McEnroe Working on Return

U.S. Davis Cup captain John McEnroe indicated Thursday he is leaning toward returning to that job in 2001.

“I’m not absolutely sure, but I’m mostly sure,” he said.

An injury-depleted U.S. squad was swept by Spain in the semifinals in July, and McEnroe took the loss hard. The 5-0 loss, on clay at Santander, still bothers him, but time has helped ease the sting. U.S. stars Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi missed the semifinal because of injuries.

“A little distance always helps,” McEnroe said. “To walk away, at this point, I care too much about it to walk away. I know everything was thrown at me. Things happen for a reason. Things don’t come easily when it comes to something that you want.”

The draw for next year’s Davis Cup competition is Sept. 2 at the U.S. Open.

This was McEnroe’s first year as captain, and his schedule in 2000 was an active one, split between playing on the senior tour, TV commentary and the Davis Cup.

“It’s extremely frustrating to do it,” he said of his rookie year. “You go through the week, and there’s tension. Guys have pulled out at the last minute and it leads to scrambling. It gets to be more time-consuming than it appears. That’s what I found the first year. It’s hard not to think about it. It’s hard for me not to think about it now. It’s not easy to let go of something like that.”