Odd couple enjoy their double act
[有關 Lleyton & Mark 搭配的文章]
Odd couple enjoy their double act
March 15 2003
Sydney Morning Herald
The improbable pairing of Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt is more
than a marriage of convenience, writes Richard Hinds.
There was a time when it would not have seemed unusual for Lleyton Hewitt
and Mark Philippoussis to be standing face-to-face with clubs in their hands.
However, presented with that scenario, you would not necessarily have assumed
they were playing golf.
It was not that there was any particular animosity between Hewitt and
Philippoussis. Rather, despite having won a Davis Cup together in 1999,
they were perceived to be on opposite sides of the great Australian tennis
divide. Hewitt was one of Newk's boys and Philippoussis cast as the difficult
outsider.
Given their different approach to national service - Hewitt gives the
impression he would like to jump out of a Baghdad trench, forehand blazing,
Philippoussis has been part of the coalition of the unwilling - it seems
unusual that the pair has suddenly formed such a close alliance.
And not merely on the doubles court, where they reached the final of the
Franklin Templeton Classic in the United States - their first event together.
This seeming marriage of convenience now extends to social hours, with Hewitt
and Philippoussis occasional partners on the golf course in a grudge match
against Hewitt's coach Jason Stoltenberg and trainer Roger Rasheed.
The Hewitt-Philippoussis doubles combination was the brainchild of
Philippoussis's coach, Peter McNamara. But it first required an act of
kindness from Hewitt after Philippoussis was injured at the US Open last
September.
"Lleyton came to me and asked me how Mark was and said: 'Is there anything
I can do to help?"' said McNamara upon revealing the potential doubles combo
last year. "I said: 'Lleyton, there is something you can do, you can play
doubles with him', and he was very sweet about it."
When McNamara first spoke of the pairing he acknowledged they "might not
be the best of friends". After a harmonious 10 days in Sydney for the
Davis Cup tie against Great Britain, and a grand week at Delray Beach
where they both reached the finals of singles and doubles, the pair have
clearly become chummier.
"They've spent a bit of time together and the bottom line is they have
always had a lot of respect for each other," said McNamara. "I think there's
a lot Mark can learn from Lleyton, and there is a lot Lleyton can learn from
Mark."
But the major beneficiaries of the Hewitt-Philippoussis doubles experiment
are Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald and coach Wally Masur. Not only will
they assemble a more harmonious squad for the tricky second-round tie against
Sweden, what would have been an ad-hoc doubles pairing is now something closer
to a real team - something Australia has lacked since Mark Woodforde's
retirement.
Neither Fitzgerald nor Masur saw Hewitt and Philippoussis play together
last week. But both liked what they heard.
"It gives us an option we didn't have," Masur said. "But more than, I just
think it's healthy for Australian tennis in general."
Hewitt and Philippoussis are scheduled to play doubles together in Miami
next week and are also likely to play on grass at Queen's in June.
But will they ever contest a grand slam?
"Interesting question," McNamara said. "The way they play and team together
there is no doubt they could win them. But the French is probably too
difficult [for singles and doubles], Wimbledon's tough, the US conditions are
hard ..."
In other words? "It's probably unlikely," he continued. "The problem
with a slam is that if it rains one day and matches get postponed, suddenly
doubles can really hamper singles and that's the main focus for both of them."
Which means the pair will probably never find a way into the crowded
Australian doubles hall of fame. Not that they don't have the ability
to do so.
"There's no doubt they are a good team and I think they would have won last
week if Mark hadn't been so tired," said McNamara, a four-time grand slam
doubles champion. "He played nine matches in a week and I don't think he
played nine all of last year."
From what he saw in practice in Sydney, Fitzgerald also believes Hewitt-
Philippoussis has the makings of a crack team.
"The thing is that they both volley very solidly," he said. "Mark is
hard to break at the best of times and the way Lleyton gets it back
they'll be very hard to get through."
Aside from team bonding, the combination is also a good public relations
exercise for both players. Hewitt has proved the unexpected master of
reconciliation and Philippoussis has been drawn at least partly into the
Australian team ethos.
Not that McNamara believes the Scud was ever as difficult to deal with as
had been suggested.
"He is not an outsider," insisted McNamara. "A lot of things have happened
during his career that have been misconstrued and been repeated publicly by
people who have a certain opinion of him.
"But, to be honest, that's not the way to handle a situation like that.
What you should be doing is getting on with someone as well as you can and
acknowledging that everyone is different."
Those words are a thinly veiled reference to John Newcombe's handling of
Philippoussis and the feud that ensued. Newcombe's replacement, Fitzgerald,
said he had made it his business to treat his players as individuals.
During the tie against Great Britain, Philippoussis would sometimes go
surfing to clear his head and that was fine by the Australian captain.
What the Australian Davis Cup team has needed in the past few years is a
reliable doubles pairing. Who would have thought that in Hewitt and
Philippoussis it would get such a harmonious team.
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這對原本看起來很不可思議的搭檔將會在下週的邁阿密和六月的女王草地再度搭配..
(不過記得上星期本來也有看到他們 IW 要搭配的消息..結果沒有?!)
在 DC 也很有可能讓他們搭配看看...
不過在大滿貫就不太可能囉....
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