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Friday, October 12, 2001

By Maria Sciullo, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Donald Johnson's dream of playing Davis Cup tennis is older than some of his USA teammates.

At 33, the Mt. Lebanon High School graduate carries the flag this weekend, when the United States plays host to India in a Davis Cup by NEC world group qualifying round in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"Out there with the Stars and Stripes, I'm sure it will be as moving and motivational as any experience I've ever had," he said.

Two singles matches open the event, with doubles tomorrow and reverse singles Sunday.

Playing singles for the U.S. team will be Andy Roddick and James Blake.

It has been a remarkable two-year run for Johnson, who won six doubles titles this season. He and Jared Palmer, 30, of Palo Alto, Calif., were the Wimbledon champions and reached the final of the U.S. Open.

Last season, Johnson won the world doubles title in Bangalore, India, with South African Piet Norval, plus the Wimbledon mixed crown with Kimberly Po-Messerli.

Despite his success, making the U.S. team was hardly a lock. The Bryan twins -- Bob and Mike -- are up-and-coming players who excel at singles and doubles; they are ranked seventh in the ATP points race. United States captain Pat McEnroe chose some relative pups -- Roddick, 18, Blake, 21 and Rob Ginepri, 18, in addition to veteran Todd Martin, 31 -- for singles.

Doubles was the big question, particularly since the Indian team of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi is fourth in ATP rankings. Johnson and Palmer are No. 2 spot.

"You know, there was a part of me that said, 'It would be great to have the Bryans because they're the youth, the young guys,'" McEnroe said earlier this month. "There's another part of me, when this whole debate started in my own mind about which team to go with [that said], 'Wouldn't it be great to see Don Johnson play because [of] all he's done? '"

Shortly before the U.S. Open, Johnson said he read in a New York paper that McEnroe was waiting to see which doubles team fared better.

"It was a little disturbing, a little bothersome," Johnson said. "Obviously, you concentrate on what you're there for, and we were there to win the U.S. Open."

The day before the Open final, the team was announced.

"It was a relief, a weight off our shoulders because we had worked so hard and done so well. We had to do a lot to change his mind," Johnson said.

If anyone knows the game of Paes and Bhupathi, it's Johnson and Palmer.

"We're really good friends with them. I've been to Leander's home and, in '95, played half a year with him."

Around that time, Johnson's wife, Krista , a medical student at the University of North Carolina, worked as a volunteer with Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity and lived with Paes' family for three months.

"They're two of my better friends on the tour, so it's always interesting when we step out onto the court."

"The Indians have always been very tough in Davis Cup. They've always sort of played beyond what they play normally," McEnroe said. "Leander Paes has probably had the best matches of his career in singles in Davis Cup. Their doubles speak for themselves ... the guys know that.

"[Johnson and Palmer] spend week-in and week-out with Bhupathi and Paes. It's a tough match, but it's a match we believe we'll win."

This is a crucial Davis Cup situation for the U.S. team. Losing in the qualifying round means it would be bounced into the relegation pool, thus ineligible to win the Davis Cup in 2002. Only once has the U.S. team sunk to this, in 1987, against West Germany.

Unlike in Australia, Sweden, France and the rest of the tennis-playing world, the U.S. Davis Cup committee has difficulty coaxing top veterans to play. Not so with India.

"I started playing Davis Cup when I was just 15 years old," said Paes, 31. "That was my first time. I've played every single year since. I've only missed two or three ties -- and only because of injury -- in my whole career. My stage to perform is Davis Cup."

The matches originally were scheduled for Sept 21-23 at 6,000-seat Joel Coliseum, less than an hour from Johnson's home in Chapel Hill, N.C. But the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 led to a postponement.

"I think it goes without saying that the USTA [United States Tennis Association] is making very, very sure that security with be topnotch," Johnson said.

He and Palmer kept their promise to play in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last week, although Americans Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport withdrew, citing security concerns.

"I know I didn't want to get on a plane, and Jared didn't want to get on a plane [the last few weeks of September]," Johnson said. "But we were all ready for Moscow."

Top-seeded, they reached the semifinals, where they lost to eventual champions Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Australian Sandon Stolle, 6-4, 6-4.

All in all, he said, it's good to be home.

"We're hoping there will be a lot of people we know [at the Cup match]," said Johnson, who was happily filling ticket orders for just about anyone who asked. "The Airborne Express guy stopped to drop something off, and he told me even he's going to be there."