Declaration Day: McEnroe Says It's Time For U.S. To Put Up Or Shut Up

Patrick McEnroe/Roddick By Richard Pagliaro
04/10/2003

Davis Cup competition can storm the senses of visiting players. Foot-stomping fans pounding out punishing percussion can create a spirit-shaking sound capable of cracking competitors' concentration like cymbals smashing synapses.

Players don't just play Davis Cup — they feel it. Sometimes it hurts.

During a Davis Cup tie Chile hosted against Argentina in April of 2000, a near-riot erupted after Chilean fans became incensed over line calls. Fans tossed chairs, coins, bottles and fruit onto the court forcing the Argentine team to flee for safety.

Playing beneath the pressure of a road tie before a hostile crowd exhorting your every error, serenading you with screams and hounding you into hurling insults at your own mistakes, can make players feel about as comfortable as you'd feel if Metallica drummer and former junior tennis standout Lars Ulrich opted to use your ear drums as snare drums for an extended solo.

U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe has seen the sights and heard the sounds of crowds so loud you need a megaphone to deliver a motivational message into the ear of the player seated right next to you.

It's the type of auditory assault a young American Davis Cup squad may face when it arrives in the Slovak Republic for the Davis Cup World Group playoff tie set for September 19-21st. And McEnroe knows that only success can serve as the mute button to silence skeptics, opponents and the raucous, rowdy, road crowds confronting the U.S. as well as any sounds of self-doubt or excuses emanating from his squad.

"It's put-up or shut-up time basically," McEnroe said. "It's enough of 'we're young' and enough of 'we're getting experience.' I told them that actually after we lost in Croatia. 'It's time for us to perform. You guys are young, but you've all been out there now for a couple of years, and it's time to enjoy what we're doing.' "

Conducting a conference call with the media today to discuss the September tie with the Slovak Republic, McEnroe acknowledged that in recent years when the U.S. has hit the road, the road has hit back.

The United States has suffered four straight Davis Cup defeats away from home as the road has served as a road block on the path to Davis Cup prominence. The last U.S. road victory came when McEnroe's predecessor and older brother, John McEnroe, was team captain and presided over a squad that survived a near African ambush on the strength of Chris Woodruff's 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-4 victory over Wayne Black to lift the U.S. to a 3-2 victory over host Zimbabwe in the opening-round of the 2000 Davis Cup.

Since then visiting ties have been a road map riddled with defeat as the U.S. was swept by Spain in the 2000 semis, beaten by a Roger Federer-led Swiss squad, 3-2, in the 2001 first round, stopped by defending-champion France, 3-2 at Roland Garros in last year's semis and stomped by Croatia 4-1 in February.

The U.S. must overcome its recent series of bad trips and win the playoff tie in the Slovak Republic to qualify for the 16-team 2004 Davis Cup World Group and be eligible to compete for the 2004 Davis Cup title.

In the only prior meeting between the nations, Andy Roddick beat Jan Kroslak and Karol Beck to help the U.S. sweep the Slovaks, 5-0, in the 2002 Davis Cup first-round tie held in Oklahoma City. The Slovaks played that tie without their top two players — 50th-ranked Karol Kucera (aka "the Little Cat") and 58th-ranked Dominik Hrbaty — but both should be in action for the playoff.

McEnroe believes a victory in the Slovak Republic could fuel the United States' run to contention for the 2004 Davis Cup championship.

"This is a big test for us," McEnroe said. "It's a big test. We should win this match. They've got good players, though; they've got veteran players. But this is a match that we should win. So we need to go there and do whatever we have to do to do that. I think once we get a win on the road, I think that will really help us confidence-wise, and go into next year and say, 'We can legitimately win
it next year.' "

Rather than approach the tie as road worriers and risk absorbing a knock-out from the 2004 World Group, a pumped-up McEnroe said it's time for his team to eliminate the excuses, embrace the challenge confronting it and come out swinging for success.

"This is tough," McEnroe said. "You don't go on the road and just have fun and think it's going to be all fun and games and you're going to win. You have to go out there with the toughness and an attitude...The excuses that we're young and we're getting experience, I think we've used all them up."

Excuses may have been depleted, but the talent level has hardly been diminished. In sixth-ranked Andy Roddick and 24th-ranked James Blake, the United States possesses a potent one-two punch of talented young players who have been committed to the Davis Cup cause.

A wrist injury knocked Roddick out of February's first-round tie, but barring injury, he should bring his skills and his 7-2 career Davis Cup record in the playoff tie. Since his inspired run to the Australian Open semifinals in January, Roddick has struggled with injury and inconsistent results and McEnroe said he must pick up his play to retain his spot in the rankings.

"Andy Roddick right now is going through a little bit of a tough time since the
Australian," McEnroe said. "He needs to get better. He needs to improve his game to stay in the Top 10. Forget about getting from No. 6 to No. 2 and No. 1; he's got to continue to improve his game to stay where he is."

