Italy Makes It Painful for U.S.

The Italian doubles players were in sorry shape: Andrea Gaudenzi needed a shot of cortisone for his ailing shoulder before this Davis Cup tie to get through the pain. Diego Nargiso was in the hospital less than a month ago suffering from hypoglycemia.

No matter.

Team Fragile found a doubles pairing that helped put them back together again and into the Davis Cup final against Sweden. Italy took a 3-0 lead in this best-of-five-match semifinal against the United States on Saturday. Gaudenzi and Nargiso clinched it by defeating Todd Martin and Justin Gimelstob, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, at Milwaukee Arena.

Welcome to this decade’s Davis Cup disaster.

The discontent started long ago. Andre Agassi was annoyed by the site selection and couldn’t make it because of schedule conflict.

Other top players were unavailable, and U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson went with 21-year-old rookies Jan-Michael Gambill and Gimelstob.

The kids played like kids and Martin, 28, turned in a decidedly disappointing performance. The choice of a slow indoor surface--which the Italians loved--was highly suspect.

It proved to be something of a security blanket for Gaudenzi and Davide Sanguinetti on the opening day. The Italians sparkled from the baseline, taking a 2-0 lead, and that essentially decided the semifinal because the United States has rallied from a 2-0 deficit only once.

“It is a disappointment,” Gullikson said. “Certainly, to lose at home is very disappointing. . . . To lose 3-0 is something I certainly didn’t dream of. I know the players would never dream they would be in this position as well.”

It is the first time the Americans have lost a Davis Cup tie on home soil since 1987, ending a streak of 18 consecutive victories, 17 of them in World Group play and one in a relegation round.

This will be Italy’s seventh appearance in the Davis Cup final and first since it lost at Czechoslovakia in 1980. Italy will host the final for the first time, and team officials are undecided on the site and surface.

Naturally, it would be clay, but they took a liking to the slow Supreme surface here and are feeling kind of superstitious. Maybe they can take it home to Rome.

“For a country like Italy, where tennis is not so much followed--it is not the main sport--because soccer is very big,” Gaudenzi said. “Italians don’t follow us too much when we play on the tour. When it gets to Davis Cup, where there is a flag involved, Italy is very emotional.

“For us, it is very important. No matter even if we didn’t beat the best U.S. team. We know that the U.S. with [Pete] Sampras and Agassi, it is a different story. It is not our fault they didn’t come.”

Unlike the first day, there was a sense of drama since the semifinal was on the line. The announced crowd of 6,147--looking more like 4,000, or less than half the 10,900 capacity--gave the Americans enthusiastic support when they fought off two match points in the 10th game of the third set with Gimelstob serving.

Gimelstob and Martin won the third and fourth sets, and Nargiso started sagging in the fourth. “I felt a physical breakdown,” he said. “The world was kind of falling on my shoulder.”

Somehow, he pulled himself together for the fifth set and the Italians broke Gimelstob twice, in the fourth and eighth games to decide it.

“I’m really disappointed I played those bad service games in the fifth set,” Gimelstob said. “That is not acceptable. I just got out of rhythm on my serve. Then I panicked a little bit and that is where the inexperience and youth comes in. . . . [I’m] just ashamed it had to come in that situation, but Davis Cup tends to bring out your insecurities.”

He wasn’t the only one with that problem. Martin was shaky in the first set and was broken in his first service game. “That is no position to put yourself in when you are already down two matches to zero,” Martin said. “That definitely set the tone for the rest of the match.”

Gimelstob looked almost shell-shocked as he and Martin watched the Italians celebrate. After Martin hit a return out on the third match point, Nargiso fell to the court on his back and Gaudenzi jumped on top of him.

“Getting to the semifinal, they said we always had a good draw because we played India and Zimbabwe. Now we beat the United States in the United States,” Gaudenzi said.

Said Sanguinetti: “Which is big. I think we deserve a little bit more cheering.” Nargiso corrected him, saying, “Credit.”

So maybe tennis actually could knock that other sport off the front pages in Italy--at least for one day.