Leach to Replace Martin on U.S. Davis Cup Team

One of the vacant U.S. Davis Cup spots is expected to be filled by Rick Leach of Laguna Beach, replacing an ailing Todd Martin.

Leach, 35, most recently played Davis Cup for the United States in 1997 in the quarterfinals against the Netherlands. Leach, one of the most experienced doubles players on the tour, has been playing exceptionally well with his partner Ellis Ferreira of South Africa.

Leach and Ferreira faced off against Wayne Black of Zimbabwe and Andrew Kratzmann of Australia in the Australian Open men’s doubles final.

Martin had been scheduled to play with Alex O’Brien against Zimbabwe next week, but withdrew from the first-round match because he has a viral infection.

U.S. captain John McEnroe has to fill another vacancy because Pete Sampras suffered a partial tear of his right hip muscle in his semifinal loss against Andre Agassi. The top candidate to replace Sampras is Chris Woodruff, who looked impressive in Melbourne as he defeated Tim Henman before losing to Sampras in the quarterfinals.

Others under consideration include Michael Chang, Jim Courier and Vince Spadea. McEnroe, obviously, is upset by the developments of this week.

“It was distressing and real tough to swallow, but it was not entirely unexpected,” McEnroe wrote in a syndicated newspaper column appearing in Australia. “To tell the truth, I don’t think Pete really wanted to make the trip in the first place.”