As the riverside calm and charming wineries of Mildura can scarcely be said to be Hades, it cannot be claimed that the brotherhood of the Australian Davis Cup has been to hell and back in the past 26 months.

But the success of this generation of Australian players has been forged in such trying circumstances that they will not want the John Newcombe and Tony Roche era to end in prosaic fashion with a semi-final loss to Brazil at ANX Stadium from July 14-16.

Those who were at Mildura, in north-western Victoria, in April, 1998, for Australia’s astonishing first-round loss to Zimbabwe’s plucky Black brothers can only admire the comradeship and collective belief which allowed the team to move through that desolate experience.

"We were given a job to do and we had to knuckle down and get on with it," Newcombe says from a perspective far removed from that acutely uncomfortable night when his team absorbed its defeat by a tennis nation that is essentially limited to one family. "Being knocked down is how you build your character, and you come to believe that you can’t be knocked down."

"They [his players] are even more determined to win [the Cup] this year. That feeling that the Queenslanders talk about of the spirit in their State of Origin [rugby league] team, that they’ll guts it out and find a way to win because they have to.... it’s getting to be like with these players."

Mark Woodforde, recalled from Cup retirement to play doubles in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Germany at Adelaide in April, believes the team started to gel only in late 1998 and early 1999. That was a light year from when Newcombe and Roche blooded a wide-eyed Pat Rafter in the 1994 loss to Russia at St. Petersburg, which was "the old firm’s" first tie in charge.

"It’s been fantastic working with them. There is such a positive energy from Rochey all the time, and then Newk comes in from the [television] commentary box to the lunch room and he’s not frightened of anything. It rubs off," Woodforde enthuses.

Newcombe noted in Adelaide that his team needs one more victory to break the record for successive ties won – seven – by an Australian team. The present record is held by the boys of 1964-67.

A prominent shelf in Newcombe’s Sydney office carries his own replica of the Davis Cup won at Nice last December, and he savors the chance to make another entry in Australia’s proud Cup history. Pointedly, Australia has not defended the Davis Cup successfully in the Open era. It was last done in 1966 and 1967, when the competition was not open to professionals and the winners were not required to play until the last tie of the following year.

Newcombe is proudest of all that the current streak has been compiled without fielding the same four players in successive ties, because of injuries. Indeed, he has needed to call upon eight players: Rafter, Jason Stoltenberg, Mark Philippoussis, Lletyon Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs in singles; Todd Woodbridge, Woodforde, Sandon Stolle, Arthurs and Rafter in doubles.

Even though Rafter’s recovery from shoulder surgery has prevented him from accepting singles duty so far in 2000 and a Philippoussis leg injury forced him to sit out the quarter-final in Adelaide, Hewitt is unbeaten in this three "live" rubbers and Arthur’s grasscourt expertise again delivered Australia a vital first-day singles win in Adelaide.

Roche says "It’s tough to win the Davis Cup, but it’s tougher to defend it. We like it tough, though, and we are hoping if we get through that America win. That would be a fantastic final. From what I understand, it would be played on Rebound Ace."

So far as court surfaces are concerned, the Americans will have to win on the slowest clay Spain can produce in the other semi-final (delayed until July 21-23) in order to make the final in John McEnroe’s erratic first year as US captain.

In the wake of the famous ‘potato field’ tie of 1999, the return to ANX Stadium has brought a simple request to groundsmen on the subject of court preparation. "Just like last time – we want it fast," declares Newcombe. Despite some of the irrational things Kafelnifov said last year, he and Lleyton had a lot of baseline rallies and weren’t missing much."

The captain, who could not be coerced into declaring Phar Lap a good thing before the fact, says Australia is only a ‘slight favourite’ to beat the Gustavo Kuerten-led Brazil, despite home ground advantage. Roche goes so far as to outline practical reasons why the Brazilians will be better prepared than most visiting teams to Australia.

"The tie is straight after Wimbledon and they will have been practising on grass for weeks in England," he says.

Although Brazil’s No. 2 singles player, Fernando Meligini, did not play at Wimbledon from 1995-99, Newcombe cites his left-handed serve and the competitiveness which enabled him to wear down Rafter in four sets at the 1999 French Open as reasons to be cautious. But clearly the Australians will be unhappy with anything less than two victories over Miligini.

Kuerten is another matter entirely, and it will be a surprise if he crumbles before an Australian grasscourt assault, as so many top baseliners have done in the past 15 or 20 years. Newcombe observes that Kuerten, far from being an out-and out claycourter, made the final of one of the world’s premier hardcourt events, the Ericsson Cup in Florida, before losing to Pete Sampras in a fourth-set tiebreak after a straight-sets semi-final dismissal of Andre Agassi.

"He is tall (190cm), has a big serve, and made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year," Newcombe points out.

Certainly, Kuerten will not be guilty of such an insipid effort as Marat Safin turned in at ANZ Stadium last September, or approach the tie in the same defeatist state of mind to which Kafelnifov now readily admits.

Brazil’s captain Ricardo Acioly took it upon himself to deliver Kafelnifov-style prediction amid the excitement of his team’s 3-2 quarter-final defeat of the Slovak Republic. "We’ll beat Australia easily," Acioly said.

In case you were wondering …"Yeah, I’ve already mentioned it to a couple of them. "Newcombe says, meaning of course members of his team. "I always think it’s a mistake to say something like that. All it does is inflame players. But they [the Australians] have a lot of respect for Kuerten and a healthy regard for the other players.

Newcombe is required by Davis Cup rules to announce his four-man team by July 4 (during the second week of Wimbledon). He is entitled to make a total of two changes before the draw. At the time of writing, it was expected that the unlucky squad members would be Arthurs, Andrew Ille, Stolle and Woodbridge.

Depending on form, and barring injuries, Newcombe a few weeks ago was considering Philippoussis and Hewitt for singles on day one. Rafter and Woodforde would probably play doubles and then the captain would have the option of using Rafter in singles on the third day. "We have some options and we will probably know where we are headed after the French Open," Newcombe said.

This will be only the second, and the last, tie on the grass court adjacent to ANZ Stadium’s northern grandstand before an athletics track is laid over it for the 2001 Goodwill Games. It will necessarily be staged before smaller crowds that the total attendance of about 32,000 that watched the semi-final against Russia.

A temporary southern stand about half the height of the one constructed for the Russian tie will be cobbled together in three or four days after a rugby league match on the preceding weekend.

"It will be down in capacity about 1500 to 11,500," according to Tennis Queensland president Maurice Philip. "It would be great if Pat finally gets to play Davis Cup in Brisbane, but last year showed just what an attraction Davis Cup is in Brisbane, regardless of who actually plays."

The only previous Australia-Brazil tie occurred 45 years ago when Lew Hoad, Ken Rosewall and Rex Hartwig beat Brazil 4-1 in an American zone semi-final in Louisville, Kentucky. Brazil is yet to reach a Davis Cup final.