Mark Philippoussis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mark Philippoussis
Country Australia
Residence Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Date of birth November 7, 1976 (1976-11-07) (age 31)
Place of birth Williamstown, Victoria, Australia
Height 6 ft 5 in (195 cm)
Weight 235 lbs (106 kg)
Turned pro 1994
Plays Right-handed
Career prize money $6,953,757
Singles
Career record: 313-201
Career titles: 11
Highest ranking: 8 (April 19, 1999)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 4r (1996,1999,2000,2004)
French Open 4r (1997,2000)
Wimbledon F (2003)
US Open F (1998)
Doubles
Career record: 98-72
Career titles: 3
Highest ranking: 18 (August 11, 1997)

Mark Anthony Philippoussis (born November 7, 1976) is an Australian tennis player. He turned professional in 1994. His father is Greek, whilst his mother is of Italian ancestry [1] and he is well known for his powerful physique, standing at 6 ft 5 inches and weighing 106 kilograms. He has also had a minor career in modeling and was featured in the American reality television dating show Age of Love.[2] His nicknames include: "The Poo" (Short for Philippoussis), Scud and Flip.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

Philippoussis was born in Melbourne and educated at Wesley College.

Coached by his father, Nick Philippoussis, the right-hander has played tennis since he was six years of age. He was briefly coached by former 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash during his junior years, which ended in an acrimonious split.[citation needed]

In 1994, he finished third in single ranking for juniors. Philippoussis also finished as junior doubles champion with Ben Ellwood in Australia, Wimbledon, and Italy. He turned professional in 1994.

In 1995, at the age of 19, he was the youngest player in the year-end top 50. In 1996, he reached the 4th round of the Australian Open upsetting Pete Sampras in the 3rd round and in doubles with Patrick Rafter. On May 25, 1997, he recorded a personal best 229.0 km/h (142.3 mph) serve in a game he lost to Albert Costa. During the height of his career, Mark was known as having one of the fastest services in the game.

[edit] Rise to top 10

At the 1998 U.S. Open, Philippoussis reached his first Grand Slam final, losing to fellow Australian Patrick Rafter.

On March 29, 1999, Philippoussis entered the top 10 for the first time and stayed there for 10 weeks. He advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 1999 for the second straight year, where he retired in the second set against World No. 1 Pete Sampras after having won the first set. During that match, Philippoussis suffered a moderate cartilage tear in his left knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery four days later. Sampras later remarked that he "dodged a bullet out there." Philippoussis returned to professional tennis seven weeks later in Indianapolis, Indiana and lost his second round match after receiving a bye in the first round. He did not play again until October in Singapore, where he again lost in the second round. He finished 1999 at World No. 19.

2000 was the fourth consecutive year in which Philippoussis finished in the top 20, at World No. 11. He reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Andre Agassi. He defeated Sampras, then the World No. 2, 8–6 in the fifth set at the French Open in a first round match but lost in the fourth round to Juan Carlos Ferrero. For the third consecutive year, he made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, losing again to Agassi. He appeared in his second Olympic Games in Sydney, losing in the third round to eventual gold medalist Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Philippoussis finished 2002 in the top 100 (seventh time in eight years), despite not winning a title. He moved from Miami to the San Diego, California area in September 2002.

[edit] Davis Cup

Philippoussis has always claimed to be proud of representing his country in Davis Cup, but personal differences with John Newcombe and Tony Roche interfered with his commitment early in his career. Despite several highly publicised feuds, Mark played a large part in giving Australia their 27th Davis Cup triumph - second only to the United States with 31 - but it was their first since 1986. In 1999 Mark defeated Cedric Pioline, 6–3, 5–7, 6–1, 6–2 in front of a boisterous French crowd in Nice.

Injuries plagued Mark's availability for Davis cup and was the cause of a public rift between team-mates Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. Rafter publicly accused Philippoussis of 'jerking' the team around after he withdrew from a Davis Cup tie in late 2000. Philippoussis said Rafter was 'ill-informed' and upset by the lack of support and understanding from his team-mates.

Knee surgeries forced Philippoussis out of Davis Cup till February 2003. By then Pat Rafter had retired, and John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur were the new Davis Cup captain and coach. The impact of these changes was instantly recognised as team harmony was at its highest throughout the year. Mark Philippoussis once again sealed victory for Australia in the Melbourne Final against Spain. Mark beat Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero in a 7–5 6–3 1–6 2–6 6–0 battle. Mark suffered a pectoral tear at the end of the second set which caused him to lose the third and fourth sets. Displaying spectacular courage, Mark regrouped in the fifth set, and in immense pain, trounced Ferrero 6–0.

