An Underdog That Could Be in Hunt

Thirty-one Davis Cup championships to none. Nine Grand Slam singles titles to nil. Four players versus two.

If it seems the United States is the prohibitive favorite against Croatia in the first round of the Davis Cup at the Home Depot Center, starting today, well, that’s a logical conclusion, based on those numbers. But if the statistics don’t lie, they are misleading. They don’t account for recent history, namely, the sudden surges of youngster Mario Ancic of Croatia and his teammate, 25-year-old Ivan Ljubicic, who is showing the best form this side of Roger Federer. He is tied with Federer for most match victories, 20, on the ATP Tour and has reached four finals in 2005, losing to Federer in three of them.

At 1 p.m. today, in the opener, Ljubicic will play Andre Agassi, returning to the Davis Cup for the first time in nearly five years and relishing the experience with a new group of teammates.

“It feels great. It feels better than I remember it,” Agassi said after Thursday’s draw ceremony at the Home Depot Center. “We’ve had a great few days here together. This is when it gets really fun.... I know I missed it; I just didn’t realize exactly what I was missing.”

U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe knew something special was unfolding at the first team dinner when Agassi was holding court.

“I usually say, ‘If anyone wants to leave, go ahead.’ We got to that point and nobody wanted to leave,” McEnroe said. “Nobody stood up.”

Already, Agassi’s presence and eight Grand Slam singles titles have taken some of the pressure off 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick, who had been shouldering the Davis Cup burden recently.

Agassi-Ljubicic will be followed by Roddick against Ancic. Roddick is 2-0 versus Ancic, having scored the victories last year on grass, the second in a semifinal at Wimbledon. More recently, Ancic reached the final at Scottsdale, Ariz., losing Sunday to Wayne Arthurs of Australia.

Agassi is 1-1 against Ljubicic, though they have not played since 2001.

“I’ve had many experiences on both ends of it, going out there up 1-0, down 1-0, watching a long painful match that sort of takes your emotion,” Agassi said. “Get out there first and getting off to the races, you just sort of prepare yourself for whatever you have to do.”

The U.S. squad also boasts a 10th Grand Slam title, belonging to twins Mike and Bob Bryan, who won the French Open doubles in 2003. The Bryans, of Camarillo, are scheduled to play Ancic and Ljubicic on Saturday, though Croatia’s captain, Niki Pilic, left the door open for a substitution, as he did when he was West Germany’s captain against the U.S. in a relegation match in 1987.

The reverse singles are Sunday.

“If something happens [today] that the matches are very, very long and let’s say four hours each match, which happened in Hartford against [John] McEnroe and [Tim] Mayotte, 11-hour day,” Pilic said. “So take the guy [Boris Becker] off and somebody else will play doubles. We have four guys, not two.”

He was reminded that they nominated only two at the draw.

“Yes, yes. But this is our tactic,” Pilic said.

A couple of days ago, Ljubicic seemed unconcerned about a heavy workload.

“Me and Mario have played a lot of tennis lately, [so] one singles match and one doubles match is nothing negative for us,” he said. “I’ve played 15 matches in three weeks, and I’m definitely fit physically for all three days.”

Two of Agassi’s three losses in 2005 have been to Federer, and three of Ljubicic’s six defeats were administered by the world’s top-ranked player.

Pilic was asked about Ljubicic’s impressive improvement.

“He got married,” Pilic said, smiling. “He’s coming close to No. 10. Everything grows in time. It’s not like every year you take two steps up. Now he has good confidence and he’s playing good.”

U.S. Davis Cup fans are familiar with the abilities of Ljubicic, who escaped war-torn Bosnia in 1992 as a 13-year-old.

In 2003, he accounted for three points in Croatia’s 4-1 victory on a fast indoor court in Zagreb against the United States, which was without an injured Roddick.

There could be plenty of Croatian fans on hand in Carson. The team was honored at a dinner in San Pedro on Wednesday, and Pilic said the Croatian community in San Pedro numbered about 34,000 and “in all California is 183,000.”

