U.S. May Play Its Ace

BROOKLINE, Mass. — Minutes after Pete Sampras served out the doubles match, something else broke out. If it’s the United States and Australia playing Davis Cup, well, it naturally has to involve another controversy.

U.S. captain Tom Gullikson was asked about the prospect of Sampras playing singles today. Standing on the court after the doubles victory, he told ESPN: “I wouldn’t rule it out.”

The possibility that Sampras might replace Todd Martin against Patrick Rafter today has not exactly been a well-kept secret. Gullikson also said some of the players aren’t “100% fit.” But no one seems too worried about the health of Jim Courier, who is set to play Lleyton Hewitt in the fifth and final match.

Gullikson’s on-court admission turned Australian captain John Newcombe from somber to steaming. Newcombe questioned the ethics of replacing a player who wasn’t truly injured, saying: “I’ve never been in the position where someone has pulled out where they shouldn’t.”

Oh, and by the way, there was a pretty decent and compelling doubles match Saturday at the Longwood Cricket Club. Sampras and his new partner, Alex O’Brien, staved off Davis Cup elimination, defeating the Aussie team of Sandon Stolle and Mark Woodforde, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, in 3 hours 28 minutes on another sweltering day. The temperature was a record-tying 98 degrees in Boston, and the on-court temperature soared to 129, according to the U.S. Tennis Assn.

That cut Australia’s lead to 2-1 heading into the final day of the best-of-five quarterfinal tie. The heat, humidity and months of prematch animosity between the teams turned both postmatch news conferences somewhat testy.

“We know the rules,” Gullikson said to a reporter on the topic of making a player change. “You don’t have to quote the rules, OK?”

Said Sampras: “I’m just happy to be here.”

The issue didn’t go away after Gullikson left the interview room. “You just have to play who’s out there,” he said. “It’s just about tennis. If Todd says he’s 100% and ready, he’ll probably play. If he’s dehydrated or if there’s something wrong with his elbow, then we’ll have to look at it.”

Martin did not seem to be on the same page, let alone the same chapter. A reporter from The Australian, a national newspaper, later found him on the grounds at Longwood and asked him about his fitness.

“No, I’m not injured, I’m fine,” Martin said. “Oh, I haven’t spoken to Gully. I don’t want to say anything more.”

In the event of injury or illness, a team can make a change up until an hour before the match. A neutral doctor has to sign off on it.

“I think we are all sitting up here pretty happy that we are still in this thing,” Sampras said about the possibility of playing singles. Let’s be honest, I have said [doubles only] the last three months. Our back is against the wall at the moment. We are going to talk about it tonight a little bit and go from there.

“But it’s a sensitive subject. Tom has been getting killed in the press about me not playing singles and it is not fair. It was my choice. I have said all along I wasn’t going to be playing singles here. And Tom is the reason I’m here. My relationship with him is the reason I will play Davis Cup in the future.”

What was next? A sign saying: “Save Gully?”

The will-he-play-or-will-he-go controversy overshadowed a taut doubles match. Australia had not lost a Davis Cup doubles match--a streak of 12 in a row--since the first round against Russia in March 1994. Ten of the 12 victories were by Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.

For O’Brien, it was his first Davis Cup doubles victory in three matches. For Sampras, it marked his first Davis Cup match since getting injured in the 1997 final against Sweden.

In the first four sets, each player was broken once: Stolle in the first, Woodforde in the second, O’Brien in the third and Sampras in the fourth.

“In the third and fourth, he [Gullikson] was like, ‘What are you guys doing out there? You look like a bunch of plumbers,’ ” Sampras said, smiling.

The quality of play hit an inspired level in the fifth set, particularly in the eighth game, in which Woodforde eventually was broken. The Aussies saved one break point with a series of overheads.

Said Newcombe: “I was thinking on one of those long points where the boys were smashing [overheads] and the Americans retrieved, ‘This is as good as it gets in sports.’

And that was on the court . . . even before the interviews and intrigue.

DAVIS CUP

Australia leads best-of-five series, 2-1

DOUBLES

Sampras-O’Brien (U.S.) d. Stolle-Woodforde, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3

TODAY’S SINGLES

Martin (U.S.) vs. Rafter

Courier (U.S.) vs. Hewitt