Paris, France, November 17 – McNamara supportive of Philippoussis
tennisnet.com
Mark Philippoussis has been backed up by his coach in his refusal to play in the Davis Cup final for Australia. Peter McNamara said that his charge had more important goals to aim for.
Philippoussis, who has made it through to the quarter finals of the Paris Masters Series, caused controversy earlier this year by pulling out of the Davis Cup semi final at the last minute, angering not only the team captains, John Newcombe and Tony Roche, but also his team mate Patrick Rafter.
The player has since settled his differences with the team but has continually refused to play in the final in December, even though there are doubts over whether Lleyton Hewitt will be able to
compete.
"For Davis Cup I've made my decision and it's no," Philippoussis reiterated after his second round win in Paris.
McNamara, who has only recently taken over as Philippoussis’ coach, was supportive of his player’s stance.
"Sacrifices have to be made if he is going to achieve his objectives of getting into the world's top five and winning a Grand Slam. That means he can't go travelling to places like Brazil to play a tie on clay. It would take him three weeks to recover from that kind of ordeal and his ranking could only go down in that period," he said.
"I am looking after Mark's interests, not my country's Davis Cup interests. It must be remembered that they didn't want him to play for them this season. They can't expect him to be available when they feel they need him. From now on he will only play in Davis Cup if it suits his schedule."
The news will be a particular blow to the Australian camp, as Philippoussis has been in imperious form in Paris. He easily beat fourth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the third round and before that scored an impressive victory over St Petersburg Open finalist Dominik Hrbaty.
If the player nicknamed ‘The Scud’ wins the Paris event, he would reach No. 10 in the Champions Race and a possible place at the Masters Cup in Lisbon, if either Andre Agassi or Hewitt are unable to compete.
Kuerten to face Philippoussis in semi-finals
abc news
French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten has lined up a Paris Masters tennis tournament semi-final with Mark Philippoussis after a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain's Albert Costa.
Kuerten, bidding for his fifth title of the year, faced little danger in his third consecutive straight-sets victory in the $5.7 million tournament.
The Brazilian grabbed an early break for a 3-0 lead in the first set and his grip on the match was never seriously tested.
Kuerten broke again in the ninth game of the second set -- much to Costa's frustration -- and served out in 84 minutes.
"It felt like I could close my eyes and still hit winners today," Kuerten said. "I couldn't have expected any better."
Kuerten has 25 wins in Tennis Masters Series events this year, more than any other player, as he battles Russian Marat Safin for the number one
spot in the year-end rankings.
Philippoussis, seeded 13th, took almost two hours to grind his way to three-set quarter-final triumph over German qualifier David Prinosil.
Chasing his ninth career title, Philippoussis had to dig deep as he made the final four of the event for the first time with his 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 win.
After a sparkling straight sets win over fourth-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov on Thursday, Philippoussis struggled to find his form against the Czech-born Prinosil.
His 15 aces were countered by six double faults.
"I felt like I had no rhythm out there, particularly on my serve," he said. "But the main thing is I got through."
Prinosil, who had won both his previous meetings with the Australian, took the first set in 34 minutes.
He made the crucial break in the 10th game as the Australian trailed 15-40 and then dumped a simple forehand volley into the net.
Philippoussis broke in the first game of the second set, which proved enough to later take the set and level at 1-1.
The final set went with serve until the tiebreaker, in which the former US Open finalist moved up a gear and won the final four points.
Kuerten has already beaten one Australian in this tournament - a straight sets win over Pat Rafter in the last 16.
He has only played Philippoussis once before, beating him in Rome earlier this year.
"Gustavo is hitting the ball great and playing with a lot of confidence at the moment -- but anything can happen," Philippoussis said.
Second seed Marat Safin, who leads Kuerten by a wafer-thin margin in the ATP Champions Race, ousted Spanish eighth seed Alex Corretja 7-6, 6-3 in 94 minutes to set up a meeting with Spanish 12th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Ferrero took three hours and missed a trio of match points in the final set as he ousted Fabrice Santoro, the only home survivor, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5.