Davis Cup

On the surface, whether grass, clay, composition or paper, the idea of the United States losing a Davis Cup match is preposterous.In the men's world tennis rankings, five United States players are among the top 9: Jim Courier is No. 1, Pete Sampras No. 2, Andre Agassi No. 7, Ivan Lendl (who as a U.S. citizen is now eligible) No. 8, and Michael Chang No. 9. No other nation has even two players among the top nine.But last weekend, the United States, the defending cup-holder, lost in the first round to Australia, 4-1, a nation with no singles players in the top 10. Then again, none of the top five Americans were there.

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WASHINGTON --Playing on the U.S. Davis Cup team seemed to be far off when MaliVai Washington was an All-America tennis player at the University of Michigan.But now, the 27-year-old from Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., only has to wait a couple of months to make his debut on the Davis Cup team on Sept. 24.Washington, Andre Agassi, Richey Reneberg and Patrick McEnroe were named to the U.S. team that will compete against the Bahamas in Charlotte, N.C. All four are competing in the Newsweek Tennis Classic at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center this week.

Phelan inducted into Hall of Fame COL. BASKETBALL Longtime Mount St. Mary's coach Jim Phelan was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Mo., last night with a class that included Charles Barkley, former Kansas star Danny Manning and Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson. Former Utah All-American Arnie Ferrin also entered the hall, as did announcers Dick Vitale and Billy Packer as contributors. Phelan was famous for wearing a bow tie on the sideline while coaching 49 seasons at Mount St. Mary's.

NEW YORK -- In a move that has been rumored since the United States lost to Australia in the first round of the Davis Cup in March, U.S. captain Tom Gorman announced yesterday that he will be relinquishing his duties after the team plays the Bahamas in a consolation round later this month.While U.S. Tennis Association president J. Howard "Bumpy" Frazer said a successor has not been named, he did say that John McEnroe will likely be a candidate for the job Gorman has held for the past seven years.

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Austria ran out of daylight before the United States ran out of time in their Davis Cup semifinal match.The Austrians were within one set of going to the finals when darkness halted play yesterday, pushing the deciding match between Horst Skoff and American Michael Chang into a second day.Skoff was leading 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6 when officials determined it was too dark to continue and suspended the match until today. Play started an hour later than scheduled yesterday because of rain.

The two most-asked questions about the U.S. Davis Cup team are these:(1) Who's playing?(2) Who's not?Always a steamy breeding ground for controversy, the U.S. team might have cooled off a little now that doubles specialists Rick Leach and Jim Pugh seem to have become the answer to question No. 2, perhaps permanently.Leach and Pugh, unbeaten in Davis Cup matches but not selected for last month's semifinal round against Germany, have no plans to play together again and are looking for new partners for 1992.

GOTEBORG, Sweden -- U.S. Davis Cup captain Tom Gullikson thought he was dealing with tennis' Dream Team II -- the first edition had won the title in 1992. Instead, he discovered he was working with damaged goods, a team as heavily bandaged as it was heavily favored.In an unraveling that its trainers and doctors could not stem, the U.S. Davis Cup team blew a 2-0 lead and, ultimately, the Davis Cup semifinal.Yesterday, the world's No. 1 player, Pete Sampras, defaulted to Stefan Edberg after one set with a hamstring injury.

Seven Davis Cup first-round series, including the World Group matches between France and Israel, were postponed yesterday because of the Gulf war.The International Tennis Federation also announced that the defending champion United States' series with Mexico was under review for security reasons but remained scheduled Feb. 1-3 in Mexico City.There was no immediate word when a decision on the U.S.-Mexico series would be made.The ITF, tennis' ruling body, said that in addition to France-Israel, scheduled for Marseille, France, those matches postponed included Bangladesh at Bahrain, Syria at Sri Lanka, Kuwait at Singapore, Saudi Arabia at Malaysia, Senegal at Egypt and Cote d'Ivoire at Algeria.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi brushed off the Czechs in the Davis Cup yesterday, like so much sand from their sneakers.Sampras smashed Karel Novacek, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2, and Agassi blasted Petr Korda, 6-2, 6-4, 6-1, to give the Americans a comfortable 2-0 lead in their quarterfinal match before a near-sellout crowd of 5,146 sun-baked fans at the Sonesta Sanibel Harbour Resort.Rick Leach and John McEnroe can send the United States into the September semifinals with a victory against Korda and Cyril Suk in today's doubles.

College Football Terps' E. Williams out 6-8 weeks Maryland sophomore center Edwin Williams had surgery Thursday to repair a tendon in his left hand that he tore during a scuffle with a teammate, and he will miss six to eight weeks, coach Ralph Friedgen said yesterday. Phil Costa has been filling in for Williams, who injured his finger when he grabbed defensive end Jeremy Navarre's jersey. ... Right tackle Jared Gaither, who is one of the Terps' top returning offensive linemen, hurt his back in the weight room but participated in a scrimmage yesterday.

Croatia won its first Davis Cup title yesterday in Bratislava, Slovakia, with Mario Ancic beating Michal Mertinak of Slovakia, 7-6 (1), 6-3, 6-4, in the decisive fifth match. Dominik Hrbaty had pulled Slovakia even at 2-2 by defeating an ailing Ivan Ljubicic, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Ancic then downed Mertinak to clinch the best-of-five series between two first-time finalists. Goran Ivanisevic, who came out of retirement for the final, added the Davis Cup championship to his 2001 Wimbledon title.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Fans won't get a refund, but Andre Agassi will probably pay for his decision to skip yesterday's Davis Cup match.Ken Farrer, referee for the U.S.-Bahamas Davis Cup qualifying bTC match, will recommend that Agassi be fined for backing out without a legitimate reason, a violation of Davis Cup rules.Agassi refused to play yesterday after learning that opponent John Knowles would be replaced by John Farrington, a Bahamian tennis club director who isn't ranked.Knowles had retired from a match Friday with cramps.