An explosive athlete capable of playing all-court tennis, Blake owns one of the game's biggest forehands, but still has trouble consistently beating players ranked beneath him. A smart and sensitive soul, Blake is widely respected as one of the gentlemen in the game. But his reluctance to set ranking goals for himself, the extreme respect he shows for opponents and his sometimes shaky self-confidence have caused some to question whether the former Harvard all-American is simply too nice a guy to develop the killer instinct necessary in a top 10 player.

McEnroe insists Blake is a true top-10 level player and has used a unique motivational tool — annoyance — to try to inspire Blake to fulfill his potential as a player.

"I think he is a Top 10 player. One of the reasons I think I sort of annoy him is because I always say it," McEnroe said. "One of the reasons I make a point of always saying it publicly is because I think he needs to deal with it and I think he needs to hear it and I think he needs to step up and say, 'You know what, I can be a Top 10 player, and I've got to go out there with the attitude that I can.' "

In addition to an aggressive attitude adjustment, McEnroe said Blake must cultivate a ruthless resolve on the court.

"James is a great guy and James is sometimes too nice a guy," McEnroe said. "You could still be a nice guy and go out there and want to rip the heart out of your opponent if you can, and bury your opponent if you have the opportunity to do it.
So I think James needs to get a little bit more of that. Obviously, his serve, we need to work on his serve a little bit and shore up his serve a little bit. But physically and athletically and game-wise, this guy is a Top 10 player. You know, he's got to set that bar for himself."

The bar is being raised by a corps of competitive young Americans that includes Blake, Roddick, 38th-ranked Taylor Dent, 48th-ranked Robby Ginepri and 55th-ranked Mardy Fish, who have all made significant strides this season. Dent delivered his second career title by routing Roddick in the Memphis final in February; Fish beat former French Open champion Carlos Moya in successive meetings in January and defeated Sebastien Grosjean in Miami last month; and Ginepri's rapid rise saw him become the only man to advance to at least the quarterfinals of consecutive Masters Series events at Indian Wells and Miami.

"I think that most of them have a legitimate chance to be top 20 players, and a couple of them have chances to go higher," McEnroe said. "Certainly, when I look at a Taylor Dent, to me, he could win Wimbledon. Roddick is obviously a factor at the majors. James Blake, I think, is a Top 10 potential player. Now, the question is, how do you get there? How do you keep moving up?"

Competing in Davis Cup can help develop those qualities necessary for long-term occupancy of a top 20 spot. The abundance of American talent poses a positive problem for McEnroe, who will consider all of the young players as well as others ranked in the top 100 — 40th-ranked Vince Spadea, 42nd-ranked Jan-Michael Gambill, 71st-ranked Brian Vahaly, 87th-ranked Justin Gimelstob and 88th-ranked Todd Martin — for the four spots on the squad.

The captain hopes the selection process will incite emotion — and the competitive instinct — in all of the players under consideration for a place on the team.

"I hope that I piss off a couple of guys," McEnroe said. "I hope that some of them are really disappointed, but they're disappointed for the right reason — that they wanted to play, and that when called upon down the road they will play. So it is a good problem to have... I think all the guys will be there and will show up if called upon. My job is to try to keep it that way."

Two players who've never received the call to play — Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan — continue to make a case for their consideration by winning doubles matches. While not discounting the possibility of picking the Bryan brothers as the American doubles team, McEnroe said the brothers need to deliver doubles dominance to secure a spot on the squad.

"If the Bryan brothers go and win Wimbledon and win the US Open and, to me, are a dominant doubles team, I'm going to give them even more consideration," McEnroe said. "I give them consideration now, but they're not a dominant doubles team. That's just the bottom line. They're a very good doubles team. They're doing well, they win matches every week. They don't dominate. To me, if there's a dominant team out there, whether it's the Bryans or whether it's anybody else, if they're not dominating and winning a major or two a year, it's too big a risk to take if they can't play singles."

Rather than devote half his roster to the doubles specialists, McEnroe suggested he's more inclined to pair Blake with Dent, Roddick or Fish in a doubles team that offers the flexibility of several singles players capable of stepping into the singles lineup should a starter suffer an injury.

"I feel comfortable getting Taylor Dent on the doubles court. I think he's got some serious game to play doubles," McEnroe said. "Even Andy Roddick potentially in doubles could play. But James Blake, in my mind, can dominate a doubles match. I've seen it happen. We lost a tough match that we should have won that we were two-sets-to-love-up (against Croatia) and we got a little rattled and the crowd, etc. But, you know, we still lost 6-4 in the fifth, and everything went against us... Going into a match, you like to have options."

Victory on a road strewn with potholes, pitfalls and the promise of unfilled potential is the only option the U.S. has if it is to make a run at the Davis Cup championship in 2004. McEnroe believes his team will be ready for the road trip.

"You hope that our guys are mature enough and have enough experience now that when we go into that situation it's not going to be a surprise that you're getting bad calls and that people are whistling when you're about to hit a serve," McEnroe said. "That's the way it is. It's hard to really be prepared for that, honestly, until you experience it."