GLORY



Even the French believe the Aussie powerhouse is ready to win his first Grand Slam crown at the home of claycourt tennis. BY LEO SCHLINK
Through clenched teeth and reddened eyes, the compliments rained down upon Mark Philippoussis. That the wave of endorsements flowed from French patriots was remarkable for two things. Vanquished hosts of the Davis Cup final in Nice in December, the French were convinced they had witnessed the emergence of a champion in waiting even if it had come at the cost of watching France lose what many Frenchmen regarded as the unlosable.

And no ordinary champion, at that, either. Mark Philippoussis, insisted the claycourt purists who regard the French Open not so much as a measure of Grand Slam claycourt superiority as the tennis world championship, is ready and capable to win his first major. And the French, in their inimitable style, contend the Victorian can triumph on the slow, red clay of Roland Garros, where Australia built a fabulous record from 1953-69 to be one of the most successful foreign raiders through the deeds of men such as Laver, Rosewall, Hoad, Stolle and Roche.

John Newcombe, a man closely familiar with the requirements of annexing majors abroad, was the first to remove himself from the euphoria of Davis Cup to project Philippoussis' potential onto an even broader stage.

"Mark will have learnt a lot about himself today," Newcombe said after the mercurial Victorian had trumped French idol Cedric Pioline in truly awesome fashion at the Palais des Expositions in the heart of moneyed Nice, the spiritual home of French tennis.

"He now knows he can maintain a high level of concentration for three hours and he knows how to win the big matches. Davis Cup teaches people that. We found that with Pat (Rafter) in 1997 in the Pioline match in Sydney. Eight months later he won the US Open.

"I think Mark can go down the same path. Tony (Roche) and I think he has the game to win the French Open. If he can play the same sort of tennis he played in Nice, there's no reason he can't win the French."

Philippousssis' estranged coach Pat Cash, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, has no doubt the towering baseliner can succeed at the highest level. Describing Philippoussis as a freight train, Cash believes there is only one player in the world superior to the Melburnian when he is on song - Pete Sampras.

"There is only one player who can go with Mark when he's at his top," Cash said. "Only Pete Sampras can hit the ball as well as Mark but he doesn't hit it quite as hard."

"Mark is like a freight train. Once he builds up a head of steam he's almost impossible to stop. Nobody can go with him. He showed that in the Davis Cup final when he blew away (Sebastien) Grosjean on the opening day and then wore down Pioline in the fourth match to win the Cup.

"Playing for your country is probably the ultimate test. I would rate winning the Davis Cup twice as highly as winning Wimbledon. They're similar in some ways in that you need to play great tennis to win.

"But when you're playing Davis Cup it's different because you're not just there for yourself. Even though you're the only one out there, you're playing for your country and there's a lot of pressure involved with that.

"What some people forget when they're talking about Nice is that Mark hadn't played the two previous ties because he had the knee injury from Wimbledon. He hadn't played that many matches going in, but he was hitting the ball really well. Gavin (Hopper) and I knew before he even went over to Nice that he was going to be hard for the French to handle. And he was."

Cash believes Philippoussis is one of that rare breed - Andre Agassi apart - capable of winning a Grand Slam on any of the four surfaces. Indeed, Philippoussis has won tournaments on every surface and also boasts the invaluable experience of contesting a major final, the 1998 US Open decider which he lost to compatriot Pat Rafter.

While there is no doubt the 23-year-old Philippoussis has the weaponry to overpower any opponent, he has struggled to assemble the requisite mental maturity in a crisis. Spectacular wins at the highest level have often been followed by embarrassingly thoughtless and wasteful performances. It is too harsh to condemn his fourth-round loss to Mark Woodforde at the 1996 Australian Open as such, simply because it followed his electric straight-sets victory over Sampras before a disbelieving centre court audience.

But there have been many other instances of Philippoussis capitulating mentally as modestly-equipped opponents have exploited his psychological softness by imposing their will on the ballistic game of an athlete blessed with inordinate strength and anticipation. The difference now, however, is that Philippoussis not only believes he can win, but also wants to succeed.

His unsolicited pronouncement at Queen's Club last June that he would not play past the age of 27 was the first sign Philippoussis had finally begun to look beyond the "I'm still only young syndrome" that flew in the face of tennis history, which is littered with champions aged between 19 and 22.

The Philippoussis model of 2000 appears, outwardly at least, to have apprised itself of the need to stop making excuses, although there is a lingering suspicion that Philippoussis occasionally mouths the words and phrases he and his management suspect are the least likely to offend. For all that, there is no doubt the man can play. And, when suitably inspired, he is able to bear out Cash's observations.

"Davis Cup does great things for a player's career," Philippoussis said in Nice. "Hopefully, it's going to be the same for me. I believe I have the game to go all the way in a Grand Slam and clay is a surface I feel comfortable on. I think I've shown now that I can play well for a long time under a lot of pressure."

If Philippoussis' icy demeanor was a revelation in the cauldron that was the Davis Cup final, perhaps less ought to be made of those within his own support group who looked anxiously at their watches once the match against Grosjean had stretched beyond 90 minutes. The 90-minute threshold was, as one of his advisers later revealed, well inside the red danger zone. To the relief not just of the Philippoussis acolytes, the strapping right-hander was able to maintain concentration until the end of the match.

Pioline, unsurprisingly, was able to find generous words for his conqueror amid the numbing hollowness of defeat, hailing Philippoussis' stellar levels. But most instructive of all was the Australian's ability to lift each time Pioline surged.

As Newcombe and French captain Guy Forget sat courtside waiting for the start of the dead fifth rubber, the pair discussed Philippoussis' coming of age. The consensus was this: Philippoussis was ready to take the final step and parlay the richest promise into performance despite a modest record at Roland Garros.

Only one vital question remains: Is he able to keep his focus, fitness and ferocity for seven consecutive best-of-five-sets matches in Grand Slam competition? The obstacle of completing the task on the heavy Parisian clay has been beyond a string of better performed players, including Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.

So how could a player who is yet to win a Slam possibly lay claim to arguably the toughest title of all to win? The answer, like the man himself, is complex and contains more ifs, buts and maybes than logic should allow. Judged purely on skill, strength and stamina, Philippoussis is at least the equal of Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. His blistering serve is good, on average, for a swag of aces every time he steps on court and opens up the court for equally devastating groundstrokes.

But, as has become clear over the past 20 months, Philippoussis has developed into a more complete player, thanks in a large part to the influence of Cash, who has been strangely alienated by an emphasis on austerity and is no longer working with his former charge. Where once there was a temptation to pound drives hard - and then even harder - Philippoussis has demonstrated an understanding of the difference between being able to hit the ball as well as anybody and being a good player in the tactical sense.

The almost unrivalled technician is now recognised as a tennis player; a competitor on the cusp of becoming Australia's first French Open champion since Rod Laver in 1969.

Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter are viewed as more than proficient on clay and victory by either in Paris would not be a shock in sense or form. But the Australian tennis establishment once argued Philippoussis was its future flagbearer. Now, after tempting and tormenting for five years, he is seen as being primed for Grand Slam glory - and, tellingly, not just by hopeful Australians, but the keepers of the claycourt championships of the world. The French, no less.