Newk's stars shine in darkest hour
By PATRICK MILES
08feb00

ZURICH: John Newcombe, in his seventh and final year as Australia's Davis Cup captain, on Sunday was drawing up the plans for a quarter-final on grass against Germany, but he could well have been, as he put it, "thinking about where I was going to enjoy my pasture".

"I was going to be put out to pasture," he said after his No.2 singles player, Mark Philippoussis, the hero of the cup victory in Nice last December, had staggered over the line in the fifth and deciding rubber of the champions' first-round tie against Switzerland.
Australia advance to the next round, at Adelaide's Memorial Drive in the second week of April, by virtue of a painful 3-2 victory over their previously unheralded Swiss opponents.

The story of what became for Newcombe "a long weekend" can be encapsulated so: Lleyton Hewitt bleeds for his country, winning his singles matches bravely against George Bastl and Roger Federer; Wayne Arthurs experiences his first defeat in the cup, with Sandon Stolle, who is found wanting badly in the doubles; Philippoussis wanders the court, a menacing hulk on one point and bereft of an idea on the next, losing to Federer then scraping past Bastl in five sets of agony.

In the heat of the moments after the deciding match, which Philippoussis won 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 4-6 6-3 6-4 in three hours and 40 minutes, the emotional snapshot showed Philippoussis as the courageous survivor of an intense and drawn-out battle, leading his country onward in their defence of the title.

But Bastl was the man with the real intensity. He was the player who performed far and away beyond even his own wildest expectations, emerging vanquished but proud from the first five-set encounter of his career.

Philippoussis was significantly below his best. He committed innumerable unforced errors, his forehand at times became a symbol of horror, he did not seem to have a tactical grasp of his matches and he really should have made his team's road trip more comfortable.

Beating an opponent like Bastl, ranked No.75 in the world, ought to be a considerably less frightening experience than it was in the Saalsporthalle on Sunday for a player at No.17 who has contested a grand slam final.

"You can go five sets against anyone," Philippoussis said, meaning presumably anyone on the ATP Tour. "I said it from the start that whoever you play is going to be tough and I think Lleyton and I knew not to take these guys lightly.

"I just hung in there. He was playing some great tennis. I was hoping for him to give me the opportunity for Australia to go through."

It was not until Philippoussis broke Bastl's serve for a 2-1 lead in the fifth set that there was even the remotest possibility that Australia would go on to meet Germany, 4-1 winners over The Netherlands.

Up to that point, there was every likelihood of a man playing out of his mind for his country seeing off a far more vaunted opponent and halting a campaign for consecutive titles at the first stop.

If Philippoussis and Australia had failed, sending Newcombe out to grass, it would have been only the fifth occasion since the introduction of the final round in 1972 that the defending champions had been eliminated in the opening round of the subsequent year.

Sweden lost to Italy in such circumstances in 1976, the US to Argentina in 1983 and Australia in 1993 and France to Australia in 1997.

The narrow escape marked the first time since 1985 that Australia had overcome a 2-1 deficit. In the first match on Friday, Hewitt beat Bastl 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 before Philippoussis lost to Federer, 6-4 7-6 4-6 6-4.

On Saturday, Arthurs and Stolle were defeated by Federer and Felix Manta 3-6 6-3 6-4 7-6.

Sunday, which was supposed to begin with the scoreline at 3-0 to Australia, took on a desperate air when it read 1-2.

There was no doubt Hewitt would be highly charged for his do-or-die effort against Federer, the Swiss No.1, a fellow 18-year-old and a former Wimbledon doubles partner of the Australian.

Hewitt has won 15 of 16 matches since the start of the season, only Sweden's Magnus Norman, in the fourth round of the Australian Open, finding a way to stifle his boundless enthusiasm.

He rewarded Newcombe and his team with his sixth Davis Cup victory in eight matches, and one of his defeats was in the dead rubber against France in last year's final.

Hewitt did not display quite the form that helped him to capture back-to-back titles in Adelaide and Sydney last month but he learned how to complete difficult Davis Cup matches with patience and maturity.

He played his part, beat Federer 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1, levelled the tie and the rest was up to Philippoussis, in his 14th Davis Cup match for Australia.

