Davis Cup Journal:
Semi Final in Spain

by John Yandell

The new era for Davis Cup under Captain John McEnroe is about to get very interesting.  Or maybe very uninteresting. Or maybe just very depressing. I called in for the press conference on July 12 to hear McEnroe and the USTA announce the team for Spain, expecting to hear that Pete Sampras was out due to his shin injury. Instead, the shocking news was that Agassi had been rear-ended in a car wreck in Vegas. He couldn’t raise his arm above his shoulder and had severe back spasms. For now he’s out too, not even named to the team. Although McEnroe could add him up to 10 minutes before the draw, the chances of him recovering and playing were, according to John, “1 in 100.”  In other words, zero. 

Oh yeah, Pete is also definitely out. They confirmed that in the press conference too. That’s been kind of a strange tale. During his television commentary John said openly that because of Pete’s injury he wasn’t expecting “good news” for Davis Cup after Wimbledon. And the New York Times trotted out that same tired criticism of Pete this week - all Pete cares about is the Grand Slam record. 

Now I know for a fact that isn’t totally true - and so should that Times writer. Pete was very sincere in talking about the importance of Davis Cup in the LA press conferences during the tie versus the Czech Republic. He smiled that dry, ironic smile and explained how John had convinced him that Davis Cup should be part of his legacy. Yesterday the wire reports had Pete saying he’d do everything he could to make the trip to Santender. 

But then this morning, the press reports had Pete out for sure. English doctors advised him he needed 2-3 weeks rest to get over the tendonitis. John and Pete spoke, and Pete told him he wasn’t available, not even for the doubles, due to the injury. And that was after John told him the news about Agassi. “If he was going to reconsider, that would have been a good time,” McEnroe said, with only a hint of frustration in his tone. 

Now maybe John would have showed up hurt to play in Spain in his day, and maybe he wishes Pete would too, or even thinks he should, but he was very measured in discussing the severity of the injury. 

 “I don’t know how injured he is. I can’t say. It would have been inspiring to see him play a doubles match, but who is to say - maybe he’d be risking further injury.” 

So starting Friday, the U.S. team faces Spain on the red clay in the Atlantic resort town of Santender, with no obvious line up in view. The team as of now is Todd Martin, Jan Michael Gambill, Chris Woodruff, and one more player you may have heard of - player/captain John McEnroe. That’s right, he named himself. But Mac went out of his way to make it clear he was far from his own first choice to play. The problem is that his best singles player and his best doubles player are the same person - Todd Martin.  

Many people may not realize Todd is a good clay court player and actually won a red clay title in Spain last year. It’s not impossible to believe that he and John could win a doubles match either. I had the chance to watch Todd and John beat Alex O’Brien and Jared Palmer in a practice set at the LA Forum during the tie with the Czech Republic. 

But Todd has his own injury history, one that rivals Pete’s, and having him play 3 matches in 3 days?  That doesn’t sound like a great idea for Todd physically, not to mention mentally. It would make the outcome almost totally dependent on Todd’s results. That hardly seems fair to Todd. The U.S. was an underdog before. Now Mac rates the team’s chances at about 10-20%. 

But if Todd and John play doubles, who plays singles? McEnroe mentioned Gambill as a possible doubles player, but didn’t mention a possible partner. He also said he planned to talk to both Paul Goldstein and Vince Spadea about their availability, you have to presume for singles. Courier? Retired. Chang?  He told John he had a conflict - he’d been conducting clinics for a religious group. I don’t see what the good choices are, and we probably won’t know what John decides until they announce the draw next Thursday.  

Davis Cup matters to John McEnroe. In the last 6 months he’s made an incredible effort to try to convey that feeling to everyone else in tennis, not to mention the general public. To me that’s the story - his effort to get the emotion and the top players back in Davis Cup. And the present state of his efforts? “Pretty much the worst scenario possible. I was hoping my presence would make a difference. Call it bad luck, or maybe it hasn’t made a difference.” 

Mac’s presence is what got me interested in Davis Cup again, and why we decided to tag along to Spain for the semifinal. (That and the opportunity to do some research filming for the Advanced Tennis Research Project (advancedtennis.com), but more on that later. 

My partner and I, TennisONE still photographer J.Gregory Swendsen are going to Madrid for a few days to see some art and architecture, absorb some Spanish history and culture, listen to some Spanish guitar players, and probably, drink too much red wine. Then on Thursday we’ll head up to the Atlantic coast to Santender for the draw and to feel the mood of the event. 

Who knows what kind of line up Mac will pull out? But if it goes badly in the first two singles matches on Friday, it could get more than a little depressing. Might be time to take a break from the tennis, do some touring, and maybe eat some tapas in the Basque country of Northern Spain.