Australian Tennis Magazine – March 1999

Davis Cup captain John Newcombe is confident Mark Philippoussis will make a smooth return to national duties for the first-round World Group Tie against Zimbabwe in Harere from April 2-4. Despite Pat Cash’s attempts to stir the bad blood between Newcombe and Philippoussis during the recent Australian Open – by declaring on national television that Scud "despised" his captain – Newcombe believes their differences can be put to one side for the sake of Australian tennis.

"Mark and I spoke at the Australian Open about the spirit of knowing we had a job to do and making sure that everything ran smoothly," Newcombe said. "I wanted to assure Mark that I would do everything in my power to make sure it goes smoothly and he reassured me that that was exactly the spirit he had too. We also talked about logistical things like travel and re-strings – just the things you have to do to carry on the business of Davis Cup."

If problems did arise in Zimbabwe, Newcombe refused to speculate whether it should be the last time Australia would ever see a Davis Cup team featuring himself, Tony Roche and Philippoussis. "That’s all hypothetical. It’s one of those "if’ questions. Asked also if he believed that Philippoussis truly despised him, Newcombe said: "I didn’t comment on that at the time and I don’t intend to comment on it."

Philippoussis’ manager, IMG’s Brian Cooney, does not expect any tension in Zimbabwe. "Mark and Newk have spoken and what’s past is past," he said. "Mark is genuinely excited about playing Davis Cup and, like all of the Aussies on the team, he realises they have a good chance of winning the thing this year. That’s strong enough incentive to resolve any differences he may have with Newk."

In a major vot4e of confidence in Lleyton Hewitt, the Adelaide teenager was chosen ahead of former Wimbledon semi-finalist Jason Stoltenberg for the position of reserves singles player. "We’re obviously looking at Philippoussis and Rafter to play the singles and the Woodies to play the doubles, but if something does happen we’re willing to put Lleyton in there," Newcombe said. "It was a tough decision to leave out Jason – he’s a Davis Cup stalwart and a terrific bloke and I’d class him a good friend."

Newcombe revealed that he had wanted to play Hewitt, who is obviously being groomed for future duties, in a "dead" rubber in Australia’s previous outing against Uzbekistan in Townsville. But because he was only names in the squad of five – and not the final team of four – the plan was thwarted.

Australia will tackle Zimbabwe under the same conditions it tasted success on at Townsville – on a medium-paced indoor hardcourt. Although Byron and Wayne Black grew up with grasscourts in their backyard – and beat the Australians on grass at Mildura last year – Zimbabwe did not have the option of staging a grasscourt tie because it does not have a suitable grasscourt facility.