Milwaukee Rather Green These Days

Jan-Michael Gambill was waxing poetic Thursday about the similarities of his native Spokane, Wash., and Milwaukee--apparently there are some--and mentioned the foliage here.

His Davis Cup teammate, Justin Gimelstob, leaned forward and took over the proceedings at the draw ceremony downtown.

“I don’t know about the foliage, or whatever that is, but we got to see [Mark] McGwire hit his home run on Sunday,” Gimelstob said. “That was sweet. And we had a couple of those hot dog things. What are those?”

Said U.S. Davis Cup captain and surrogate father Tom Gullikson, who grew up in Onalaska, Wis.: “Bratwurst. It’s a Wisconsin thing.”

This seems to be the time for the younger brothers to finally grab the keys to the car.

By necessity, the U.S. Davis Cup team was remolded for the semifinals against Italy, starting today at the Milwaukee Arena. Spain plays at Sweden in the other semifinal.

When Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang declined Davis Cup invitations, the make-over became necessary and what came spinning out were two 28-year-olds, Todd Martin and Jim Courier, and the youngsters, Gambill and Gimelstob.

“They’re 21,” Gullikson said. “They’re legal.”

The 50th-ranked Gambill--who will make his Davis Cup debut in today’s opening singles match against No. 37 Andrea Gaudenzi--is a fan of “Star Trek,” “Xena” and Steffi Graf, not necessarily in that order.

The excitable Gimelstob--who has been toting around a video camera all week--is scheduled to make his debut Saturday with Martin in doubles against Gaudenzi and Diego Nargiso. After the first singles match today, the 28th-ranked Martin will play Davide Sanguinetti, who is ranked 47th.

“Obviously, it’s a little tougher [to make changes] in the semifinals,” Gullikson said. “Ultimately, it’s a one-on-one sport, whether it’s in the first round or the semis. But it’s a lot easier playing at home for your first time than at an away [venue].”

The key figures will be Martin and Gaudenzi, each of whom is scheduled to play two singles matches and doubles. Gaudenzi, 25, has been troubled by shoulder problems and withdrew in the first round of the U.S. Open.

“My shoulder is still here,” said Gaudenzi, who is 7-2 in Davis Cup singles matches since 1996. “It’s better. I hope it can last for the weekend.”

Martin has won seven consecutive Davis Cup singles matches and, against Belgium in July, he and Courier won the deciding doubles match.

“The biggest pressure is, I’m scheduled to play three matches,” he said. “If I’m having a bad weekend, I could be a real goat. But if I have a good weekend, we’ll be in good shape.”

Although his selection was expected by others, Gambill was not sure he would be picked. But Courier has not played since early August because of dead-arm syndrome.

“It definitely feels a little odd,” Gambill said. “I look up to Jim a lot and I always have. It was Gully’s decision and Jim really hasn’t played a lot. I don’t think it’s taking anything away from Jim.”

He is relieved to be playing the first singles match.

“I’ll be less freaked out when I’m out there than I was on the sidelines,” Gambill said. “It’s really hard to watch those guys. I get so nervous. I can barely stand it.”

Courier understood the rationale behind the decision. He also said the best-of-five matches would be much closer than conventional wisdom holds. The Italians were heartened that the indoor court is playing slower than expected.

“I see this around 55-45 for the U.S. to get in the finals,” Courier said.

Said Martin: “I think that’s selling us short a little bit. I’m very confident in Jan-Michael and myself. We know it’s going to take a lot from them to beat us.”

Courier didn’t back off.

“These other guys are good players,” he said. “It’s not like you’re taking players who can’t play on this surface. It’s a pretty slow hard-court surface in there. They’ve obviously done well this year to get here. They’ve got experience and some of our guys don’t.

“If you have Andre [Agassi] playing and you have myself playing, in good form, that’s the court you want. It changes a little bit when you put Jan-Michael and Todd out there.”

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Davis Cup Facts

* What: Davis Cup semifinals--United States vs. Italy.

* Where: Milwaukee Arena.

* When: Today through Sunday.

* Surface: Indoor hard court.

* Format: Two singles matches today. One doubles match Saturday. Two reverse singles matches Sunday.

* Today’s matches: Jan-Michael Gambill, U.S., vs. Andrea Gaudenzi; Todd Martin, U.S., vs. Davide Sanguinetti.