Tennis : Gorman’s Selection of Davis Cup Team Has Few Surprises

The U.S. Davis Cup team has been announced, and although there are obvious omissions, there are few surprises. The team--Jimmy Arias, Ken Flach, Brad Gilbert, Aaron Krickstein and Robert Seguso--is the best available at the moment.

In making the announcement, Tom Gorman, in his first year as captain, said that Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were not available for the team’s first match March 7-9 against Ecuador at Guayaquil. Gorman also said, however, that he had not received a definite no from either player regarding future play.

Eliot Teltscher, whom Gorman had wanted on the team, is out with a lingering injury. Other notable Americans not on the team are Scott Davis, Tim Mayotte (who has a pulled stomach muscle) and Paul Annacone.

All of those selected, with the exception of Gilbert, have previously played in Davis Cup matches. Krickstein, Flach and Seguso played in both U.S. matches in 1985, and Arias played in the 1984 final against Sweden. Gilbert was a practice player in last year’s opening-round win over Japan.

Flach and Seguso, who won the U.S. Open doubles in 1985, were the top-ranked doubles team in the world last year.

“It’s up to whoever takes it upon himself to emerge,” Gorman said. “Basically, it’s in their hands. I’m looking for someone like a Harold Solomon, who is able to play in Ecuador in front of 5,000 partisan fans and have strong character out there on the court.”

Gorman’s concern is very real. South American tennis fans make New Yorkers seem reserved. At last month’s Masters in Madison Square Garden, supporters for Ecuadorean Andres Gomez waved flags, clanged cowbells, whistled, clapped and chanted during all of Gomez’s matches.

Ivan Lendl could only laugh when reporters asked him about the “distraction” during his match against Gomez in the semifinals. “I grew up playing in South America,” he said. “It is very, very noisy. Tom Gorman has his work cut out for him.”

Jose-Luis Clerc announced his retirement from professional tennis, and his reasons give insight into what life on the tour holds for players.

Clerc, 27, was ranked as high as No. 5 and had won more than $2 million in his 10-year career. But the Argentine Davis Cup player has long complained that the tour grind is limiting, especially for married players.

“I’m sorry to leave tennis, but it doesn’t hurt,” Clerc said. He said he wanted to dedicate more time to his family. Clerc described the circuit as “very egotistic, excessively individualistic, in which one fights alone and seeks relief alone, and in which, like all things, the money is a little distracting.”

Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert Lloyd are headed for a showdown--again--at the $500,000 Virginia Slims Championships in Madison Square Garden March 17-23.

What else is new?

This is new. Lloyd is pumping iron and working on turning her serve into “a weapon.” Those are fighting words from the No. 2 women’s player. Lloyd spent six weeks away from the tour, much of it in the weight room.

The new, stronger Lloyd is deflecting questions about retirement, questions the 31-year-old mulled carefully only a year ago.

“I’ve taken it one year at a time ever since I was 18,” she said. “Last year I played better than I have in my life. What keeps me going is I don’t feel yet I’m the best I can be. I haven’t reached my potential.”

Speculation was that when, or if, Lloyd could regain the No. 1 spot from Navratilova, she would retire. But Lloyd said: “It’s very hard to quit while you’re on the top.”

When she does retire, Lloyd probably won’t be spending her time knitting racket covers for husband John Lloyd. “I’m not going to be harnessed to the kitchen,” she said. “I’ll be traveling, doing a lot of things.”

Tennis Notes Yannick Noah, who is notoriously uninterested in fame, was recently asked his goals for 1986: “To win the French, Wimbledon and the Open and not be No. 1.” . . . Jean Dillingham has been named the Sectional Schools Director for the U. S. Tennis Assn. Dillingham, of San Diego, will administer the USTA’s schools program in counties throughout Southern California. The program brings tennis equipment and instruction to about 600,000 public school youngsters. . . . The Southern California Tennis Assn. will be host of a public forum discussing the availability of tennis scholarships at national colleges and universities. The program is at 2 p.m. today in the clubhouse of the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA. . . . A cross-section of collegiate and club players will compete in the Pacific Coast Men’s doubles tournament Thursday through Sundayat the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. USC, UCLA, Pepperdine and Stanford will send doubles teams to the tournament. . . . Orange County fared well in the recent Southern California Grand Prix masters playoffs at the Cabrillo Racquet Club in Camarillo. Orange County winners: In the A division men’s singles, Rich Frederick defeated Mark McCampbell of Ventura County; in A division women’s singles, Nancy Davis defeated Julie Weidman of Ventura County, and in A division mixed doubles, Jerry Ragland and Holly Ragland defeated Tyler Corse and Chris Mikles.