Sampras to Play Davis Cup

The preliminaries--or were they settlement proceedings?--are over. John McEnroe and Pete Sampras have reached a satisfactory conclusion to their acrimonious Davis Cup debate.

Bottom line: Sampras and Andre Agassi will represent the United States in the Davis Cup quarterfinals against the Czech Republic, April 7-9, at the Great Western Forum in McEnroe’s U.S. debut as captain.

Today, the U.S. Tennis Assn. and McEnroe will announce the participation of Agassi and Sampras, sources said. The other members of the squad will be selected at a later date.

The most important development is the inclusion of Sampras and the end of his brief public rift with McEnroe. Sampras had been scheduled to play in the first round against Zimbabwe earlier this month, but withdrew after he suffered a hip injury in his Australian Open semifinal loss to Agassi, the tournament’s eventual champion.

McEnroe was unhappy with the late development. Sampras was unhappy with McEnroe’s reaction and his displeasure grew after a giddy McEnroe said he was “tempted” to keep the winning team intact after the dramatic come-from-behind 3-2 victory in Harare.

Sampras defended his integrity in a recent interview with The Times. He was upset when McEnroe wrote in his syndicated column that Sampras had not ever wanted to make the trip to Zimbabwe, anyway.

“I felt right then it became an integrity question, not only when I spoke to him, but in public,” he told The Times.

He added, however, that he didn’t think the differences were insurmountable.

McEnroe was said to want a commitment beyond the Czech match from Sampras and presumably he received it, considering Sampras previously pointed out he rearranged his schedule this year to play Davis Cup.

Sampras has often said he wants to be part of historic moments--which is where Davis Cup fits in--and this is rare opportunity to play in front of family and friends.

This will be the first time Sampras and Agassi have played on the same Davis Cup team since 1995. That year, they played in a 5-0 victory over host Italy in the quarterfinals at Palermo and in a 4-1 semifinal victory over Sweden at Agassi’s hometown, Las Vegas.

Sampras rejoined the Davis Cup team last summer in the quarterfinals against Australia, winning a five-set doubles match with Alex O’Brien.

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