TENNIS : He Wants Nice Davis Cup Win

RANCHO MIRAGE —  If Leo Durocher were to spend some time with Tom Gorman, he would quickly conclude that, in most things Gorman does, he would finish last. Gorman, you see, is the consummate nice guy.

Being nice, and being the captain of the U.S. Davis Cup tennis team, can be seen as contradictory. Should this country’s tennis fortunes be in the hands of the Mr. Rogers of racket sports, or would we be better served with someone in the image of Woody Hayes, or at least, Ion Tiriac?

Can a gee-whiz, golly-yes Tom Sawyer approach get the most out of the likes of John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Robert Seguso and Ken Flach, each of whom has established at various times that he can be, to quote McEnroe himself, “The pits of the world”?

Can you motivate cobras with saccharine?

Gorman would answer yes, but he would object immediately to the cobra imagery, even though he has suffered more than his share of bites in his five years of directing the U.S. Tennis Assn.’s Davis Cup program.

“I just don’t take any of the things personally,” Gorman says.

That is a sound approach at the moment, since any grudge Gorman might carry into this weekend’s Davis Cup semifinal against Austria in Vienna could easily be directed at his star singles player, Agassi.

Agassi, a finalist in the U.S. Open, has been on and off Davis Cup teams during Gorman’s tenure. In fact, last March, during the Grand Champions tournament in nearby Indian Wells, Agassi was on and off the team in one day. He agreed to play in the quarterfinals against Czechoslovakia, then quickly backed off when a question arose about how much of Agassi’s entourage of advisers/agents/coaches/brothers would be allowed close access to him and the proceedings during the Davis Cup practices and matches.

When Agassi changed his mind, Gorman was quoted as wondering about Agassi’s “commitment.” Agassi quickly responded with verbal venom.

Some samples:

--”Gorman makes me look like an idiot by saying he wondered about my commitment.”

--”He’s a chameleon . . . you’ve got a follower in a leader’s position.”

--”I feel like Tom, in my opinion, doesn’t have what it takes to get a team directed.”

Now, six months later, Agassi will be directed by Gorman into a match starting Friday that could put the United States into its first final since 1984, and the first under Gorman. Also on the team will be Michael Chang in the other singles slot, and Rick Leach and Jim Pugh in the doubles. The Austrian team will include Thomas Muster and Horst Skoff in singles and Muster and Alex Antonitsch in doubles.

The match will be played in a soccer stadium, on slow red clay, in front of a specially configured seating area that is expected to hold between 10,000 and 15,000 spectators.

Gorman, interviewed here Friday, said that he and Agassi have no problems.

“That situation was the most difficult I’ve ever had,” Gorman said, “but like so many things, it got blown out of proportion. Things were said at emotional moments that shouldn’t have been said. And my statement about commitment was somewhat misunderstood by Andre. I was talking more about him changing his mind so quickly, and he took what I said to challenge his long-term commitment. It was almost like he thought I was questioning his guts.”

To do something like that would be uncharacteristic of Gorman. He is a diplomat. He is sensitive to others, forgiving, quick to praise and slow to anger.

His longtime friend and best man at his wedding, Stan Smith, was once asked about Gorman’s temperment.

“He doesn’t get mad, ever,” Smith said.

At the recent U.S. Open, Aaron Krickstein was angry at Gorman for being passed over for the semifinals with Austria. Krickstein was the one who agreed immediately to substitute for Agassi in that match against Czechoslovakia.

Then, during one of Krickstein’s matches at the Open, Gorman left the stands, and it was widely reported that Krickstein had asked that Gorman leave.

“It wasn’t exactly like that,” Gorman said. “I was sitting with Aaron’s agent, Dick Dell, who also happens to be my agent. Somewhere in the match, something happened, like some eye contact or something with the three of us. Nothing loud, no big scene. And I asked Dell if he thought my being there might be bothering Krickstein. Dell said yes, and so I left.”

But Gorman, ever the peacemaker, said he sought out Krickstein later, talked to him, listened to him, told him he understood his anger and liked his competitive fire at wanting to be on the team.

“I told him I had two spots, that’s all,” Gorman said. “Then I asked him if he’d be ready to step in if one of the other guys went down, and he said yes. Later, I went back and watched his other matches.”

Clearly, Gorman does it his way, which is the upbeat, positive way. And clearly, short of a Davis Cup championship as captain, his way has worked well. In his playing days, he defeated the likes of Borg and Laver and helped the United States win the Davis Cup in 1972. He has clothing and racket contracts and does corporate appearances, and, at 44, holds the prestigious position as director of tennis at the Ritz Carlton Hotel here.

And through it all, he has been a master at smoothing out the ruffles.

“After the Agassi thing happened--and that one was tough because it was right here in my hometown and I’m just not used to being in the middle of controversy like that--I went to McEnroe,” Gorman said. “I wanted to talk to him about it and kind of see what he thought, because he’s been through so much of it.

“McEnroe just laughed. That made me feel a lot better.”

So all that remains to be seen is if the U.S. Davis Cup team can win it all under Gorman. For Gorman, that would be swell.