McEnroe Offers His Services to Davis Cup Team

By LISA DILLMAN

July 13, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LONDON —

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are out.

Captain John McEnroe, for the moment, is in.

The immediate reaction: You cannot be serious, as McEnroe once said.

Indeed, McEnroe was dead serious Wednesday when he announced the U.S. Davis Cup team for the semifinals next week at Santander, Spain.

Joining the team of veteran Todd Martin, Wimbledon quarterfinalist Jan-Michael Gambill and first-round Davis Cup hero Chris Woodruff was the 41-year-old McEnroe, who stepped into the sizable breach.

Sampras, who won his seventh Wimbledon championship on Sunday, withdrew because of tendinitis in his left shin (suffered in the first week at Wimbledon) and Agassi pulled out because of a strained back (suffered in a mysterious car accident).

The accident, which occurred Sunday night in Las Vegas when Agassi was returning home from Wimbledon, could not be confirmed by local police. McEnroe, too, was thin on details. He heard that Agassi’s vehicle was rear-ended by another car.

In Las Vegas, Officer Tirso Dominguez, spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department, said, “If he was a passenger in a vehicle that was in an accident, for example, we would have taken the report from the driver, not the passenger. Unless you’re seriously injured yourself, we wouldn’t necessarily even make contact with you.”

After hearing the news, McEnroe rated the U.S. team’s chance of success against Spain at about 10%. “Even with the best players available, it was going to be very difficult to play on clay,” he said.

“They have three of the top-10 players in the world on that surface. We had our hands full before we even went over there, assuming we had the best guys. . . . If we can pull this one out of the hat, it will be a real victory.”

He called the inclusion of himself a “stop-gap” measure, noting he was still trying to talk to Paul Goldstein and Vince Spadea. He dismissed the inclusion of doubles players Alex O’Brien and Jared Palmer, noting they lost early at the French Open on clay, saying: “They had their [Davis Cup] opportunity. They weren’t able to capitalize. To me, I just feel like we should try something different. It’s not like they’ve been knocking them dead since they played the [quarterfinal] match in April.”

McEnroe, obviously, would be limited to doubles against Spain, if he competes at all.

“I know I’m playing well,” he said. “I’m not particularly concerned about it. It’s not easy to step out against guys, you know, presumably [Alex] Corretja, who is top 10 in the world, it’s not like a gimme, not like I’m playing a couple stiffs.

“I’m also playing them in their home country on a surface that’s my worst surface. We’ll see what happens. I mean, who knows? It could be a disaster. If I lose, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, to the Spanish doubles team, I would say that would be embarrassing.”

At Wimbledon, Martin joked and begged “to take the Fifth” when he was questioned about McEnroe playing doubles against Spain. Martin could be playing three matches, two singles and one doubles, possibly with McEnroe.

McEnroe had mentally prepared himself for Sampras to miss the semifinal, but the Agassi development left him subdued. Sampras was limping Tuesday during a series of media events in New York, but Agassi’s accident had not made any news, even in Las Vegas.

“It came out of the blue,” McEnroe said. “Andre has been my main guy. Obviously, as you could tell from the first couple matches, we as a team, and myself as a captain, have been banking on him to win a couple matches for us. To say that I was disappointed, it would be a major understatement.”

Agassi is suffering from muscle spasms on the right side of his back, according to Dr. George Fareed, of the Davis Cup medical staff, who examined him Monday. He also can’t lift his right arm above his shoulder, leaving him questionable for the Mercedes-Benz Cup at UCLA, which starts July 24. Sampras has been told to rest for two to three weeks.

Clearly, McEnroe has had a difficult first year as captain.

“I was hoping that my presence there would make a real difference,” he said. “You know, at this point you either call it bad luck or it hasn’t made a difference.”

He finished the conference call with these not-so-lighthearted words: “Believe me, pray for me.”

Staff writer Tom Gorman contributed to this story.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Davis Cup

SEMIFINALS

United States vs. Spain

at Santander, Spain

July 21-23

U.S. TEAM

PLAYER: RANK

Todd Martin: 101st

Chris Woodruff: 58th