Newcombe defends Scud
sports.news.com.au

From AAP
15nov00

RETIRING Australian Davis Cup captain John Newcombe came to the defence
of team black sheep Mark Philippoussis at a farewell lunch today,
applauding his performance in last year’s final.

Philippoussis was the butt of a couple of jibes by master of ceremonies
Garry Wilkinson and coach Tony Roche, but Newcombe was more diplomatic.

"Nobody in France believed Mark could come out and play like he did in a
five-set match on clay under that sort of pressure.

"But Tony and I believed in him 100 per cent and publicly we've never
said anything that's been detrimental to Mark.

"I believe the best thing for Mark would be if he played Davis Cup for
Australia and made that commitment for the next three years. I think
then that the real Mark Philippoussis would show through."

He said the French final proved the Scud could play on any surface.

But, the usually reticent Roche, when asked about building team spirit,
had a chip at Philippoussis.

"It's been pretty easy with the exception of one player, " Roche said.

"All of the other guys - the Davis Cup is their number one priority."

While Philippoussis made himself unavailable for the Davis Cup final
against Barcelona next month, Newcombe supported the idea of
Philippoussis returning to the team under John Fitzgerald and Wally
Masur.

He said an Australian team containing Philippoussis, Pat Rafter and
Lleyton Hewitt would be "almost unbeatable".





Newcombe appeals to Philippoussis for firm Davis Cup commitment
ABC NEWS

Australian Davis Cup tennis captain John Newcombe has appealed to Mark
Phillippousis to give his "absolute commitment" to Davis Cup.

As expected, Philippoussis wasn't in the Davis Cup squad named today to
play Spain next month.

The squad includes Pat Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt, Sandon Stolle and Mark
Woodforde.

Newcombe says Philippoussis proved how good he is in helping Australia
win last year and says a permanent Davis Cup role could help him win
grand slam events.

"The best thing for Mark would be if he played Davis Cup for Australia
and just made that commitment and just became a whole part of the team,"
he said.

"I think we would see the real Mark Philippoussis' results show that
there's a couple of grand slams in that young man and I'm not sure if
he's going to get them."