Incoming Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald has yet to say whether his players will be able to pick and
choose which ties they contest or if they must commit to the full year of competition.
But he will seek a pre-Christmas meeting with Mark Philippoussis to determine the estranged team
member's intentions for 2001.
Philippoussis missed Australia's weekend 3-1 loss to Spain in the Davis Cup final, completed by Lleyton
Hewitt's brave four-set loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the first reverse singles.
But Fitzgerald, who is succeeding John Newcombe, said his own commitment was to try to select the
best possible squad for every tie.
Having finished the year at No.11 in the world, Philippoussis is due back in Melbourne next week from
his home in Florida, well aware of the Australians' plight in Barcelona on similar red clay to that which
hosted Philippoussis' almost single-handed destruction of France in the 1999 final in Nice.
His latest coach, Peter McNamara, has said that Philippoussis would do "what suits Mark Philippoussis" next year, and that could
well mean no return to national colors despite the baton change from Newcombe and Tony Roche to Fitzgerald and Wally Masur.
Australia plays Ecuador on Perth grass in February, with a possible away quarter-final on clay against Brazil to follow. "We don't
have much time before we have to play again, so I will talk to Mark shortly," said Fitzgerald, who worked as a Channel Seven
commentator during the final. "We'll chat face to face. We just have to find out each other's feelings.
"All players of that calibre are obviously very important. You can't help but want a player like that in the team.
"You've got to do what's right for the team and some of those decisions are the responsibility of the captain at certain times. You
want to have the strongest team you can for every tie, and you want an honest and open relationship with every player."
Fitzgerald said he had been unwilling to intrude on Newcombe's patch until the final was over, and so had been unable to gauge the
feelings of the rest of the Australian players. Hewitt and Pat Rafter were particularly vocal after Philippoussis withdrew from the semi
against Brazil, saying they wanted to retain the same team for the final, although the Philippoussis-Rafter relationship has apparently
thawed since then.
Asked whether he would expect all players to commit for the entire year, Fitzgerald said: "It's a good question, because I think you
have to be aware that players are a bit different.
"They have different body shapes, they have different physiques, and certain players get injured more, whereas some players can run
all day of the year, and not get injured.
"There's a lot of different things that come into the equation. I don't know whether you need to accommodate anyone. I believe that
all the players want to play, and if they don't then I just want to know, so then you can go about your business of picking the team.
"I haven't spoken to Mark yet, but I'm assuming he would like to play Davis Cup, and I hope he does because I'd like him to, but I
can't really speak for the team yet, because I haven't really had a chance to sit down with them yet. It hasn't been my place."
Mark Woodforde, who retired after Saturday's doubles loss with Sandon Stolle, said it was impossible to ignore a player as talented
as Philippoussis, and advised Fitzgerald and Masur to try their best to engineer his return.
"I think if you can just get to him and get all the outside influences away from him, just speak face to face, and hear it from him, hear
it from the horse's mouth," Woodforde said. "If he doesn't want to play, that's fine, we have no problem with that. Don't chop and
change, say you're going to play, knowing that you're not, and make up an excuse that you're injured.
"I think our team is so much stronger and better if you have a guy like Philippoussis playing. You have a choice of three singles
players. I mean, how rare is it to have three top-10 players in the one team? That's a huge, huge advantage over a lot of other
countries."
At least this is no longer Newcombe's problem. He ended seven years as captain with one title, one relegation, and the pride and
passion of Australian Davis Cup tennis intact. He said the priority in the next two or three years was to find and fast-track some
young players to support Hewitt while, hopefully, Rafter is still in the game.