07-16-00

Tennis Australia president, Geoff Pollard, wants to speak directly to Mark Philippoussis in order to avoid future misunderstandings between the out-of-favour Australian tennis player and his Davis Cup team-mates.
"A lot of issues are down to communication," Pollard said in Brisbane, following Australia's 5-0 defeat over Brazil in the semi-final. "We need to have direct communication with Mark, rather than Newk speaking to Octagon (Scud’'s management) or his dad.""

Despite Lleyton Hewitt's remarks that he would prefer the same team who played in Brisbane (himself, Patrick Rafter, Mark Woodforde and Sandon Stolle) to contest the final in December, Pollard said Philippoussis was still available for selection.

"We'd like to think all Australian players are available and all Australian players are eligible," he said. "Mark's made a major contribution to the Davis Cup over the years and came up with a great performance for the (1999) final in Nice." Australian captain John Newcombe clouded over when asked questions about Philippoussis after the tie. Asked if he had talked to Scud, Newcombe replied: "I haven't really had much time to talk to anyone. It's like you say, there's the US Open coming up and the Olympic Games and the Davis Cup final is in December. That's months away."

Nor would he be drawn into discussions on who should come in as the new Australian Davis Cup captain next year. Tennis Australia has delayed selection and Pollard said the announcement would now be made before the US Open.