AUSTRALIAN Davis Cup coach Wally Masur said today that he believed he would field the best team in the world next year if Mark Philippoussis made himself available.
Masur said a conversation with Pat Rafter in Barcelona convinced him that Philippoussis would represent his country again.
The big-serving world No.11, who has missed Cup ties in the past because of injury and fallouts with John Newcombe and Tony Roche, will receive a phone call from Fitzgerald before Christmas to discuss his availability.
Cup captain John Fitzgerald and Masur officially replaced Newcombe and Roche as captain and coach today.
They will start their on-court duties against Ecuador in Perth in February.
"The best team in the world, best team in the world on any surface," Masur said when asked how strong Australia would be with Philippoussis.
"Agassi, Sampras, I don't care – it's the best team in the world."
Masur said he and Fitzgerald would take a softly-softly approach with Philippoussis, who deeated Cedric Pioline to win Australia the Cup last year but missed the 3-1 weekend final loss to Spain.
"We've only just started the job so we've got to get to know the players and develop a relationship with them before we make any grandiose statements about who's in and who's out," Masur said.
"There was some trouble when Pat made some comments after Wimbledon – that if Mark didn't want to be in the team they didn't want him in – and I had a chat with Pat last week.
"He said: 'Look, we actually spent a bit of time with Mark during the indoor season, he watched some of our matches and we watched some of his.'
"It seems to me there will come a time when Mark Philippoussis plays Davis Cup again but how we put a time and date on it, that's a hard thing to do."
The strongest Australian squad would rotate Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and Philippoussis in singles, with the third playing doubles with either Todd Woodbridge or Sandon Stolle.
"Wally and I want to make it clear that our door is open to all Australian players and we want them there," Fitzgerald said at the announcement of a $2 million sponsorship deal between Tennis Australia and Cable and Wireless Optus.
"When I talk to Mark for the first time, it will be to find out how he feels; you either want to play for Australia or you don't."
Philippoussis has been dogged by injuries in recent years, missing a number of ATP tournaments as well as Davis Cup ties, and Fitzgerald said the player could not be blamed for that.
"What you have to be aware of is that players are all different," he said.
"They have different ages, different issues, different backgrounds, and they have different bodies and injury problems.
"Some players are inclined to be more injured than others.
"It's up to the captain and coach to form a relationship with them so that you've got an open and honest relationship, mutual trust and you've got to be able to talk about things."
The sponsorship deal means Australian teams – including Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Junior Davis Cup, Junior Fed Cup and national age teams – will be united under the Tennis Australia banner.