[edit] 2003 comeback

After three knee operations and a protracted comeback, Philippoussis avowed a new seriousness to his sport. He made himself available regularly for Davis Cup, hired a new physical trainer, and took up surfing as his new recreation. It seemed to work, as he made the 2003 Wimbledon final, finally losing to Roger Federer 6–7(5/7), 2–6, 6–7(3/7) [1].

During a 2003 Wimbledon tennis match against Andre Agassi (6–3, 2–6, 6–7 (4–7), 6–3, 6–4), he set a new Australian tennis record of 46 aces served in a match, three aces short of the overall ATP Tour record then held by Richard Krajicek.

Philippoussis broke a two year singles title drought by winning the Shanghai Open in 2003. On November 30, 2003, he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain to win the fourth match of the Davis Cup final in Melbourne, securing the title for Australia. This victory in front of his home crowd won him a place in the affections of the Australian sporting public which some of his behaviour in earlier years — including inconsistent Davis Cup appearances — had put in jeopardy.

[edit] Fall from grace

The honeymoon period with the Australian public, however, did not last. 2004 proved a disastrous year in terms of his tennis career and public profile. After shouldering most of the blame for losing Australia's Davis Cup tie with Sweden with an unexpected below par performance, Philippoussis struggled through to the Wimbledon fourth round in June 2004.

From Wimbledon in June until the end of the season in October, he failed to win a single ATP tennis match and finished with one of his lowest ever rankings since turning professional in 1994.

In October 2004, a much publicized affair with Delta Goodrem had soured and seriously damaged his standing after newspapers alleged that he had dated Paris Hilton while with Goodrem. In March 2005, he became engaged to Miami-born actress and model Alexis Barbara. The Age reported the pair had split in July 2006, but Philippoussis has denied this to Australian tabloid New Idea; they did split some time before he began filming Age of Love.

He confirmed to Sydney's Daily Telegraph on August 23, 2006, that he "parted ways with" his father as his coach and rehired Peter McNamara in an attempt to revive his career.[3]

[edit] 2006 return

At the 2006 Australian Open
At the 2006 Australian Open

After some controversy over his wildcard selection firstly after a disappointing 2006 Australian Open, Philippoussis made more headlines when he again earned entry into the 2006 Wimbledon. He was defeated in the 2nd round.

Leading into the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships as a wildcard, his record was a modest 6–7. He had a fantastic run in the tournament, getting all the way to the final, where he defeated Justin Gimelstob in straight sets to claim his first title in almost three years.

Philippoussis, currently ranked #114, lost to Rafael Nadal as a wildcard entry in the 1st round of the 2006 US Open.

The Australian Davis Cup team lost against Argentina in an unpredictable 5–0. On September 22nd Philippoussis was defeated by David Nalbandian 6–4 6–3 6–3, in the first match of the series.

Philippoussis has played in a series of Challenger tournaments since the Davis Cup semifinals. Philippoussis won the Calabasas tournament, defeating Amer Delic 6–7(4–7), 7–6(7–4), 6–3 in the final.

[edit] 2007-2008

Philippoussis beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6–4 7–6 at the 2007 Hopman Cup. However, during his second match against Jerome Haehnel, he was forced to retire after hyperextending his knee.[2] An MRI showed that he had torn cartilage in his knee, forcing him to miss the Australian Open.

Philippoussis turned 31 years old on November 7, 2007. He has acquired a protected ranking of 119 in the world and is allowed to use that ranking for entry into eight tournaments. Tennis Australia, not being happy with his lack of match play and unwillingness to play the Australian Open wildcard playoff, told him that he will not be given any special treatment and will have to earn his wildcard. This forced him to use one of his protected ranking tournament entries.

In his first match of the Australian Open Wildcard playoff the Scud was drawn against reigning Australian Open juniors champion Brydan Klein and had a fiery contest. After a remark from Klein, Philippoussis was quoted as saying, "You say that to me again and you're in trouble; you're not playing juniors anymore." Mark came out the victor in straight sets 6–3 7–5 and thus began his comeback in good form. Mark Philippoussis then lost his second match back to Samuel Groth 6–4 6–3, but due to other players' injuries, the Scud advanced to the quarterfinals where he was to play Rameez Junaid. However, due to another knee injury requiring surgery, Philippoussis was unable to play.

In February, 2008, media attention again turned to Philippoussis's love life, as reports surfaced that the good-looking sports star had begun dating Siobhan Parekh - a Sydney-based model who won FHM's Girl Next Door competition two years ago.

