Put aside thoughts of the rivalry between the US and Sweden for a moment and re-live another memorable US-Sweden Davis Cup tie from years gone by - the 1995 semifinal encounter in Andre Agassi's home town of Las Vegas. Those were difficult times for Sweden. Stalwart Mats Wilander was 30-years old and faltering; the No. 2 man was Thomas Enquvist. They were hardly a pairing to overly trouble a powerful US squad led by singles players Pete Sampras and the host city's favorite son, Andre.
The tie took place during the zenith of the Pete vs. Andre rivalry, when both me were at or near their very best. In fact, just weeks earlier, Pete had wrecked an amazing summer for Andre by halting his torrid hard-court streak in the US Open final. This may have been the high-point of the Pete vs. Andre rivalry. It was the season of Nike's brilliant "guerilla tennis" ad campaign featuring the rivals. Cue the monster Don Henley hit, The Boys of Summer.
That four-set loss to Sampras in the Open final would, by Agassi's own, later admission, drive him into the tailspin that ultimately landed him at No. 141 in the world - setting the stage for his remarkable resurgence and transformation from rebel and prodigal son into icon and ambassador. But the lingering effects Andre would feel from that loss were not evident yet when when Sweden came to Vegas just a few weeks after the US Open.
Andre was a good host in his home town. He had the Davis Cup team (Todd Martin and Jonathan Stark were the other members) over to his house for dinner one night, following which he offered to take everyone on an off-road blast around the nearby sand dunes in his Hummer. Team captain Tom Gullikson, wanting his young proteges to enjoy the ride, squeezed into the cargo space in the back, on his hands and knees. Pete remembers that it was a thrilling, roller-coaster ride under the stars, but he felt sorry for his poor captain. "He was getting thrown around back there, banging his elbows and head and shins," Pete told me recently. "All we heard every few seconds were these bangs and curses, and we all laughed our butts off."
It was a poignant tie, because the USTA had invited along Sampras's coach (and Tom's twin brother), Tim. He was dying of cancer, but still "officially" Pete's coach - communicating with the man he helped shape into a Wimbledon champion via phone conversations with their go-between, Paul Annacone. Those conversations were becoming increasingly muddled and infrequent. Paul, a loyal man to the core, had become Pete's de facto coach but he said not a word to anyone out of deference to Tim.
As has often been the case against Sweden, something unusual was bound to happen. The tie opened predictably enough, with Pete and Andre taking care of business: Pete beat Enqvist, Andre blitzed Mats. But then Sweden won the doubles thanks to the deft racket-work of - you guessed it! - Jonas Bjorkman (partnered with Stefan Edberg). It's amazing that Jonas is on the present team as well, isn't it?
Then, the following morning, Andre showed up at practice, and ultimately the tie, with his chest wrapped up - he had severely pulled a muscle against Wilander. He would be unable to play, and suddenly the US was relying on Todd Martin to prevent an anything-can-happen-and-probably-will fifth and decisive rubber.
Thankfully, Martin played a superb match against Enqvist to seal the tie. Then, team officials from both sides met and Sweden was presented with an unusual request: would the boys mind if Tim Gullikson sat on the court with his twin, Tom, during Pete's meaningless match with Wilander? The Swedes agreed without hesitation, and Tim, in a last tournament appearance before he died, was on-court to witness one last Sampras victory, and to take part in the victory celebration and closing ceremonies.
When the proceedings were finished, the US squad repaired to the team room and had a brief celebration. Now, if you watched the touching video of Pete's International Tennis Hall of Fame induction speech in July, you may remember an anecdote he told about Tim. Let me quote his version of that incident from the autobiography I've been helping Pete write:
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