November 25th, 1997
Yesterday I arrived back in Melbourne after a seven day promotional tour on behalf of Fila in Asia. The "Fila Mark Philippoussis Tour" included visits to: 1) Tokyo, Japan, 2) Seoul, South Korea, and 3) Hong Kong. Overall, the promotional tour was a lot of work, but it was well worth it as both Fila and myself received a lot of exposure from the media (television, newspapers and magazines). I was joined on the trip by three other people: 1) my friend from Melbourne, Charlie Tsavdaridis, 2) my road manager from Advantage International, Martin Mulligan Jr., and 3) a representative from Fila USA, Martin Mulligan Sr..I left Brisbane, Australia and arrived in Tokyo on Sunday (November 16th) evening. Representatives from the marketing division of Fila Japan met me at Narita, Tokyo. Once I finally got to the hotel (the ride lasted almost two hours), I went to my suite to relax. About half-an-hour later, there was a knock at my door. The Fila reps were there holding a birthday cake for me, a bottle of champagne and some flowers. They presented me with a birthday present, which was a mini-disc player (about half the size of a normal CD).
On Monday, I had to do some magazine and newspaper interviews in the morning. After lunch, we shot some photos for the Fila Spring/Summer 1998 catalogue. After the shoot was over, I did a service contest for a Japanese television show called "Kinniku-Banzuke."
The service contest was a challenge game entitled "service ace." Basically, a contestant has twelve serves to try and hit nine targets that are set up in the service box on the other side of the net. Only one person, a Japanese tennis coach, had ever successfully completed the contest. Stefan Edberg had tried a year earlier and had hit only three targets before being eliminated. The incentive to successfully complete the contest came in the form of two million
yen, which is the equivalent of $15,000 US. It took me only ten serves to hit all nine targets; thus, I became only the second winner of the contest and I came away with $15,000 for about two minutes worth of action.The next day, Tuesday, I had five interviews in the morning at the hotel. In the afternoon, I had a store appearance at a huge tennis store in downtown Tokyo called Windsor. There, I signed autographs for about thirty-forty minutes. Later that evening, I went to a local tennis club to record a television program called "I Love Junior." This program is hosted by two young Japanese boys and is very popular among twelve to twenty-five year olds. I had to hit serves at the hosts and they tried to return them while wearing protective gear (similar to catcher's gear for baseball). The guys were very funny and the whole thing went off well.
On Wednesday, we left for Seoul. We arrived in the afternoon and I was able to relax. The only official function I had to attend all day was a dinner with about fifteen executives from Fila Korea. We went to a Korean barbecue restaurant and everybody ate a lot of beef. It was great food and a wonderful experience. After dinner, we went to a bar near the hotel called The Style Bar where there was a Fila ski wear fashion show. There, I was presented with flowers, a birthday cake and a bottle of champagne.
On Thursday, I went to a nearby tennis club to do some television and newspaper interviews. In the afternoon, I did a tennis clinic with a group of Korean junior players. I hit some balls with them and gave them pointers on how to improve their games. It was a relatively easy day and in the evening I had a massage back at the hotel.
On Friday, we traveled to Hong Kong. I was greeted at the airport by about thirty kids who were all wearing "Fila Mark Philippoussis Tour" t-shirts. A Ferrari 456 was there to give me a ride to the hotel. We stayed at The Regent, which is the best hotel in Hong Kong and is located on the bay. I had a suite with an unbelievable view of the Hong Kong bay and skyline.
After relaxing for an hour, I went to the pool area to do three newspaper interviews. The weather in Hong Kong was warm, even though it was hazy. For dinner, about ten of us went to a restaurant where the specialty was shark's fin soup. I had never had shark's fin soup before, but I found it to be very good.
On Saturday, I went to Victoria Park to do a tennis clinic. My appearance started with a media briefing. That was followed by an on-court clinic with some juniors from the Hong Kong Tennis Association. After hitting with the juniors for forty-five minutes, there was a "Can anyone return Mark Philippoussis' serve?" contest. Ten lucky shoppers that entered a contest at the Fila Megastore were selected to attempt to return my serve. No one did.
After the clinic, I went to the Megastore to celebrate the one year anniversary of the store. The event was a celebration of the Megastore's one year birthday and my 21st. At the Megastore, cake was served. I signed some autographs and then did two interviews.
That evening there was a dinner at a local health club called the Pacific Club. It was a very enjoyable dinner, but I was exhausted by this point.
The next morning, Sunday, I did a photo shoot for a magazine at the Pacific Club near the swimming pool. Once I was finished with the shoot, I was finished with the tour. Before I left Hong Kong later that evening, I went shopping and bought myself some presents including a beautiful Swiss watch and a Sony camcorder that is the smallest one on the market. All in all it was a tiring experience, but one I will never forget.
-Mark-