U.S. Davis Cup Team Looks for Redemption

GOTHENBURG, Sweden —  Redemption is near but not yet in the grasp of the U.S. Davis Cup team, whose fortunes took a nose dive after it won the coveted silver cup for the 30th time in 1992.

The theme of the team is revenge. Abandoned by its top players, who found their schedules packed with exhibitions and other more lucrative undertakings, the United States campaigned in 1993 with a diluted squad.

The only American players willing to make the long trip to Australia proved to be game but not exactly successful. A humiliating first-round loss to Australia meant the defending Davis Cup champions lost the right to compete for the Cup until this year.

Only a relegation-round victory over the Bahamas a year ago preserved the United States’ place in the World Group, where it has clawed its way to Gothenburg to face Sweden in the semifinals, which begin Friday.

This time, the U.S. team is led by the world’s No. 1 player, Pete Sampras. Joining Sampras in singles is No. 6 Todd Martin. The doubles team is Jared Palmer and Jonathan Stark. All players have reported to work in good condition and say they are ready to take the steps to reclaim the Cup. Anything to erase the memory of last year’s loss.

“That certainly made my recruiting job a lot easier,” captain Tom Gullikson said, watching Sweden’s singles players, Stefan Edberg and Magnus Larsson, practice on the indoor carpet of the Scandinavium Arena on Wednesday.

The Davis Cup format spans three days; two singles matches on the first, a doubles match on the second and two singles on the third.

In the other semifinal this weekend, Russia plays at Germany. Should both favorites emerge, the Germans would play host to the Americans for the title during the first week in December.

After last year’s match in Australia, it has been a long road back for the United States.

“It’s something the guys were a little embarrassed about,” Gullikson said.

Tom Gorman was the captain for that disaster, where his top players were Brad Gilbert and David Wheaton.

Therein lies the philosophical underpinning to Gullikson’s captaincy. Waving the flag is often a hollow exercise as a means to motivate athletes who spend their lives in pitched competition against each other. Gullikson has found that with this group of players he need only wave the sport’s history book. A player such as Sampras is growing ever mindful of his place in tennis history and knows that Davis Cup competition is a key component.

“The players all recognize what the most important events are,” Gullikson said. “Certainly the best players are going to be remembered for how many Grand Slam titles they won and maybe how many times they helped their country to win a Davis Cup.”

The road to the semifinal has been long. The trip began in earnest after the 5-0 victory over the Bahamas in Charlotte, N.C., a match that Gullikson said no one took lightly because had the United States lost again , the team would have been exiled to zonal qualifying with the other tennis has-been nations.

“No one wanted to be the guy who sent the U.S. into zones; we wanted a big win to make a statement,” Gullikson said.

From there, Gullikson faced perhaps the toughest test of his tenure--persuading luxury-loving professional tennis players to go to New Delhi to play India in March. Absent was Andre Agassi, who had been suspended after refusing to play the meaningless final singles match after the United States had already clinched the victory over the Bahamas.

But Martin went, as did Jim Courier, and the team came away with another 5-0 victory.

Gullikson prepared for the quarterfinal match against the Netherlands in Rotterdam by pondering his possible selections. For singles he chose Courier, who had been struggling, and Sampras, who had not. Both players won on the first day for a 2-0 lead. Then the Americans unraveled. The doubles team lost on the second day and on the final day Richard Krajicek upset Sampras.

That left everything to Courier against Jacco Eltingh. Courier won, 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

Which brings the team to this port city in western Sweden.

“We are only thinking of doing what we have to do to win,” Gullikson said, leaving the arena.

He paused, adding, “We really want to get our reputation back.”