Not So Hot Start Leaves U.S. Even

Anger management lasted only so long. His water bottle hit the court late in the third set of the second singles match, drawing boos. Earlier, he had argued a line call and had to be calmed by a cooler head.

Typical John McEnroe?

Nope. He was Chris Woodruff. McEnroe was the cooler head. Really.

There is something about the wildly unpredictable nature of Davis Cup tennis that turns everything upside down, and McEnroe’s debut as U.S. captain was no exception here Friday in the first round against Zimbabwe. So it should come as no surprise that the best the United States could do was split the two singles matches.

The day started with top-ranked Andre Agassi, still recovering from his successful Australian Open campaign and still adjusting to this country’s high altitude, earning the admiration of the spectators with his gritty 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Wayne Black.

The first day of McEnroe’s new job ended with him watching a group of singing Zimbabwe supporters--one a flamboyant dancing clown--who burst into applause, rushing onto the court to congratulate Byron Black after Wayne’s older brother had impressively defeated Woodruff, a Davis Cup newcomer, 7-6 (2), 6-3, 6-2.

This fascinating opening day set the stage for a suspenseful weekend. In the doubles match today, the U.S. team of Alex O’Brien and Rick Leach will play Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett, then the reverse singles are on Sunday.

As if Friday’s on-court developments were not enough, McEnroe punctuated the opener with a harsh analysis of his own performance. And for an amusing touch, he tossed in a novel conspiracy theory.

“I anticipate that I will certainly do a better job, hopefully, in the next two days,” McEnroe said. “I don’t give myself a very good grade either.”

What did he do wrong?

“I don’t know exactly,” McEnroe said. “I know deep down in my heart I didn’t do a very good job today. I know I could have done better. So the good news is that it’s the first of three days. This match is far from over. Obviously, tomorrow’s a key match. If we win [the doubles], we’ll be back to being overwhelming favorites. If not, Chris and I will put our heads together and figure out a way for him to win a fifth match.”

Agassi’s evaluation of his new captain differed.

“He was saying the right things out there,” he said of McEnroe. “He knew when I needed to maintain. He knew when to tell me, ‘OK, step it up and hit your shots. Let him feel you in a couple different ways here.’ He’s well aware of my opponent and how he’s feeling.”

McEnroe even brought some history to the match.

“He helped me too when I was guiding a few of my returns,” Agassi said. “He reminded me of how I returned when I played him. You know, that kind of thing. So it’s a good thing.”

But the new role of non-playing captain was a tough fit when Woodruff started struggling in the second match. McEnroe, a stranger to the sideline, began feeling frustrated and futile. He could talk and cajole all he wanted, but he couldn’t turn Woodruff into McEnroe.

Frankly, Woodruff wasn’t even playing like the Woodruff of the Australian Open. The player fondly called “Country” was falling apart, crumbling into a breakaway republic and McEnroe was helpless.

“It’s without being able to just get up and play,” McEnroe said. “I’ve never done that before. That’s the first day that I’ve ever done that. So it’s going to have to be a quick learning time.”

He was still trying to help Woodruff and found a culprit in chair umpire Wayne McKewen of Australia. Woodruff was unnerved by several calls, in particular, one on his own break point in the eighth game of the first set.

“[McKewen] has always been one of the worst umpires that I’ve been a part of, and he continued to be that today,” McEnroe said. “I’m not going to say that is why we lost the match. I thought [Byron Black] played a great match.

“It’s unfortunate. I feel bad for Chris because it’s like I feel in some ways the guy [McKewen] is paying me back. Somehow, I sense it’s personal. And I feel bad for people that have to play for me. Hopefully, that karma will get more positive.”

A bigger problem for Woodruff was his inability to control his ground strokes. His forehand was sailing long when he attacked short shots, particularly in the second and third sets. He had 45 unforced errors and went 0-4 on break-point opportunities.

“Out there, it’s tough to have a plan,” he said. “Other than him hitting his backhand up the line, I don’t know what he was trying to do. This is a classic example of somebody being a front-runner.”

Said Byron Black, “I think it came down to a bit of experience. I think I’ve played about 70 [Davis Cup matches] now. Chris, over the last couple of months, has been playing better tennis. But I think it’s the home difference--that’s what made the difference today.

“I’ve been preparing for this match mentally for three, four months now since the draw came out. It’s one of the biggest sporting events in the country, maybe that we’ll ever have. So I just wanted to give everything today.”

And the drum-banging, dancing group and the wild and crazy clown just wanted to show some appreciation.

“I guess you haven’t been here before,” Byron Black said. “Usually, I’m at the bottom of the pile and they’re all jumping on top and it’s hard to breathe. They handled it well today, it gets a lot worse than that.”

In Other Series

Seven other World Group series opened Friday. At Geneva, Switzerland, defending champion Australia and Switzerland split, 1-1, with Lleyton Hewitt winning for Australia and Mark Philippoussis losing to Roger Federer of Switzerland. At Ostrava, Czech Republic, Britain and the Czech Republic split, with Tim Henman winning before Jiri Novak evened it for the hosts. At Leipzig, Germany, Germany and the Netherlands split, with Tommy Haas winning for the hosts before Sjeng Schalken tied it.

At Forianopolis, Brazil, Gustavo Kuerten and Fernando Meligeni led Brazil to a 2-0 lead over France. At Murcia, Spain, Albert Costa and Alex Corretja led Spain to a 2-0 edge over Italy. At Moscow, Russia swept Belgium, 2-0, behind Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. At Bratislava, Slovakia, Karol Kucera and Dominik Hrbaty gave Slovakia a 2-0 advantage over Austria.