Coates says tennis fued not likely to continue at Games
Coates call for truce
AUSTRALIAN Olympic Committee (AOC) president John Coates has moved to water down the pre-Games feud between tennis medal aspirants Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis.
Rafter yesterday said he was keen for the pair to talk through their differences for the sake of the host nation campaign.
However, Philippoussis indicated earlier this week the schism between the two was as wide as ever.
"I would hope we would never have to mediate between any of our athletes," Mr Coates said when asked about the chances of further tension between the players when they move into the athletes village.
If such a scenario were to affect Australia's Olympic tennis campaign, the team's section managers were more likely to step in than the AOC, he told reporters.
But Mr Coates said he really could not see that any trouble between Rafter and Philippoussis would ever get to that stage.
"Mark Philippoussis was a sensational member of our team in Atlanta," he said.
"He lived in the village, he was very popular amongst the athletes.
"I think he's very, very keen to be part of this team as all our players are. I don't see any problem."
Mr Coates said the Olympic experience was vastly different to that of the international tennis circuit where players basically looked after themselves and no one else.
"They (Rafter and Philippoussis) are part of the (Olympic) team now and they will live with the wider community of Australian athletes rather than just do their own thing as they do at the Grand Slams," he said.
"I'm sure they're going to pull together."
Rafter and Philippoussis have been at loggerheads since the latter's controversial decision to withdraw from the Australian Davis Cup squad citing injury, after this year's Wimbledon titles.
They have not spoken more than a few words since Rafter accused his teammate of jerking the squad around