United States leaves John McEnroe off Davis Cup team
The United States Davis Cup captain, Patrick McEnroe, has decided not to call on his big brother, John McEnroe, to help him in next week's world group first-round tie against Switzerland.
Patrick McEnroe said he had considered using his famous brother, John, who had campaigned to be on the team, in doubles but decided against it.
Veteran Todd Martin, Jan Michael Gambill, Justin Gimelstob and ITF 2000 world junior champion Andy Roddick will all be going to the Davis Cup in Basel next week.
The McEnroes had a long “brotherly” conversation about the make-up of the team, said the US captain, who added that John actually helped him through the process.
“I talked very seriously to John about it,” Patrick McEnroe said on Tuesday. “He was really understanding of all sides of the picture. He knows we need to look to the future.”
McEnroe succeeded his 41-year-old brother, John, as the US captain when he was named to the post last December.
“To have him there would have been invaluable, but having guys who are younger is important – not just to win now, but also for down the road,” said McEnroe, 34.
On the Swiss side, Roger Federer, George Bastl, Michel Kratochvil and Lorenzo Manta will be the men taking on the Americans in Basel next week.
Switzerland’s Davis Cup captain, Jakob Hlasek, announced his squad on Monday.
Marc Rosset was an unsurprising absentee, the Genevan having already said that he will not play in the tournament while Hlasek is in charge of the side.
On Tuesday, Rosset was more concerned with defending his title at the Milan indoors tournament. The 30-year-old Swiss player nearly came a cropper in the first round, but eventually got the better of Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic.
In an encounter which lasted almost two and a half hours, Rosset had to defend five match points before finally winning 4-6, 7-6 (14-12), 6-4. The Genevan is due to play Britain’s Greg Rusedski in the second round.
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