McEnroe Quits as Captain of U.S.

The way of the McEnroe world usually progressed like this: John went first, followed by Patrick. Whether it was school or sport, the tempestuous John took the lead, and his younger brother, the temperate Patrick, was close behind.

It happened when they were children, teenagers and now, possibly, again as adults.

On Monday, the first half of the McEnroe equation unfolded as the Davis Cup captaincy of John McEnroe expired, with a shelf life of a mere 14 months and three rounds.

He pulled himself off the job, expressing frustration with the format and an inability to secure the services of the top U.S. players. He essentially looked at the way the furniture was arranged, didn’t like the pieces and got out before he had to do any real heavy lifting.

So now, could captain McEnroe be succeeded by . . . captain McEnroe? Well, it might save the U.S. Tennis Assn. money on stationery.

Patrick McEnroe, in a telephone interview, confirmed that he has spoken with USTA officials about the captaincy. Other potential candidates include Brad Gilbert, Paul Annacone and Jim Courier. It is also possible that officials will interview Mal Washington, a USTA source said.

Gilbert and Annacone said Monday that they had not been contacted yet by USTA officials. Annacone, a former tour player, is well-respected and the longtime coach of Pete Sampras, who played this year in the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic and sat out the other rounds because of injuries. Courier is thought to be not quite ready for the position.

Some officials characterized Patrick McEnroe as the leading candidate.

Gilbert, the coach of Andre Agassi, said he felt that was the case because Patrick had been interviewed for the job when John was selected 14 months ago.

“It is strange,” Patrick said. “ . . . I was considered [last time], but I really felt it was the best situation for John. I was given a little consideration. I hope they can do this fairly quickly in the next week or two.

“There’s not too much time.”

The United States will play Switzerland at Basel in February.

The decision will be made by USTA president Judy Levering, incoming USTA President Merv Heller and Arlen Kantarian, the USTA’s chief executive of professional tennis.

This time, the USTA is thinking of a variety of options: a coach and a captain, the way the Australian team is structured with John Newcombe and Tony Roche, or even a player-captain, a decided long shot.

Ideally, that would have been John McEnroe’s preference in Spain. But his idea of playing doubles was not warmly received by his players and the semifinal weekend in Santander, Spain, in July went from bad to worse as the U.S. lost, 5-0. In August, he indicated he was leaning toward returning, saying he cared too much about the Davis Cup to walk away.

But he walked. It was a turbulent tenure with close calls at Zimbabwe and against the Czech Republic at Los Angeles and a humbling loss to the Spaniards.

McEnroe also alienated Sampras by questioning the legitimacy of his injury before the Zimbabwe match. The doubles team of Jared Palmer and Alex O’Brien also was displeased with McEnroe during and after the Los Angeles match.

“I was privileged to have been selected and honored to have served as captain of the United States Davis Cup team,” said McEnroe in a statement. “Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, I was disappointed that I was unable to have a greater impact as captain of the team. I was extremely frustrated with the difficulties of the scheduling and format of the competition.”

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