Seats were still available as of Thursday afternoon, though a sellout was getting close, officials said. Agassi had the last word on that point.

“It makes me question the stat on how many Croatians live here,” he said, smiling.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Davis Cup first round

United States vs. Croatia

The Players

A capsule look at the U.S. and Croatian Davis Cup players and coaches:

ANDY RODDICK, U.S. singles

*--* Davis Cup Ties Singles Doubles Total 10 14-5 0-0 14-5

*--*

* Fast facts: Roddick, ranked No. 3 in the world, is already ranked in the top 20 all-time in singles victories among American Davis Cup players. With two singles victories against Croatia, Roddick would move into a tie for 10th place with Tony Trabert, Frank Shields, Chuck McKinley and Jim Courier.

ANDRE AGASSI, U.S. singles

*--* Davis Cup Ties Singles Doubles Total 21 30-5 0-0 30-5

*--*

* Fast facts: Agassi last played Davis Cup in 2000 in a quarterfinal win over the Czech Republic at the Forum. With two singles matches played in Carson, Agassi would pass Vic Seixas for second place in Davis Cup singles matches played for the U.S. with 37. Agassi has won his last 15 sets in Davis Cup.

MIKE AND BOB BRYAN, U.S. doubles

*--* Davis Cup Ties Singles Doubles Total 5 0-0 5-0 5-0

*--*

* Fast facts: The Bryans have yet to lose a set in Davis Cup play, going 15-0 in five appearances since their debut in 2003, the only U.S. doubles team ever to start their Davis Cup careers by winning their first 15 sets. The Bryans are six sets shy of setting a record for consecutive sets won by a U.S. Davis Cup doubles team. Bob Lutz and Stan Smith hold that record, winning 20 sets in a row from 1968 to 1977.

* The captains: U.S. captain Patrick McEnroe was a member of the U.S. team in 1993, 1994 and 1996 and is the brother of John McEnroe, the winningest U.S. Davis Cup player, with 41 singles victories. Croatia’s captain is Niki Pilic.

* Reserves: U.S., Taylor Dent; Croatia, Roko Karanusic and Zeljko Krajan.

*

MARIO ANCIC, left

Croatia, singles/doubles

* Fast facts: Lost to Andy Roddick in four sets in last year’s Wimbledon semifinals. Lost in the final of the Scottsdale tournament to Wayne Arthurs last weekend.

IVAN LJUBICIC, right

Croatia, singles/doubles

* Fast facts: Has made it to four tournament finals this year, losing each time. Three of the losses were to No. 1-ranked Roger Federer. As a doubles team, Ancic and Ljubicic won the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics.

*

The Facts

* When: Today-Sunday.

* What: First-round Davis Cup matches. Seven other World Group matches will also be contested this weekend.

* Where: Home Depot Center.

SCHEDULE OF PLAY

* Opening ceremony: Today at 12:30 p.m.

* Today’s singles matches: 1 p.m., Andre Agassi (U.S.) vs. Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) followed by Andy Roddick (U.S.) vs. Mario Ancic (Croatia).

* Saturday’s doubles match: 2:30 p.m, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (U.S.) vs. Ljubicic and Ancic (Croatia).

* Sunday’s reverse singles: 1:30 p.m., Roddick vs. Ljubicic followed by Agassi vs. Ancic.

* Tickets: A limited number of tickets are available and can be purchased at the Home Depot Center box office or by calling (213) 480-3232. Tickets are also available online at www.Ticketmaster.com.

* Surface: Outdoor-hard (Deco Turf).

* U.S. in Davis Cup: The United States has won the Davis Cup a record 31 times, followed by Australia (28), Britain (nine) and France (nine). Spain beat the U.S. in the title match for the 2004 Davis Cup.

* Last meeting: This is the second time the U.S. and Croatia have played in Davis Cup competition. Croatia defeated the United States, 4-1, in the first round of the 2003 competition in Zagreb.

* TV schedule: Today, 1 p.m., ESPN2; Saturday, 7 p.m. (delayed), ESPN2; Sunday, 2 p.m., ESPN Classic.