He laboured along, dredging up some huge serves but failing on other occasions to assert himself, and somehow took his win-loss record to 9-5, but Newcombe will be anxious for Philippoussis to improve his concentration before the quarter-final, presuming he is available.

"I think Mark deserves a lot of credit for the fact that one of his major weapons wasn't there for three sets – he just couldn't buy a first serve," Newcombe said.

"The match had the drama of Davis Cup. You get down to the fifth rubber and you've got the home-town boy leading one set to love, two sets to one, and they're the underdogs, and the crowd's lifting him up and he's playing at his absolute maximum the whole time.

"And you've got the favourite player struggling a little bit to find his best form, and what Mark did was the mark of a class player. When the going got tough there right at the end, he played his best tennis in the fourth and fifth sets. That's what it's all about.

"So I'd call it a classic Davis Cup encounter rather than a great match."

When the Germans visit in April, the home support might well hope for a little less of this classical stuff and rather more great matches.


Back from the dread

Mark Philippoussis's threat to sell his prized Ferraris helped him fight back to keep Australia's Davis Cup defence alive, Linda Pearce reports in Zurich.

NICK Philippoussis was impassive. The catalyst behind his son's participation in Australia's first-round Davis Cup tie sat stiffly in his second-row seat at the Saalsporthalle for most of the 3hr 40min it took to decide the decisive fifth singles rubber on Sunday. Then, when the drama was over, he slowly rose to his feet and joined in the applause.

Mark Philippoussis had prevailed 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 over Switzerland's George Bastl, aged 24 and ranked 75, whose best tournament result came in reaching the 1999 final in Tashkent. Philippoussis had not been a confirmed starter until less than a week before departing for Zurich, when his father had helped arrange a European detour rather than head straight to California to defend his title in San Jose.

For much of Sunday evening it had seemed a dubious decision. Was anybody going to San Jose? If so, Philippoussis would gladly have hitched a ride.

By the end of the second set, having lost the first after failing to serve it out at 5-3, and finding neither rhythm nor range, things were starting to become desperate.

"When he served for the second set he said, 'If I lose this set I'm selling all my Ferraris and motorbikes and everything'," Newcombe revealed later. "It's amazing what fear can do, isn't it?"

Indeed. Philippoussis's concern was that he would feel as he had on Friday, a four-set loser to Roger Federer as the Swiss drew back to 1-1.

"After the first day I knew how that felt, and I didn't want to feel it again," he said. "After the doubles they were jumping up and down, and me and Lleyton looked at that and we got pumped from it. They thought they had it won."

Australia's worry, meanwhile, was that they were on the brink of elimination from the competition they won, with Philippoussis the hero, just two months ago in Nice. And it was a very real prospect. First, Lleyton Hewitt had to wear down Federer, which he did in four disciplined sets. Then Philippoussis had to find what for much of his match had seemed to be missing.

His serve, for starters. Trailing two sets to one, his percentage on the first delivery stood at just 41per cent, while Bastl was playing the match of his life, serving well, returning effectively and bludgeoning his forehand down the line. The Swiss crowd that had stayed away for the first two days not only arrived but also found voice.

For much of it, Philippoussis's attitude was as limp as his body language. His shots were missing by metres as he failed to make the brave serve-volleying Bastl play with anything close to the required regularity. Was anybody going to San Jose? Like, now?

Fortunately not, as it turned out, yet the five-setter was not so much a great match as a long and undulating one.

"You get down to the fifth match and you've got the home-town boy leading one set to love, two sets to one, and they are the underdogs and the crowd's lifting them up and [Bastl's] playing at his absolute maximum the whole time, and you've got the favourite player struggling a little bit to find his best form," Newcombe said.

"What Mark did was the class of a class player. When the going got tough there right at the end he played his best tennis in the fourth and fifth sets. That's what it's all about. So I call it a classic Davis Cup encounter, rather than a great match."

The quality of the Hewitt-Federer contest was superior. The Australian took 2hr 37min for a 6-2 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-1 victory that kept Australia in the tie.

Federer had surprised Philippoussis and then combined with Lorenzo Manta to stun Wayne Arthurs and Sandon Stolle in the doubles on Saturday as the Swiss pushed the title-holders to the brink of a first-round elimination that has had only four precedents since 1972.

