player, told him he would be available from the semifinal round on.

“The Australians have some big servers, some big hitters and the best doubles team in the world,” Gullikson said. “We’ll need our best players to beat them.”

Roche already knows who he’ll have available--the same four players that finished off the Czech Republic in Adelaide, Australia, this weekend--Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis in singles and Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde in doubles.

Philippoussis, 24th in the ATP rankings and one of the rising stars on tour, recently defeated Agassi, 7-6, 7-6, in Indian Wells. He also owns the fastest serve on tour, setting a record of 142 mph in Scottsdale, Ariz., this year. Rafter is ranked 43rd and Woodforde and Woodbridge are the top-ranked doubles team and they are the defending U.S. Open champions.

The Australians clinched the quarterfinals on Saturday. Rafter and Philippoussis put away David Riki and Martin Damm, although Rafter had to win a 15-13 tiebreaker in his three-set match.

The Australians also are expected to pull out all the traditional stops by bringing some of their Davis Cup legends--Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle and Phil Dent--and placing them near the bench where they can give the current crop some inspiration during changeovers.