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Hewitt, Scud sweat it out
By John Thirsk
January 31, 2003
AUSTRALIA's Davis Cup stars were shown no mercy yesterday as they sweated
it out for over three hours in 43C heat in preparation for the first round
tie against Great Britain at the Sydney International Tennis Centre.
The centre court conditions were like a furnace as a hot northerly wind
made the practice session even more trying.
Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis, Wayne Arthurs, Todd Woodbridge, Scott
Draper and Jaymon Crabb weren't game enough to take their shirts off in
case of sunburn.
"It was sweltering out there," captain John Fitzgerald said.
"The conditions were pretty rough and if the guys took their shirts off
they would have got scorched.
"It's no use running ourselves into the ground in this kind of heat.
"But it was the first hit-out for most of them and they wanted to see the
clay court.
"It's going to be a lot cooler [today] and they can put in more hours."
It was the first appearance in Sydney by the 26-year-old Philippoussis
since he represented Australia at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
For world No.1 Hewitt, it was his first outing at Homebush since winning
the adidas International last year.
But the Davis Cup will be a different scenario: there will be no hardcourt,
with a clay surface being used for an Australian home tie for the first
time since the inception of the Cup teams competition.
Philippoussis and Hewitt joined together in 1999 when Australia won the
Cup for the 27th time on a claycourt against France in Nice.
Perhaps hoping to minimise his time in the heat, Hewitt did not appear
for the first two hours yesterday.
"Lleyton just wanted to hit a little later," Fitzgerald said.
"His frame of mind is excellent leading into the Cup.
"Lleyton was disappointed to lose in the fourth round of the Australian
Open ... whenever a professional sportsman loses they are not happy.
"He was gracious in defeat, handled the loss very well and had a terrific
time playing golf with Greg Norman, Patrick Rafter and myself in Melbourne
on Tuesday."
Fitzgerald is thrilled with Philippoussis' commitment to Australia's Davis
Cup cause. It will be the Scud's first outing in three years since
Australia's win over Switzerland in Zurich.
"Mark brings a lot to the table in terms of a Davis Cup team,"
Fitzgerald said. "We know how well Mark plays singles and he's a
world-class doubles player as well.
"He's got so much ability and adds great overall strength to the team.
"When Mark is fit and his game is in tune he has the chance to beat anyone
on the planet."
While Australia have not won a French Open on clay since Rod Laver in 1969,
three members of the current team have reached the last 16 at Roland Garros
- Hewitt (2002), Arthurs (2001) and Philippoussis (2000).
Herald Sun
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Local heroes salvage tie
By Patrick Miles
January 31, 2003
THE prospect of seeing the world's No.1 player joined by one of the most
exciting players on tour and one of the most successful exponents of doubles
in the Open era has rescued next week's tie from potential oblivion.
When Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis, Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs
meet the boys from Britain at the Sydney International Tennis Centre from
February 7-9, organisers are expecting close to capacity crowds despite the
apparent lopsided nature of the first-round clash.
As of yesterday, 80 per cent of the tickets for the singles matches on
Friday and Sunday had been sold and slightly less than that for Saturday's
doubles rubber.
When it became obvious more than a fortnight ago that the visitors would be
missing their best two players, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, through injury,
fears were held for the event.
Britain will be represented by four players with singles rankings that add
up to almost 1400, two of whom are Davis Cup rookies. Arvind Parmar, Miles
Maclagan, Alan Mackin and Alex Bogdanovic could be forgiven for counting
their achievements in games rather than sets, let alone matches.
But the presence of Hewitt, with fellow Davis Cup winners Philippoussis
and Woodbridge, in the first home tie to be played on clay has demonstrated
pulling power. It has also extracted a commitment from the Seven Network to
broadcast all five matches live, providing the doubles is settled in under
four hours.
Television, most importantly, is happy; Tennis Australia, which chose to
host the tie on clay, is content; the team sponsor, Optus, is boasting of
Australia's strongest Davis Cup representation in a decade; and the players,
by all accounts, are confident.
When Australia last won the cup, against France in Nice, in December 1999,
three of the quartet were present, playing on red clay.
"In anything, you'd always like a sell-out, but we're going to have a full
venue and we'll still expect, as the excitement builds up, that more and
more people are wanting to come and be part of history, in seeing the first
ever clay tie, and also to see Mark and Lleyton play together," Tennis
Australia media and PR manager John Lindsay said yesterday.
In the Homebush Bay cauldron, where the temperature climbed above 40C,
Philippoussis, Arthurs and hitting partner Scott Draper were drilled for
the first time on the transformed centre court by captain John Fitzgerald
and coach Wally Masur. The session was cut short by the heat but the players
looked sharp, attempting to belt the covers off the Roland Garros balls.
"My concern is just getting our players ready, and if they're ready and
they're in good shape, then they've got a chance to beat a lot of teams
in the world," Fitzgerald said.
Even in the event that Australia are not fully tested by the British, there
will be long-term benefits for local players in that the two clay courts
built for practice will become permanent fixtures at the Olympic site.
Masur, charged with developing the future as much as guiding the present,
is one who sees the wisdom of the plan.
"The game has changed over the last 10 years," Masur said. "The courts have
gotten slower; Wimbledon last year was slow; David Nalbandian was in the
final, that's testimony to that.
"The nature of the game is such that it's vital that our juniors get some
clay-court time.
"Now we've got a clay-court site happening here ... there'll be more courts
coming at Melbourne Park, and I think that's hugely important for Australian
tennis.
"This is a great catalyst for a little bit of change in terms of surface."
For Fitzgerald, this tie represents redemption on clay after the first-round
whitewash in Buenos Aires last year, when Hewitt, Philippoussis and Pat
Rafter were unavailable.
"The thought of Argentina is still bright in my mind," he said. "We got to
a final and then two months later, we go to Argentina with a team who, on
paper, were deleted, and it's tough, it's difficult.
"I take losses as hard as anyone and my first priority is to win here."
The Australian
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