After bouncing out of his reality TV relationship with Age of Love winner Amanda Salinas in late 2007, Philippoussis reportedly started dating the gorgeous model in January.[4]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Grand Slam finals

[edit] Singles

[edit] Runner-ups (2)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1998 U.S. Open Flag of Australia Patrick Rafter 6–3, 3–6, 6–2, 6–0
2003 Wimbledon Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 7–6(5), 6–2, 7–6(3)

[edit] Masters Series finals

[edit] Singles

[edit] Wins (1)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1999 Indian Wells Flag of Spain Carlos Moyà 5–7, 6–4, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2

[edit] Runner-ups (1)
Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2000 Paris Flag of Russia Marat Safin 3–6, 7–6, 6–4, 3–6, 7–6

[edit] All finals

[edit] Singles

[edit] Wins (11)
Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (1)
ATP Tour (10)
No. Date of Final Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 14 October 1996 Toulouse, France Hard Flag of Sweden Magnus Larsson 6–1, 5–7, 6–4
2. 3 March 1997 Scottsdale, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Richie Reneberg 6–4, 7–6(4)
3. 28 April 1997 Munich, Germany Clay Flag of Spain Alex Corretja 7–6(3), 1–6, 6–4
4. 9 June 1997 London, England Grass Flag of Croatia Goran Ivanišević 7–5, 6–3
5. 16 February 1998 Memphis, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Michael Chang 6–3 6–2
6. 8 February 1999 San José, U.S. Hard Flag of the Philippines Cecil Mamiit 6–3, 6–2
7. 8 March 1999 Indian Wells, U.S. Hard Flag of Spain Carlos Moyà 5–7, 6–4, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
8. 7 February 2000 San José, U.S. Hard Flag of Sweden Mikael Tillström 7–5, 4–6, 6–3
9. 19 February 2001 Memphis, U.S. Hard Flag of Italy Davide Sanguinetti 6–3, 6–7(5) 6–3
10. 22 September 2003 Shanghai, China Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Jiří Novák 6–2, 6–1
11. 16 July 2006 Newport, U.S. Grass Flag of the United States Justin Gimelstob 6–3, 7–5

[edit] Runner-ups (11)
No. Date of Final Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 6 March 1995 Scottsdale, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Jim Courier 7–6(2), 6–4
2. 9 October 1995 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Carpet Flag of Chile Marcelo Ríos 7–6(6), 6–2
3. 16 October 1995 Tokyo, Japan Hard (i) Flag of the United States Michael Chang 6–3, 6–4
4. 29 September 1997 Toulouse, France Hard (i) Flag of Germany Nicholas Kiefer 7–5, 5–7, 6–4
5. 6 October 1997 Basel, Switzerland Carpet Flag of the United Kingdom Greg Rusedski 6–3, 7–6(6), 7–6(3)
6. 14 September 1998 U.S. Open, New York Hard Flag of Australia Patrick Rafter 6–3, 3–6, 6–2, 6–0
7. 9 October 2000 Hong Kong Hard Flag of Germany Nicholas Kiefer 7–6(4), 2–6, 6–2
8. 20 November 2000 Paris, France Carpet Flag of Russia Marat Safin 3–6, 7–6(7), 6–4, 3–6, 7–6(8)
9. 7 January 2002 Adelaide, Australia Hard Flag of the United Kingdom Tim Henman 6–4, 6–7(6), 6–3
10. 10 March 2003 Scottsdale, U.S. Hard Flag of Australia Lleyton Hewitt 6–4, 6–4
11. 7 July 2003 Wimbledon, London Grass Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 7–6(5), 6–2, 7–6(3)

[edit] Age of Love

Main article: Age of Love (TV series)

Philippoussis stars as the bachelor in the reality television dating show Age of Love on the NBC television network, beginning 18 June, 2007. The show centres around women in or near their 40s and women in their 20s competing for his affection. At first this 6'5" heartthrob was shocked at the ages of the "Cougars" as the older women are called. The "Kittens", the younger women, seemed to be very cocky when they heard they were going against the older women. The final dates occurred in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, including a date at Moonlit Sanctuary. In the end, Mark chose Amanda Salinas (the 25-year old Nashville Predators dancer) because it "wouldn't work out" with Jen, the 48-year old assistant to Jerry Buss.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ AM Archive - Mark Philippoussis advances to Wimbledon final
  2. ^ NBC: Age of Love official site
  3. ^ Int.co.za
  4. ^ Scud scores new model babe. NEWS.com.au. Retrieved on Feb 6, 2008.

[edit] External links

Awards
Preceded by
Albert Costa		 ATP Newcomer of the Year
1995		 Succeeded by
Dominik Hrbatý
Preceded by
Richard Krajicek		 ATP Comeback Player of the Year
2003		 Succeeded by
Tommy Haas