Tuesday with…

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – Tom Gorman looked like any father watching one of his kids perform at a preschool assembly. His dress, however, set him apart from other parents, grandparents, and friends. He was clad in his work clothes, that of a tennis coach.

Until my daughter, Liz, introduced us, I’d never had the pleasure of meeting the captain of a U.S. Davis Cup team. This was an unexpected pleasure, since Gorman was and is very much a sports item these days for bringing the 1990 Davis Cup back to the United States.

The victory made Gorman, in his fifth year as captain, the fourth consecutive U.S. Davis Cup captain to be part of the winning team as both a player and coach, following in the tracks of Dennis Ralston, Tony Trabert, and Arthur Ashe. And in addition, Gorman’s captaincy further put cream on the pie since the United States last won the Davis Cup in 1982.

Then, what do you ask of a Davis Cup captain? How’s he feeling these days? Or what was it like for him when the U.S. defeated Australia to win the coveted old metal mug?

“I think for me it was even more exciting than in 1972 when I won it as a player. I’d have to say it was because we accomplished it at home and the crowd was solidly behind us. It was a fantastic feeling.”

“How’d the team celebrate?”

“We didn’t, really. We were so totally and emotionally exhausted that we really had no celebration. That may be difficult to understand, yet it’s the truth. We were too tired to celebrate.”

“What did you tell the team following the victory?”

“I wanted them to savor this moment. We were the winners. I said to the fellas, `Let’s get back out on the court.’ The crowd was yelling and cheering and we waved and acknowledged their support. I guess I best recall the moment by saying we were the best in Davis Cup for 1990 and I wanted the guys to share the moment with all those tennis fans.”

“About the Australians and the controversy with respect to the red clay court in the St. Petersburg Dome. What was that all about?”

“There was definitely more written about the playing surface than we believed necessary. Once the decision was made that we could use the court, it was our game plan to get out and play. We felt the Australians kept talking about it longer than necessary. It was a great court, I felt, and even Pat Cash, who had called it `embarrassing’ and `pathetic’, was later quoted as saying, `You know it wasn’t too bad after all.”‘

“But didn’t the U.S.-Australian rivalry fuel the controversy? Wasn’t this the underlying reason for all the controversy?”

“I really don’t think so. I felt the Australians were just very surprised that we chose the clay. They were very concerned about the quality of the court. They had a bad experience last year in Austria. The court, apparently, was in poor condition. The ball took bad bounces and the Aussies didn’t want to have that again, especially since this was the finals.”

“Now that 1990 is history and you’ve agreed to another year as team captain, what changes will there likely be on the 1991 Davis Cup team?”

“I really haven’t given much thought to ’91. It’s only a matter of three weeks until we play in Mexico (Feb. 1-3) and I know we’re playing outdoors on clay in Mexico City. I do know we’ll need a strong, experienced team down there.”

“What’s the future for the U.S. with respect to young, promising talent?”

“There are players we would certainly like to get exposed to Davis Cup: Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, and David Wheaton. I’ll have to wait and see. We have a good number of young players about to break out onto the tennis scene. It’s not as though we are in a transitional or a building year. We have good, young talent who will eventually be involved in Davis Cup.”

The 44-year-old Gorman, whose trimmed physique would sooner fit the role of a logger than a tennis professional, has a distinguished background. He won seven tour titles from 1971-76, was a semifinalist in the 1973 French Open, semifinalist in the ’72 U.S. Open, semifinalist at Wimbledon, 1971, and was a singles player on the ’72 Davis Cup team.

You can see, the man I met with 10-month-old Hailey riding on broad shoulders hardly can be charged with having disembarked from the boat a day before yesterday. The Gormans, wife Danni, Kelly Ann, 4, have Mexico City in their immediate sights.

Tom Gorman departed from the recital at the Montessori School of The Desert and, since he was dressed in his work finery, hied off to the Ritz Carlton Hotel, where, as you may have guessed, he directs tennis activities.

An interesting and impressive leader the U.S. has as its Davis Cup team captain. Somehow, even off our brief meeting, one surmises the captaincy is in solid hands.