by Bill Nichols

A cloak of intrigue is beginning to surround both sides of the court as the United States and Spanish Davis Cup teams begin their final days of preparation before Friday’s opening matches at Harold T. Clark Stadium.

Although each captain has announced his team, neither will divulge who will play the decisive interzone matches.

Donald Dell, captain of the Uncle Sam’s forces has .said that he will begin..thinking about his team Wednesday night, but will not announce it until the drawing set for Thursday afternoon.

"Spain already said it wouldn’t name the players until the drawing and we won’t either," Dell said.

DELL HAS A problem, but it’s a problem he will enjoy solving. For Dell it will be like having three Johnny Unitas’ on a football team and then deciding who should play quarterback.

The U.S. skipper has at his command the top three players in the nation, Clark Graebner, Arthur Ashe and Charles Pasarell along with doubles standout Bob Lutz. The question is, who will play singles?

It appears that Graebner will team with Lutz, but that isn’t even certain at this moment.

THREE WEEKS ago Graebner won the National Clay Court title. Two weeks back Pasarell tripped Clark to win the Eastern Grass Court crown. And last Friday, Ashe beat Pasarell in straight sets to capture the all-service title on a cement court.

It’s all speculation, of course, but figuring that Manuel Santana will play first singles for Spain, Dell could easily call on Graebner. Clark beat him at Wimbledon this year. But then the Clevelander will probably go in the doubles, giving him double duty while either Ashe or Pasarell would sit out the matches.

Ashe is almost a certainty, so it appears that Dell will have to choose between Graebner and Pasarell for the other singles spot. And then again the captain may team two from this threesome to play doubles and have Lutz rest this weekend.

KEEP IN MIND, these are only probables, Captain Dell will make the final decisions, but they certainly will be interesting.

Jaime Bartroli has a similar problem.

Santana is a sure starter, but the other singles spot will be filled by either south-paw Manuel Orentes or Juan Gisbert. Luis Arilla is Spain’s doubles specialist.

Gisbert is a strong physical player and according to Bartroli he plays best in Davis Cup action. He possesses good ground strokes.

Prentes, the youngest player on the team at 19 years of age, is powerfully built youngster who plays singles or doubles equally well.

Neither Dell or Bartroli will tip their hand, but it’s a lot of fun trying to outguess them.