Big Mac leads US combo

“I’m thinking we’re going to win all the matches,” McEnroe said. But he still has a few worries.

Agassi injured his right ankle last week in the quarter-finals of the Ericsson Open and it clearly bothered him in a semifinal loss to Brazil’s Gustavo Kuerten that left him hobbling.

A visibly tired Sampras needed more than three hours to beat Kuerten in the final. He had little time to rest before flying to Los Angeles and practicing on Tuesday and yesterday.

“Andre told me not to worry, but that’s part of the job. Pete is feeling some aches and pains,” McEnroe said.

But don’t expect McEnroe to be the sort of pushy, perfectionist captain that he was as a player who won four US Open and three Wimbledom titles.

“Pete’s not going to want to come out and lose in LA at The Forum, and neither is Andre, but they know themselves better than I know them,” McEnroe said. “Am I going to say, `Hey, you’ve really got to practice.’ I’m Not going to say that.”

McEnroe and Sampras patched up their differences after Sampras missed the first-round victory over Zimbabwe with a hip injury he sustained at the Australian Open. McEnroe had questioned Sampras’ commitment to Davis Cup.

Sampras has never been the diehard supporter of Davis Cup that McEnroe was when he ruled tennis as the No 1 player during the early 80s. Instead, Sampras focused on retaining his top ranking for six consecutive years.

Now his priorities have changed.

“I rearranged my whole schedule to play Davis Cup this year,” Sampras said. “I have done just about everything and Davis Cup is something that will be more of a priority this year. I want to play and I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Sampras welcomes the extra interest created by having McEnroe as captain.

“That is the one thing that has been missing over the years is the attention, and certainly John brings a lot to it,” he said.

In ’92, McEnroe and Sampras beat Marc Rosset and Jakob Hlasek in a five-set doubles match as the United States defeated Switzerland 3-1 to win the Cup.

Agassi won his singles match, McEnroe and Sampras only played doubles, while Jim Courier, the other member, split his single matches.

It was McEnroe’s final match of a 12-year Davis Cup career that included five titles and the record for most US singles victories with 41.

At that time, McEnroe was in the process of divorcing his first wife, actress Tatum O’Neal, with whom he has three children.

“I felt like my whole family — my children, friends, the team the people that came to the match — rallied around me. Otherwise, I didn’t think I would have been able to make it through,” he said. “I just wasn’t really up to playing.”

But he and Sampras are happy to be on familiar ground at The Forum.

Sampras is a Los Angeles native, who first played at The Forum as a 16-year-old. McEnroe, a native New Yorker with a second home here, played exhibitions at The Forum and was a regular at Lakers games in the 80s.