SportsToday
Monday, 12 February 2001

A day later than expected, Australia can turn its Davis Cup attention to the quarter-final trip to Brazil in April. Even if they had an established doubles team, and the Australians are some way from that ideal, assignments do not come any tougher than this. John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur should enjoy their honeymoon while it lasts.

Saturday's rude doubles interruption by the Lapentti brothers' notwithstanding, captain Fitz-gerald and coach Masur's cup introduction came almost gift-wrapped on the Perth grass. Neither needs to be told that the Australians can ditch the welcome-roses-and-chocolates theme for their visit to South America.

It will be thorny, yes, but the more traditional "presents" for visitors are the missiles that have been known to be thrown on court and, as Thomas Muster once discovered, mirrors used to deflect the sun into players' eyes. Masur played once in Peru and remembers it dryly as an "exciting" time marked by guerrilla death threats.

The infamous difficulties of playing on the developing tennis continent could actually make Barcelona seem welcoming, and in Florianopolis, Gustavo Kuerten's home town, it should be no different.

Yet, although the Brazilians are far more threatening at home on clay than away on the grass on which they flopped 5-0 in last year's semi-final in Brisbane, the Australians are not without hope. Their chance is to target Kuerten's sidekick Fernando Meligeni, for the Brazilians lack singles depth after the world No.1, and to improve on what has become a puzzlingly poor doubles record.

In the past two years, Australia has won only two of the seven doubles ties in which the team did not comprise old reliables Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde. Both victories involved Woodforde, who retired at the end of last year: one with Pat Rafter, who remains an appealing doubles option, and the other with the tried-but-failed Sandon Stolle.

Of course, much depends on the availability of Mark Philippoussis, potentially one of the world's best clay-court players, as proved by his spectacular efforts in the 1999 final in Nice. If he agrees to play in his first tie since hobbling through the narrow escape in Zurich a year ago, Fitzgerald will name Philippoussis, Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt as Australia's three singles players, and probably chose Woodbridge - despite his limitations on clay, and his patchy performance with Wayne Arthurs on Saturday - as the doubles component of a talented and flexible squad that contains three grand slam doubles winners.

For some time, such a quartet has been referred to unofficially in Australian tennis as the `A' team, but for various injury and political reasons it has not been available as a complete selection package since the Davis Cup rule change last year introduced free reverse singles substitutions on the final day.

Since starting in his new role in mid-December, Fitzgerald has made it a priority to woo the estranged Philippoussis back to the squad, and it seems that if anyone can convince him to return, it is the genial new skipper. Everyone - with the possible exception of the Scud's coach Peter McNamara - seems to be making the right noises so far, but we have learnt from bitter experience never to rely on Philippoussis until the first ball is struck.

If, as suggested by McNamara in that interesting we'll-play-if-it-suits-us interview late last year, Philippoussis and his minders decide that a visit to Brazil does not fit in with his schedule, then clay-court experts Richard Fromberg and Andrew Ilie could also come into the singles mix, perhaps freeing Rafter for a doubles role.

A crucial one, it appears. The events of Saturday confirmed that Australia's success in what tennis cliche decrees is the "pivotal" third rubber, is likely to be the key factor in what looms as a daunting trip to Brazil. So much for the grasscourt honeymoon. Time for a roll in inhospitable South American dirt.