McEnroe Quits as Davis Cup Captain

N E W  Y O R K, Nov. 20 -- As Davis Cup captain, John McEnroe’s biggestproblem was that he didn’t have someone like John McEnroe as aplayer.

For lack of such a player, one of the best in the world whowould put Davis Cup first among his priorities, McEnroe has calledit quits after 14 months stint at the helm of the U.S. team.

Striving for Perfection

“John feels so passionate about Davis Cup and he is aperfectionist,” U.S. Tennis Association President Judy Leveringsaid today. “He’s disappointed with himself.”

But Levering cautioned that McEnroe’s resignation was not justthe lack of having America’s top players ready to play every DavisCup series.

“He’s upset with the format of Davis Cup and feels it keeps theU.S. from doing as well as it could,” she said. “It was acombination of things that led to it.”

McEnroe told Levering of his decision over lunch in New Yorkearly last week, before he left for Frankfurt, Germany, where heplayed in a senior tournament.

“We weren’t prepared to make a statement then,” Levering said.“We didn’t want the perception to be he and I were at odds, so wedecided to make a joint announcement.

“We pretty much had the announcement on Saturday. I asked todelay it until after the Chase Championships. I didn’t think it wasright to make the announcement at someone else’s event.”

The Chase Championships, the season-ending tournament of the WTATour, was completed on Sunday, with Martina Hingis defeating MonicaSeles in a close match.

McEnroe was playing today in Frankfurt and not immediatelyavailable for comment. Before the USTA announcement was made, herefused to comment when contacted at his hotel room by TheAssociated Press.

The resignation of McEnroe, one of the greatest players in DavisCup history, comes nearly four months after the U.S. team was sweptby Spain in the semifinals. He said he was “extremely frustratedwith the difficulties of the scheduling and format of thecompetition.”