A month ago, some tennis fans wouldn’t have blinked twice if Mark Philippoussis had dropped the sport in favor of his new love, surfing.
Heading into Wimbledon unseeded with a match against Andre Agassi looming in the fourth round, the tournament did not seem like a promising place for the Aussie to resurrect his tennis career. Yet after stunning the world’s top-ranked player in five sets and moving on to reach the finals, he is suddenly the only two top 10 players along with Lleyton Hewitt in this week’s Mercedes-Benz Cup.
With the ranking comes a pressure that Philippoussis has become all too familiar with. Five years ago, he made his only other appearance in a Grand Slam Final at the U.S. Open, which helped him elevate his ranking to No. 8. However, that success was short lived, and a few years later he dropped out of the top 100.
“Before I wasn’t ready for the hype,” he said. “But now I can handle it.”
Starting July 28, the tennis world will learn whether if Philippoussis is truly ready to become an elite on the men’s tour. With another No. 8 ranking following a Grand Slam, he hopes this week’s tournament will validate his progress and not bring back the nagging “underachiever” image he has been given.
“The Wimbledon final made me hungrier,” Philippoussis said. “I wasn’t happy standing there seeing (Roger Federer) holding up the trophy.”
Philippoussis’ inability to maintain a high level of play has always been traced to two conditions – his health and desire. Throughout much of his career, he has shown flashes of brilliance that have been overshadowed by an extreme lifestyle that frequently neglected tennis. Before moving to the San Diego area last year, he had been known to take in the Miami party scene to its full extent.
“Life doesn’t come with a manual,” Philippoussis said, not regretting his past. “I make my own decisions and some are right and some are wrong.”
Moving to San Diego has appeared to be one of the right ones for his tennis career. Although his laid-back nature is still evident by the fact that he begins each day by surfing for three hours, he now follows it up with rigorous fitness and training sessions.
“I’m training harder and my legs are stronger,” Philippoussis said. “I’m feeling more confident.”
Philippoussis’ emphasis on fitness is an optimistic sign for his fans, who have been waiting nine years for him to reach his potential. This potential seemed as though it might go permanently unfulfilled two years ago when he underwent a third knee surgery.
Confined to a wheelchair for two months, he spent plenty of time in bed contemplating his options.
“I hadn’t accomplished anything,” he said, reflecting on his career. “When I’m old, I don’t want to regret anything or think what if I had worked harder.”
Fans of Philippoussis’ serve-and-volley game hope this recent resurgence continues. Since Goran Ivanisevic and Patrick Rafter retired and Pete Sampras stopped competing, Philippoussis has emerged as the premier server in the game. He served up 46 aces in his recent win against Agassi, three shy of the Wimbledon record. Nevertheless, he has been around long enough to realize that his huge serve alone will not be enough to elevate him to the top.
“The guys who have done the best have been the fittest,” he said.
Although Philippoussis enters this tournament with the highest ranking in the field, he was not promoted as one of the marquee players. Nevertheless, the billboards and advertisements featuring Lleyton Hewitt, Marat Safin and Gustavo Kuertan do not bother him in the least bit.
“I don’t care about posters and billboards,”Philippoussis said. “I just want to get out there and play some good tennis.”
Philippoussis’ indifference toward public publicity is characteristic of the easy-going, fun-loving reputation he has earned. Throughout his career, fellow Aussies Rafter and Hewitt have dominated the spotlight, yet he has not been disappointed.
Currently, while many players on the tour are currently embroiled in controversy surrounding prize money at the Grand Slam Events, Philippoussis shrugs off the issue.
“I haven’t thought about it much,” he remarked. “I’m just focusing on tennis.”
Although fans tend to take a player’s emphasis on tennis for granted, Philippoussis’ newfound dedication has energized his fans. Still, they just wonder how long his motivation will last. This week, they will start find out.