NEW Davis Cup coach Wally Masur has revealed he will accept the situation if Mark Philippoussis does not make himself available for all ties next year.
"I don't think Fitzy (captain John Fitzgerald) and I are too far away from patching up differences with Mark," Masur said.
"We are not going to condemn anybody, Mark or others, if they don't want to play Davis Cup, or if it doesn't suit them to play a particular tie.
"Firstly, we have to create a good environment for the players that when they do play Davis Cup, they enjoy it."
Masur believes Philippoussis has an agenda and Davis Cup has not always been right at the top of his priorities.
"We can't sit on the side and judge people about what is right or wrong," he said.
"That's not our job.
"Our job over the next few years is to get to know the players under the most stressful situations.
"Hopefully, they will come to respect and get to know us and enjoy themselves playing for their country.
"I think our job is more persuasion and for Mark to say that he 'can't wait to play again' makes me happy, because we would love him to be part of the team."
Masur is also optimistic Philippoussis's new coach, Peter McNamara, will not prevent his charge from playing Davis Cup.
McNamara, a former Davis Cup hero, has stated his commitment to Philippoussis is to lift him into the world top five at the expense of representing his country.
"Peter was pro Davis Cup, always made himself available and played singles and doubles," Masur said.
"I understand it's a priority for Peter to get Mark into the top five, but I wouldn't be surprised if along the way Peter would be happy for Mark to play Davis Cup."
Masur said Fitzgerald had just begun contacting players to find out their availability for the first-round tie against Ecuador at Royal King's Park, Perth, in February.
"We have to find out what their tournament schedule is and where they are putting Davis Cup in their list of priorities," Masur said.
"I know some of the players are keen about a commitment for the whole year but we are not putting a hard line on that just yet.
"We want to get a few people into the fold first.
"Hopefully, if they can play a few matches under us, enjoy the experience, then they will be willing to play throughout the year.
"I couldn't condemn Lleyton, given the year he's had, if we were to play Ecuador away from home and he won the Australian Open and said he couldn't get on the plane because he was exhausted.
"I could fully understand that.
"I'm aware the number of matches these guys play each year and I don't think people understand the rigours of travelling and what it's like to play professional tennis.
"We just want to instil a sense of pride and sense of history of what it means playing for Australia, just like John (Newcombe) and Tony (Roche) did."
Asked if picking the best sqaud was a matter of 'sitting on the fence', Masur replied: "Yeah, we can. Absolutely.
"It does happen through injury that a player cannot play every tie.
"I don't think it's likely to happen that Hewitt, Rafter and Philippoussis all will be available for every tie.
"That's the ideal team, the strongest team in the world."