SportsLine wire reports

MELBOURNE, Australia -- American Jim Courier slammed world No. 1 Pete Sampras on Tuesday for abandoning the U.S. Davis Cup team in the competition's centenary year.

The United States play Britain, led by Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, ranked seventh and eighth in the world, in April in this year's world group first round.

But with Sampras, Andre Agassi and Michael Chang declining to play, as they did in last year's semifinal against Italy, the U.S. will be left with a B team in Birmingham, England.

"It's disappointing because we are not going to have our best team on the court, but it doesn't necessarily say anything about American tennis. It says something about those three individuals," the former world number one said.

Courier, a regular Davis Cup player, criticized Sampras and Chang for focusing too much on accumulating tour points, despite the historic importance of the team event.

"SOME PLAYERS FEEL IT'S A sacrifice and don't see the big picture and don't see that it's much more important than going playing in Hong Kong," said Courier.

"Frankly it looks like status quo for the last three or four years, doesn't it?" he said.

Asked to explain the remark, he replied: "Apathy on the part of the players."

The U.S. team -- with Courier, Todd Martin, Jan-Michael Gambill and Justin Gimelstob -- was crushed last year by Italy, which lost to Sweden in the final.

Courier dismissed Sampras's complaints that playing Davis Cup was not gratifying because of the lack of public support at home.

"I mean, did the public get that excited when he wins Wimbledon for the fifth time? They certainly weren't in America, and it didn't make the front of any major publication in America, but he seems to find that important," Courier said.

"And if you are playing for media coverage I think you are playing for the wrong reasons," he said.