Sports.news.com.au

27jul00

AUSTRALIA's top players should be able to resolve their differences without outside involvement, according to Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard.

Heartened by Mark Philippoussis' recovery from his knee injury, Pollard said the long lead-up to the Davis Cup final in December against Spain would give plenty of opportunities for hatchets to be buried among themselves.
Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt expressed their concerns publicly when Philippoussis made himself unavailable for this month's Cup semi-final against Brazil.

Philippoussis defeated the Mercedes-Benz Cup's qualifying "lucky loser" Scott Humphries, an American who had lost all of the 13 previous ATP Tour matches in his career, 7-5 7-6 (7-2) in Los Angeles today.

Pollard is also confident the rift will not be a factor in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympics, where the three top Australians are likely to play.

He pointed out there were significant differences between the Olympics, which is a tournament, and Cup play, which is based on teams.

"The Olympics is different to Davis Cup, in that at the Olympics each one is an individual playing to try to get a gold medal," he said.

"While they're a team, they are also competing really as individuals, it's a tournament."

Pollard described five months as "a long time" on the tennis circuit and added the Cup team would not be finalised until 10 days before the Spain final.

"I think the record shows not just the current team, but even previous teams and players, there have always been differences and they've always been resolved," he said.

"I believe they will be resolved in this case as well."