Wednesday, April 14, 2004 Davis Cup Quarterfinals - 2004 U.S., WINNER OVER SWEDEN, MAKES CUP FINAL FOUR, HOWEVER, USTA UNIMAGINATIVELY LAYS AN EGG DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – Folks went home from the U.S. victory over Sweden feeling up and bright. Few, if any, Davis Cup scenes in the United States have been more pleasant than the seaside settlement of Delray Beach on Florida’s right coast. Morning swims in the Atlantic were splendid daily preludes for some of us to the 4-1 quarter-final triumph, and the natives -- led by exhuberant mayor Jeff Perlman, a tennis buff – welcomed us with extreme friendlliness. The Saturday night procession among good restaurants and bars along Atlantic Avenue, a carefree parade of almost-clothed females and a wide variety of males (some bizarrely tattooed and muscled), offered a cultural experience worthy of Miami Beach’s South Beach or Paris’s Boulevard Saint Germain. However, what would Easter be without somebody laying an egg? Sadly that somebody was the U.S. Tennis Association, neglecting an important constituency – kids. This was a great opportunity for the USTA to introduce youngsters to big league tennis, spread the gospel, allow at least 4500 of them to thrill to Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish and the Bryan twins in person. You can’t buy that kind of evangelizing. But the USTA, otherwise presenting a fine show, flopped big-time. It distressed anyone – like me – who delights in Davis Cup, and constantly hopes for inspirational chances to hook kids on this wonderful game. I’ll explain. You couldn’t find a better site for a Cup series than the Delray Beach Tennis Center, an intimate ampitheatre seating about 8000 (presently to be the September 13 -- 19 ATP Tour stopover). But anybody entering was immediately struck and puzzled by the upper deck, covered by canvas that blocked occupancy of about 1500 seats. How foolish (or pessimistic?) were the promoters, after selling out the remaining 6054 locations, not to remove the canvas and market the remainder for a true full-house that I believe was attainable? I was told, however, that the USTA, dreading the spectre of empty seats revealed by TV, was satisfied with a daily congreation of 6054. OK, I guess, for the short-sighted. But to me, here’s where the gigantic egg was laid, splattering the USTA face. Those available seats should have been given to youth organizations, packing that gallery with kids. What an opportunity on behalf of the game – and at no cost! – to make a psychic profit. Total lack of imagination – ever a shortcoming. All right, a terrific chance was blown. I’m sure the savvy USTA president Alan Schwartz agrees that somebody goofed, but I also hope he sees the need for a new policy. That policy, pertaining to home site selection for Cup series, should stipulate that, wherever the locale, at least 1000 seats daily be allotted to youth groups, preferably those involving lower income families. It should apply at once to the upcoming, Sept. 24 -- 26 semifinal against the American benefactors from Belarus. Since it is likely to be staged at Flushing Meadow – an excellent choice – there should be plenty of room to accommodate kids. Needing two wins to regain the revered Cup – “Dwight’s pot” it was called by donor Dwight Davis’s buds -- that hasn’t checked into the United States since 1995, Capt. Patrick McEnroe’s wards have had more than a little help from their foes. First, the Swedes knocked off Australia, the Cup holder, removing a huge obstacle in the Yanks’ path. Andy Roddick was particularly grateful, although he didn’t show it in beating up on Thomas Enqvist, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2, and, in the clincher, Jonas Bjorkman, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 6-0. “Before the Swedes won,” says Andy, “I was planning to get on a plane in Miami Monday [the day after winning the Nasdaq-100], getting to Sydney Wednesday to play Lleyton Hewitt on Friday. Amazing, instead I got to play 10 minutes from my house in Boca Raton.” Winning in Australia would have been highly unlikely, given traveling halfway around the world, no time to recover and a powerful adversary in wait. Defeating injury-plagued Argentina, Belarussians Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov removed another very high hurdle: the prospect of facing the talent-loaded Argentines in their Buenos Aires claypit, thrice an American cemetery (1977, 80, 83). A lot of tennis remains between here and September, but Roddick & Co. should be able to say thank you to the Belarussians as sympathetically as they did the Swedes. The Dec. 3 -- 5 final is quite a differemt proposition: France or Spain. Pray for France (U.S. would be at home), fellows, because overly-armed Spain (on Catalan dirt) looks as appealing as mud-wrestling with The Rock. Saving the boldest for the last, Roddick, the “Meteor Man,” broke the world record for fastest serve at match point against Bjorkman with a 152 MPH streaker, eclipsing the 150 MPH mark set by -- uh, you guessed it, Roddick. Davis Cup apparently brings out the gargantua in him. He committed the 150s in February against Austria, drilling Stefan Kouvek and Jurgen Melzer