davis cup: april 2005

LEFT: RICHARD OSBORN, RIGHT: GETTY IMAGES

By Bill Simons

The stars were finally in alignment, the sentiment simple — let’s get ready to rumble! The American machine was finally cranked up. With 31 Davis Cups on its shelf, a huge sporting population (296 million), the No. 4 and No. 9 players in the world and a top-three doubles team on board —this was to be America’s Davis Cup year.

All power to The Dream Team!

After all, Captain Patrick McEnroe had adeptly convinced the game’s most charismatic player, Andre Agassi, to move on from his Davis Cup hiatus and once again get with the program, while stars worldwide (Federer, Moya, etc.) were taking a pass. Plus, the often dismal (“death on clay”) Davis Cup schedule seemed to favor the U.S. We would be playing at home against Croatia, a nation that has 1.5 percent of our population that as yet can’t boast a Hall of Fame player and that has just two Grand Slam titles in its history.

Why then did America’s colossal Davis Cup castle collapse in Carson? Why did we lose our first opening-round home match in the 105-year history of the competition and, incredibly, our third first-round lost in five years?

Just after Roddick suffered his first hard-court Davis Cup loss, a setback that sealed America’s fate, I perhaps foolishly asked Andy, “What’s up? Is America’s long-suffering Davis Cup effort somehow snake-bitten? What can be done to right the ship?

Understandably, he said, “I don’t think there’s some magic answer for you. There’s no quick fix. Otherwise we would be doing it. Let me know if you think of anything. It would be super.”

Short of Al Davis’ axiom “Just win, baby,” none popped into my head. But then I began to reflect on our Davis Cup history and the assorted issues that abound. For the first time, we now have gone a full decade without winning the Cup, despite having had a deliciously deep talent pool of five future Hall-of-Famers (Sampras, Agassi, Roddick, Courier and Michael Chang).

	TOP: RICHARD OSBORN LEFT: GETTY IMAGES Top: For many nations, a Davis Cup tie against America is a feel-good opportunity to pull on Superman’s cape. Left: Andre’s Future, the Next No. 2 and Clay Catastrophes: America’s loss meant PMac must face even more questions.

Perhaps our Davis Cup quagmire can be traced to some of our great successes. In the ‘70s and early ‘80s Connors and McEnroe emerged to capture the fancy of the sport (and 15 Grand Slam titles). But there also was a Berlin wall of animosity between them. Only on rare occasions did Connors play Davis Cup. But so what — tennis internationally had little of the incredible across-the-globe strength it now boasts, and McEnroe was an extraordinary stalwart who led the U.S. to five Davis Cup championships. But much of this success was based on Mac’s singular singles and doubles genius. Sadly, in the meantime, the notion of team morale and rappor — so prominent in Sweden, Australia and Spain — took a beating here at home. Remember the image of Mac and his captain, team guy Arthur Ashe, going at each other?

The Fab Four (Sampras, Agassi, Courier and Chang) did play in varying degrees, but there was such competition among them, and their focus was primarily on individual accomplishment, not the one-for-all/all-for-one mind-set that’s so handy in Davis Cup play.

In 2000, when John McEnroe was named captain, there was a mighty buzz. Maybe his fiery genius could translate into on-court success. But it was a vain hope as McEnroe’s (“I knew Bobby Knight and you’re no Bobby Knight”) coaching style left critics asking how can the best Davis Cup player in American history could be such a problematic coach. (The answer: Johnny Mac is Johnny Mac.) His coaching escapade proved to be a three-and-out flare.

But not to worry. When younger bro Pat McEnroe took over the coaching reins, he sensibly stressed team rapport and began a rebuilding effort based on America’s young studs. Eventually, he pulled the trigger on the Bryan Bros., who, at last, gave the U.S. great doubles results. Still, America, led by Roddick, was just a one-star team. Then PMac enticed Andre. But The Dream Team suffered a nightmare loss that only strengthened the voice of American critics calling for reform.

Some said the Davis Cup should replicate golf’s Ryder Cup, with a competition every other year. (Or at least there should be no play in the Olympic year.) Others suggested dropping the Davis Cup’s confusing (“If this is the second round, this must be Belgium”) schedule in favor of a single two-week Davis Cup tournament, which presumably would create far more interest. Most of all, many have noted that the Davis Cup has lost its stature. For instance, the L.A.Times’ Mike Penner asserted that seven other “Cups” were bigger deals than the Davis Cup (NASCAR Nextel, World, Ryder, President’s, Breeder’s, Stanley and America’s).

In America, with our gazillion entertainment options, the Davis Cup desperately needs to be strengthened. But in small and medium nations around the world, where tennis is often the second most popular sport, the Davis Cup rocks. Especially if it means playing the U.S. Often this is a red-letter day for national pride, a chance to tug on Superman’s cape and often an invitation to install the slowest imaginable clay court, so as to watch America’s power players twitch in the dirt.

Inevitably, when America is facing a smaller nation, there’s a kind of a passion gap. In little Zimbabwe, ecstatic crowds in a converted hockey arena danced in hopes that the Yankees would go down. In Seville, 27,200 fans with flags and banners offered non-stop chants to back their compadres. And in the concrete entrance tunnel beneath the Home Depot Center in Carson, the Croatian team jumped, cheered and roared with passion, while behind them the American team passively endured all their hootin’ ‘n hollerin’.

And, of course, when it comes to the Davis Cup, one always faces the luck of the draw: untimely road trips, questionable playing surfaces, curious officiating, surging opponents and ruthless fans.

So what’s the remedy for all this? Well, it would certainly help the U.S. if (1) the ITF miraculously changed the Davis Cup so it became a unique big-market, media-savvy, fan-friendly event, rather than a cash cow that’s fabulous for development in scores of countries around the world, but a yawn for the average American. (An every-other-year tennis festival, with a round-robin element, would probably do the trick.) If (2) U.S. players and fans developed an almost ferocious fire in their bellies and viewed the Davis Cup as an important, take-no-prisoners priority. (3) America became far more adept on clay (i.e., played lots more European clay events, had more American clay tournaments and made an effort to master the nuances of dirt ball in an ongoing way, not just prior to the French Open). And if (4) Roddick, who deserves huge props for playing Davis Cup so often and with such guts, upgraded his splendid game so that he’s a dominant performer under pressure and especially in tiebreaks. Also, (5) presuming Agassi will not be playing much longer, the U.S. needs to develop a strong No. 2 singles player. One wonders if it is already too late for the “not quite ready for prime time” quartet — Mardy Fish, James Blake, Taylor Dent and Robby Ginepri — to emerge? But Captain McEnroe seemed positive, noting, “There’s quite a bit of time between now and the relegation match to see what sort of things shake out. It’s the same old story. If you take Andre out of that part of the equation, James will have a full year to see what he can do. Taylor has made some improvements. Maybe he can keep going. Mardy, he’s struggled so far this year. Robby has had some decent results. But there’s not one guy who has stepped up. I’m sure we would all love to see more than one step up to that next level. But the jury’s out.” (6) PMac is about the nicest guy in the game. But wouldn’t it be nicer to have a coach who could combine his wonderful ability to build rapport and attract players with someone who has the singular fire, presence and in-your-face authority of his brother John? Finally, (7) a little luck would help. It would be nice to have a great draw, to have elite players in other countries step aside for a while and to have none of the truly sizzling players on tour [think Ivan Ljubicic] be in our face.

So we can dream. All we have to do is throw all these elements together and poof! We’ll be champs again.

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