| | Associated Press
NEW YORK -- With Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras injured, U.S.
Davis Cup captain John McEnroe knew which player to turn to for the
team's semifinal against Spain: himself.
McEnroe's name was among the four he announced Wednesday for the
best-of-five series at Santander, Spain, July 21-23. The
41-year-old U.S. captain said he'd limit himself to doubles, "no
question. You can bet your life savings."
|  | | With Andre Agassi out, John McEnroe could find himself on the court and doing more than leaning on the net. |
Agassi strained his back in a minor car accident this weekend,
while Sampras was hobbled by a shin injured while winning
Wimbledon.
"We've lost two of the best players that ever played. This
certainly has not turned out the way I had it planned out in my
mind," McEnroe said, putting his team's chances of beating Spain
at 10 to 20 percent.
Agassi and Sampras are ranked third and fourth in the ATP
Champions race.
Todd Martin, Jan-Michael Gambill and Chris Woodruff fill out the
U.S. roster. None of them are in the top 25.
McEnroe can substitute any of his four players up to 10 minutes
before the July 20 draw for the semifinal, which will be played on
slow, red clay. And the captain said he will talk to other players,
chiefly Paul Goldstein and Vince Spadea (who ended an ATP
Tour-record 21-match losing streak by winning in the first round at
Wimbledon).
"I haven't actually decided to compete at the moment. I've been
looking at calling another couple players I haven't been able to
reach," McEnroe said. "These pullouts came very recently. This is
a stopgap solution at the moment.
"There's a chance I won't play. There's also a chance I will."
Agassi was injured Sunday riding from the airport to his Las
Vegas home, the U.S. Tennis Association said, and he can't raise
his right arm above his shoulder.
"This condition is terribly disappointing to me as my teammates
and I have all worked very hard together to represent our country
in the Davis Cup competition," Agassi said in a statement.
McEnroe sounded more forgiving of Agassi -- whom the captain
called "my main guy" -- than Sampras. The 13-time Grand Slam
champion said Tuesday he probably was too hurt to play Davis Cup
but hadn't talked with McEnroe at the time.
"I don't know how injured (Sampras) is. There's no way of me
knowing that," McEnroe said. "Davis Cup was something that was a
priority to me. But, who am I to say? I wish he had made an effort
to do it, and perhaps if he played a doubles match and been there,
that might have been inspiring.
"Who knows, maybe he'd be risking further injury if he played
right now."
McEnroe was passionate about this international event during his
playing days.
The Hall of Famer helped win five Davis Cup championships and
had a 59-10 record in 12 years of competition. He holds six U.S.
records, including most singles (41) and total victories.
He became captain in September, replacing Tom Gullikson, and has
talked of putting himself on the team.
"At the moment, there's not a lot of guys out there who have
gotten themselves into a position where they should be playing
(Davis Cup)," McEnroe said. "We'll see what I do. I could lose
6-1, 6-1, 6-2 and that would be embarrassing. If you go out there
and don't play well, everyone can take potshots at you. It's not
like I'm playing a couple of stiffs."
The United States, which last won the championship in 1995, had
to rebound from 2-1 deficits in each of the first two rounds this
year against Zimbabwe and the Czech Republic.
Now the Americans face a tougher opponent in Spain, which has
three team members -- Alex Corretja, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Albert
Costa -- who reached the quarterfinals at the French Open, the only
Grand Slam event played on clay.
"We had our hands full even if we had the best guys. They have
three of top 10 in the world on clay," McEnroe said. "We're going
to be huge underdogs. If we can pull this one out of the hat it
will be a real victory."
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