Federer is the same age as the 18-year-old Hewitt, stronger physically and with a more attacking but streakier game. In the second and third sets Federer made most of the play, and all Hewitt could do was stick with him, maintain his intensity, keep forcing the extra shot, apply all the pressure he could muster and try to wait for his chance.

Eventually, it came. The third-set tie-breaker was the crucial contest. Hewitt rode a lucky net cord to lead 4-2, drew two forehand errors and then forced a backhand mistake on the first of his four set points.

Federer's spirit was finally broken, after three demanding days, and he failed to hold any of his four service games in the fourth set.

"I have no doubt I was going to be the fitter player," said Hewitt, whose pre-Christmas program included sandhill and 400m running and cycling with coach Darren Cahill.

"I feel like I did the preparation before the Australian summer to last right through to the Davis Cup. That was my schedule. I tried to be as mentally tough as I've ever been, and in the end I think it prevailed with the third-set tie-breaker."

Hewitt's biggest test was not one he would have wished for pre-match, but he could appreciate its value soon enough.

"Now I feel like a better player because I have been under that pressure and come through," he said. "It's nice knowing that if I do go into these situations again, I've been through it and I've done it and I know what preparation to take for next time, as well."

The saviour this time, Hewitt will now take three weeks off, while Newcombe can contemplate a captaincy career extension of at least one more round.

MATCH REPORT: Philippoussis in five: 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4.
(SportsToday)

Mark Philippoussis (Australia) bt George Bastl (Switzerland) 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4. Australia wins tie 3-2, qualifies for quarter final against Germany in Adelaide in April.

Here's how it was won . . .

First set: Mark Philippoussis broke George Bastl's first service and it looked as though the big Australian would push on against the tentative Swiss. But it was not to be. One break game followed another. Eventually, after 65 minutes, it was Bastl who emerged victorious from the tie-breaker 7-6 (7-3).

Second set: Philippoussis looked tired and out of sorts as Bastl continued to play touch shots with surety. Philippoussis did not seem to be moving as freely as he usually does. Nevertheless, he broke Bastl's serve to lead 5-4 then served out for the set in 38 minutes. One set each.

Third set: Bastl shot to a 3-0 lead then saw Philippoussis claw back. Philippoussis watched Bastl return some of his best shots thanks to excellent court coverage. The crowd cheered on the agile Bastl. Time and again he proved strong and quick to the ball. After 36 minutes, Bastl took the third set 6-3 and Switzerland led 2-1.

Fourth set: Philippoussis breaks to lead 3-1 and the Aussie flags wave in the stands but Bastl breaks back immediately. Philippoussis hit four great forehands to break Bastl again for a 4-2 lead. Bastl misses an easy overhead smash. Philippoussis wins and leads 5-2. Bastl has switched from a blue headband to a red one. It works. He wins his service game. 5-3. Philippoussis serves for the set. Bastle returns the second serve well. 0-15. A terrific rally ends with luck for Philippoussis as the ball hits the net and trickles over. Bastle misses a backhand. Pilippoussis carries the set 6-3 to tie up the vital rubber.

Fifth set: Bastl serves first up. Philippoussis gets a break point and the crowd chant for Bastl. He serves an ace to go to deuce. A long rally follows, and Philippoussis misses a cross-court shot. He recovers with the next, though. Deuce. A backhand from Philippoussis goes wide but he pulls back to deuce next point. A backhand from Bastl isn't good enough and it's advantage Australia. Now it's Philippoussis who misses a backhand. Deuce. Philippoussis shoots long. Advantage Switzerland. Philippoussis lunges at a Bastl winner and succeeds. Deuce. Bastl tips one just over the net. Brilliant. His ad. And he serves one that Philippoussis tips into the net. 1-0 to Bastl.

Philippoussis serves. He carries the game without the same difficulty Bastl had in the first. 1-1. Philippoussis stretches Bastl to 15-30. Bastl serves a double, the first of the match. Break point for Australia. Bastl saves. Philippoussis plays a great backhand chip, to win another break point. And this time he does it. He pumps up the Aussie fans in the stadium. 2-1, up a break, with Bastl showing sugns of tiredness by serving the first double fault of the match.

