Patrick McEnroe: The Tennis-X Interview - Part IIView Comments (14) | View Discussions
Posted on May 4, 2005
By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer
 Props to Patrick McEnroe, who has taken more flak from Tennis-X writers than any Davis Cup captain since...well, his brother John. P-Mac spoke to Richard Vach while laying on an ice pack after wrenching his back at the gym, yet was open about his Davis cup struggles and finding the right mix to eventually bring the Cup back to the U.S. for the first time in 11 years.
In Part I of our interview P-Mac dished on the U.S. "B"-squad players needing to step up, how the slams are making the ATP nervous, why the Davis Cup format isn't working, and whether ESPN is getting their tennis broadcasting act together.
In Part II he delves deeply into the philosophy and psychology of the U.S. Davis Cup first-round loss in March to Croatia, where the captain came under fire for a hardcourt surface that Andre Agassi called "slower than Hamburg."
Tennis-X: On the Davis Cup...
Patrick McEnroe: I remember you asked me about the Davis Cup -- I've had a lot of people obviously asking me about the court. That's something that has given me a lot of thought, as to was it too slow, etcetera. I can only say that in retrospect, obviously it was too slow. In looking at the way that Andre played against (Ivan) Ljubicic, clearly he was uncomfortable with the conditions. At the same time given the same set of circumstances and the same set of history that I was presented with, our success on a similar surface and (Croatia's) success on faster courts, I can't actually sit here and say honestly I would have made a different decision, that I would have made the court considerably faster. I think in retrospect that I would agree that it was slightly too slow, but the problem with making a fast hardcourt is that you then bring (Mario) Ancic into the equation as a singles player. Up to that point in Ljubicic's career, most of his best results came on pretty quick courts, certainly indoors, and in the final of Indianapolis when he played (Andy) Roddick on a fast court, so...I've heard a lot of second-guessing about that, and I've second-guessed myself about it, but the Bryan brother have also played quite well on a very slow hardcourt -- and people don't realize that court we used in L.A. was very similar to that court we used last year at home against Belarus and against Sweden.
X: When you guys were practicing during the lead-up week, was it "This looks good," or "Uh oh, this looks like it might be a little slow..."
P-Mac: I think we all knew that Andre was struggling a little bit with getting used to it. I mean Andy was absolutely fine, and the Bryans -- I mean I speak to all the guys about the surface, I don't go out there and make the call about the surface without talking to the players. But at the end of the day I have to be responsible for the final decision, which I am. I thought it was slow, but that was the plan, to have it slow. I think Andre had trouble adjusting to it early, but it wasn't something where I was saying 'Hey, we're in trouble here, I'd better change the court' -- no.
X: Whenever you lose you kind of look back and point to things...
P-Mac: Part of me wishes we had that kind of (Tennis-X) analysis done by the regular press -- that would make tennis more interesting and better served. It's probably something that if we played another match with the same team, obviously for Andre we'd make the court slightly quicker. When you're playing Ljubicic and Ancic, and Ljubicic is playing pretty damn good tennis -- I thought that was the right way to go. It's not a decision I take lightly, or I don't put a lot of thought into. You know we played a very good team. So I can beat myself up all I want, and certainly I have, but I just want people to understand that there's a lot of thought that goes into exactly how the surface is going to be. It didn't work this time, but it may not have been -- but you saw what happened when the Bryans played Ancic and Ljubicic on clay (at Monte Carlo approximately a month later where the Bryans won 6-2, 6-1).
X: Yeah, they schooled them.
P-Mac: (Laughing) They beat them 2-and-1. You know we were up set point to go up two-sets-to-love in the doubles (against Croatia), and all of a sudden...you know its funny how a couple of points here or there can turn the whole thing. It's disappointing, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was extremely disappointed because I thought we had a very good chance to win it all this year. That's why you have to play the matches.
X: It was almost a final in the first round because you had two teams that could go on to win it all.
P-Mac: Yeah, I mean Croatia is certainly going be very tough, they can win it all this year, you have two guys who are playing very well. That's the thing, with Ancic, I don't have to remind you, he went to the semifinal of Wimbledon last year and very nearly beat Roddick. Making the court, you're not going to make it like grass, but in retrospect I should have made the court..I don't know, 20 percent quicker. Something like that, then maybe that would have been slow enough where Ancic still wouldn't have been able to serve-and-volley, and Andre would have been more comfortable.
X: You can tell you've been beating yourself up about it when you're throwing out percentages...
P-Mac: Well, that's the thing it come down to, that's the point -- the point is that we did think about that and we go through that, that's what we did last year when we played Sweden and the next round we said 'Let's make it slightly faster. You're dealing with weather, you're dealing with a different court maker, etcetera.
X: Thanks for your time Patrick.
Patrick McEnroe will next appear for his commentary duties at the French Open for ESPN, and next for his Davis Cup duties during the weekend of Sept. 23-25 for the World Group Qualifying, when his U.S. squad travels to Belgium to salvage a World Group berth for 2006.
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