for one apiece. When the clever 32-year-old Bjorkman (a factor in three Davis Cup possessions for Sweden) took Mardy Fish apart, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5, and Enqvist surged ahead of Roddick, 3-1, a rainy opening Friday seemed particularly dark. But Andy bounced back, and the Incendiary Identicals – twins Bob and Mike Bryan – got the go-ahead point by landsliding Bjorkman and Tom Johansson, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. For a long time before the Bryans showed up, Americans seemed to think doubles were drink orders or stand-ins doing difficult stunts for movie stars. It was a revolving door operation for the U.S., pairs coming and going – losing and splitting faster than Hollywood couples. During the post 1992 period covering 29 series the U.S. had used 22 different combinations, posting a 14-17 record. But the Bryans (3-0) have reversed that trend, the first American yoking to win so many matches since 1990 when Jim Pugh and Rick Leach went 4-0 as the U.S. seized the Cup. McEnroe bubbled, “What a change for us, to have the No. 1 team in the world, giving us a virtually certain point. It’s huge, meaning you can win by splitting the singles.” Delray was something of an American Cup reunion, attracting nine alumni, most of whom played roles in winning the grand prize: Sidney Wood (1931, 34); Gardnar Mulloy (1946, 48, 50, 52-53, 57); Frank Froehling (1963, 65, 71); Gene Scott (1963, 65); Jimmy Arias (1984, 86-87); Robert Seguso (1985-86-87-88-89, 91); Brad Gilbert (1986, 1989-90-91, 93); Ham Richardson (1952-53-54-55-56, 58, 65); Aaron Krickstein (1985-86-87, 90). All have retired except 90-year-old Mulloy, a continuing campaigner on the super-mature front. Froehling, a tennis court builder today, came through in one of the most dramatic American final round wins, 1971 against Romania at Charlotte, N.C. A desperation pick by Capt, Ed Turville, Froehling, then 28, the 1963 U.S. runnerup to Rafe Osuna, hadn’t played a Cup match for six years. Nevertheless, ranked No. 18 in the U.S., he came from way back to upset the shrewd Draculan Ion Tiriac, 3-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, 8-6, in a match that stretched over two days, and was vital to a 3-2 victory. Stan Smith got the other two points by beating Ilie Nastase and Tiriac. A nimble runner-around of backhands to deliver huge forehands, Froehling didn’t mind my observation: “Frank, I don’t recall seeing you hit any backhands in that match.” He laughed, “Neither do I.” Seeing Frank again evoked the uncommonly sporting nature of the genial captain, Turville, who gave him that Cup chance, and died not long ago. As one of the few enlightened USTA presidents within memory (1962-63), Ed, a St. Petersburg (Fla.) attorney, was a progressive among a reactionary majority. His thoughts in trying to bring about open tennis were rejected well before USTA president Bob Kelleher managed to turn the tide in 1968. As the winning captain in 1970 (over West Germany on a lightning fast hard court in Cleveland), Turville radically decided in 1971 that the usual home court advantage should, in fairness, be less advantageous. Therefore he chose Charlotte clay for the showdown, a slowdown that would give a better chance to the Romanians, who had been blasted off that Cleveland pavement in the 1969 final. That alienated Cliff Richey, the star of 1970. Declaring that Turville had betrayed his team and given away the farm, Richey quit – leading to the successful re-discovery of Froehling. Although Sidney Wood, the 1931 Wimbledon winner (the elder of major champs) never guzzled victorious champagne from the Cup, he did come close, as a member of the only U.S. team ever to revive from a 0-2 hole. It was the 1934 semi against Australia at Wimbledon, the lair of Cup-holding Britain. Doublists George Lott and Lester Stoefen started the turn-around by beating Adrian Quist and 1933 Wimbledon champ Jack Crawford. Wood kept the comeback burning, barely, over Crawford, 6-3, 9-7, 4-6, 4-6, 6-2, and Frank Shields (the future grandfather of actress Brooke Shields) finished strongly, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4, over Viv McGrath, the first to exhibit a two-handed backhand in international circles. Four days later, however, as the final commenced, Shields was put away quickly by Bunny Austin (first guy to wear shorts in Davis Cup), and Wood was overcome by reigning Wimbledon champ Fred Perry, 6-1, 4-6, 5-7, 6-0, 6-3. Lott and Stoefen came through once more, four sets over Pat Hughes and Harold Lee, but Shields was the fall guy as Perry sealed the Cup, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 15-13. As debonair and outgoing as ever, 92-year-old Wood was the hit of the customary teams’ dinner, with a good word for all the Swedes and Americans. He posed for a rare photo of the four major champs in the room: Roddick (U.S., 2003), Johansson (Aussie, 2002), Swedish Capt. Mats Wilander (Aussie, 1983-84, 88; French, 1982, 85, 88; U.S., 1988). Sidney impressed the first day crowd by striding briskly onto court to make the coin toss for Fish and Bjorkman, causing one fan to say to his neighbor, “We’ll be lucky to be able to lift a coin at 92.” <<<Back