Philippoussis blasts a serve through Bastl. Going at full pace, he moves to 40-0. With a sweeping backhand, he wins the game and moves to 3-1. For the first time since the first set, Philippoussis is in front. He crunches Bastl's first serve to lead 0-15. Bastl rallies, 15-15. Philippoussis deceives Bastl with a clever shot. 15-30. Bastl evens up. 30-30. Philippoussis misses one. 40-30. The Scud tries a long lob . . . and misses. Bastl's game. 3-2. But Philippoussis has a break and will serve.

Philippoussis serves, 15-0. Bastl is still fighting and wins the next point. An ace, number 15, 30-15. Another winner. And another. Philippoussis leads 4-2 in the fifth. Bastl serves. He concedes a second double-fault to slip to 15-30. Philippoussis slams a forehand winner. 15-40. Bastl saves one break point. And Philippoussis puts the next into the net, too. Deuce. A third double-fault!

Bastl is weary. Break point. But Philippoussis is forced long and his return finds the net. Deuce again. A wild Scud forehand gives the advantage to Bastl. The Philippoussis shot goes long. He leads 4-3.

Bastle trudges to change ends. Both players get a standing ovation. Philippoussis serves. 15-0. 30-0. He twists his neck from side to side. Boom. 40-0. Boom. Game. Philippoussis is just one more game from the match and the Davis Cup tie.

Bastl stretches the Scud and leads 15-0. And again. Bastl finds the net. 30-15. Philippoussis misses a return. 40-15. Bastl shoots long. 40-30. Bastl serves . . . ace. 5-4. Philippoussis to serve for the match.

Philippoussis serves, Bastl's return is long. 15-0. Bastl comes in, Philippoussis wins down the line. 30-0. Another winner. Three match points. He only needs one. Australia wins. It's over.

Aussies limp through mental struggle on day one

By Trevor Marshallsea

Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt said winning the Davis Cup had given them the best moments of their tennis careers.

Today it almost provided them with worst as Australia stuggled to 1-1 against Switzerland in their World group first round tie.

Hewitt, ranked 15 in the world, stumbled past 75th-ranked George Bastl 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-4. But Philippoussis, who led the charge in the Cup final in Nice with perhaps the finest tennis of his life, abjectly failed to adapt losing 6-4 7-6 4-6 6-4 to 61st ranked Roger Federer.

Australian captain John Newcombe is now hoping the pair will respond in tomorrow's reverse singles and aviod the threat of becoming only the fifth reigning champion to lose in the first round. Newcombe, a veteran of eight Davis Cup campaigns as a player and seven as captain, had warned that motivating his troops would be his sternest task this weekend.

Hewitt acknowledged the challenge: ``It's a big change from the Nice atmosphere, I can tell you. ``I play my best tennis when I am pumped up on the court. That's when I started playing my best -- when Newk was getting pumped up, and the boys on the side of the court. It added a bit of emotion to the match.

``I would have thought it would have been a lot bigger in Switzerland. It's a little bit disappointing.'' Though Federer is widely touted as a future top 10 player, Philippoussis wore the look of a man who knew he'd lost a match he would win under most circumstances.

``I'm angry, and frustrated, and disappointed,'' he said, admitting ``I wasn't on top of my game''. The 23-year-old insisted he had not been affected by the comedown after the Nice triumph, surprisingly adding: ``I pretty much forgot about that the day after''. ``I was expecting that (comedown),'' he said.

``There's no excuses. You've just got to go out there and play your match.'' Unfortunately, though Federer played well and Philippoussis' match was one which betrayed a struggle with motivation and concentration.

He dropped to 0-40 in the opening game before holding serve, but lost the only other break point of the set in the fifth game. In the second set he squandered a 4-1 lead and then two set points at 5-4 to lose limply in a tiebreaker.

He had the momentum back after serving to love for the third set, but then wasted three break points in the first game of the fourth. Federer, by contrast, hung tough, and when he faced up to the renowned Philippoussis serve leading 5-4, what he saw instead were two double faults, including one on match point.

Like Philippoussis, Hewitt committed nine double faults and enjoyed a first-serves-in per cent only in the mid-40s. The worst example of Hewitt's mental struggle was a double fault on break point which put him behind 3-4 in the first set.

Once his fist pumping started in the second set, however, he was quickly on top of Bastl, though he had to fight back again from 0-3 down in the fourth.

Both captains said they would stick with their nominated pairings for today's doubles of Federer-Lorenzo Manta and Wayne Arthurs-Sandon Stolle.