Herald Sun

November 20, 2000

By LEO SCHLINK

A RESURGENT Mark Philippoussis attributes his excellent late-season

form to the incriminating memory of an embarrassing US Open campaign.

The Victorian, who is on the brink of nailing a reserve berth

at the Masters Cup in Lisbon, admitted his weight ballooned

to lOOks at Flushing Meadows.

The US open was very disappointing," Philippoussis recalled, after

eclipsing French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten in an epic semi-final

at the Paris Masters Series.

"I was unfit. I weighed 100kg. I Shouldn't have been at the US Open.

It was a waste of time.

"I realised after the US Open, I was very frustrated I took a step

back and realised, What's happening? What am I doing? Why am I wasting

my time here?'

Philippoussis, who has since shed 7kg, lost in the second round in

straight sets in New York.

He returned to Florida to question his future.

"The thing is, I had to make a decision," the 1998 US Open finalist

said. "I don't want to finish my career knowing,`Gosh, what if I trained

hard-er?'

"I want to give myself all the opportunitics to reach my potential,

whether that's No. 10, No.5 or No. 1, who knows?

"The good thing is I'm training hard. No one's pushing me to train

hard, I want to do it myself."

Philippoussis, 24, has been working with former coach Peter MeNamara

since parting company with Gavin Hopper and Boris Becker's practice

lieutenant Mike DePalmer.

The strapping baseliner moved within striking distance of a return

to the top 10 with victory over Kuerten.

He will travel to Lisbon as a reserve if he wins the Paris title

against Marat Safin overnight.

The Australian 13th seed shocked Kuerten by winning 7-6(5) 7-6(13)

And showed great patience and nerve to come back from 6-3 down in the

second set tiebreak, saving five set points.

Philippoussis squandered three match points before Kuerten fired

into the tramlines at the end of a match which had a sole break point

throughout.

Philippoussis earned a tilt at US Open champion Safin, who led Kuerten

by just 20 points at the top of the ATP Champions Race before thrashing

12th-seeded Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2 6 2 in just 56 minutes.

Philippoussis, defeated in last year's Paris final (qtr-final!) on his

first appearance by Andre Agassi was delighted to have pulled match out

of the fire against Kurten after walking a tightrope in the second set

tiebreaker.

"I knew it was going to be an extra tough match. Anything could've

happened in the second-set tiebreak," he said.

"I just managed to get the points at the end. It feels great when you

win a match like that. I felt I had so much confidence."

In his first match last week against Dominik Hrbaty, Philippoussis lost

the first set 6-1 for the worst of starts before coming through two

tiebreaks.

"I was thinking about going home to Miami," he joked.

Philippoussis now hopes to claim his second Masters success after Indian

Wells last year as well as his ninth career title overall.

Safin, who has won a Tour leading six titles this year, was even more

delighted with his win and not just the speed with which he achieved it.

Be added another 25 points to his ranking account and can go to the

Lisbon Masters Cup, starting next Tuesday, with a healthier advantage

Over Kuerten.

The 20-year-old Russian said he was playing his best tennis since he won

the US Open.

"It will be unbelievable if I finish the year at No. 1, but everyone knows

that is what we are fighting for," Safin said.

"It's all about confidence, and when you have confidence you can play great tennis"

Kuerten lead been aiming to land his fifth title of the year, but was

deprived of a first indoors title after his volleying let him down.

`Sometimes you try to do the right thing and do it wrong. Its part of the game," Kuerten said.

"It was close, but I missed opportunities. But it was a good week for me,

I had chances to be in the final."