LONDON, June 28 AAP - Mark Philippoussis has sold the cars, is putting the flash Miami house on the market and is moving back to Melbourne in his most dramatic bid yet to fulfill his potential.
The tennis star says has vowed to concentrate more on the "tennis" than the "star".
The change is directly linked to his hiring of American Mike DePalmer as his coach a month ago, while he is also excited about a new association with Boris Becker.
Early encouraging signs were in evidence today with his assured four-sets progress through the first round of Wimbledon, a 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 5-7 6-4 win over promising Austrian Jurgen Melzer, last year's junior champion here.
Philippoussis later said DePalmer had told him: "If you want to be a champion, you have to be a champion 24 hours a day. You've got to live like a champion, think like a champion, talk like a champion in order to become one."
As a result, out have gone the cars - the 23-year-old has owned 16 mostly sports cars but is now down to his last beloved Ferrari, and one or two four-wheel drives.
The motorbikes - all 12 of them - will stay, but the house in Miami is on the market as Philippoussis looks to build his dream home/tennis complex near Melbourne.
"I'm going back to Australia. I want to be with my family and friends. Start concentrating," said Philippoussis, the 10th seed here.
"I want to buy 20 acres and build a house. Two indoor courts, two outdoor courts, all different surfaces, do all my training there. Do everything there.
"With the lifestyle - not that I've been doing anything bad - it's that I haven't been giving myself the opportunity to show my full potential.
"When I was a young kid, I wanted the fast cars. I think it's healthy to go through that phase. I've got that stuff out of my head, out of my system, and now I've just got to concentrate on my tennis."
With this comes increased training, and Philippoussis surprises even himself with the amount he is putting in since DePalmer and the formidable presence of Becker came on board, replacing Pat Cash as special motivator.
He said old habits have been consigned to the past, such as sleeping until 11.00am - the time Becker woke him with his first phone call the day after his French Open fourth round loss last month to Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
"Boris said: 'Did I wake you?' I was obviously scared to say 'Of course'," said Philippoussis, who instead assured Becker: "I was just doing some stretching".
From there DePalmer and Becker have shaken up Philippoussis to the point where he is training for four hours a day as opposed to his old 90 minutes.
"I've been kicked hard up the rear the last couple weeks to train hard," said Philippoussis, who plays France's Arnaud Di Pasquale in the second round.
Philippoussis' antithesis in the Australian tennis scene, the dual grand slam-winning, universally-loved Pat Rafter, showed today he was returning to his best form from his shoulder injury with a first round romp over Briton Jamie Delgado, 6-3 7-6 (9-7) 6-1.
Rafter will play compatriot Todd Woodbridge, who showed grit to beat Czech Jan Siemerink in four sets. Woodbridge's only win in five meetings with Rafter was on grass, but Rafter, the 12th seed, appears to be warming up, especially on serve.
"The serve started off a little rusty again ... but I think I found what's wrong with it. Now I can go out there and hopefully play a better match," he said.
"But the rest of the game is pretty good, so I was happy with that."
Woodbridge had better luck than long-time doubles partner Mark Woodforde. He retired with an injured back when down two-sets to love to third seed Magnus Norman, but will continue in doubles as the Woodies chase a sixth Wimbledon title.
Philippoussis, Rafter and Woodbridge are left to carry the flag for Australian men, after Lleyton Hewitt, Richard Fromberg, Paul Kilderry, Dejan Petrovic, Andrew Ilie, Wayne Arthurs and Jason Stoltenberg all lost in the first round.