Sunday Sportsworld - Seven Network
Sunday, 14th June, 1998
Bruce McAvaney and Gavin Hopper (in London)
Bruce: Gavin, what about Mark Philippoussis. How is he right now? Because we read about a week ago that he was seriously considering not even playing at Wimbledon. You’re with him and guiding him at the moment. Has his frame of mind changed a bit in the last 5 or 6 days?
Gavin: Yeah, look. It really only takes a couple of hours, Bruce, to change that mind. It’s a difficult thing in the ATP. What happens in a press conference is that you come off the court, you get little time to shower etc. and cool down, and then you’re straight into a press conference. I think if I took any elite sportsperson and we walked into a press conference just after a loss which wasn’t expected, you’d probably get the similar sort of reaction. He opened up his heart a
little bit about how he was feeling at the time. A couple of hours later we sat down and spoke about a couple of things. He’d spoken with his father, we had some nice words with Pat Cash, and he’s trained fantastic in the last few days.
Bruce: What about the situation from the Davis Cup? I hate to go over old ground, but is there still a residual feeling there that he’s not wanted, as such, and there’s some ill-feeling from the other Australians towards him? I mean, how is he carrying that at the moment?
Gavin: He’s on very good terms with the players. We played the World Team Cup with Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde a couple of weeks ago in Dusseldorf. There was a great feeling around the 3 or 4 of them. I know that he spends a little bit of time with Pat Rafter. There’s no ill-feelings as far as the players go.
Bruce: We’ve seen that Sampras is struggling, and when we come into Wimbledon, Gavin, there are very few chances, very few men that can probably win the tournament. Philippoussis is one of them. He could seize the moment here, I know he’s playing poorly, but there’s a big chance that he could do something important in the next week and a half.
Gavin: Y’know, I think that’s pretty observant, Bruce. It’s something that I suppose a lot of people, because of his recent results, have wiped him off a little bit. But in terms of performance, he’s actually not too far behind a big win here. What I’ve seen over the last year is a real maturity in his game. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be results straight away. He’s way way better prepared than
this time last year, even though he won Queens. I would say, and this is an honest comment from someone who has been with him for the last 18 months, he’s way better prepared to have a go at Wimbledon this year. He’s lost some tight matches and he’s been a little unlucky in the last 4 or 5 weeks to lose some tight matches and if he had’ve got through them, the whole attitude towards his favouritism would have changed. But you’re right. It’s amazing the field, it’s so open. You wouldn’t put
money on anyone in the men’s field at the present stage. And I think he’s a great chance. I really do.
Bruce: What about Pat Rafter? Rafter too has had a lot of problems. Pat has admitted that he’s bewildered, he’s not enjoying himself, he’s not enjoying his tennis at the moment. He’d like to laze around on the beach and freshen up. Is it possible to turn that around in a week leading into Wimbledon?
Gavin: In terms of Pat Rafter, I think Pat, compared to last year, he’s definitely not playing with as much enthusiasm, but I wouldn’t say his game’s any different. That can turn around pretty quickly. One point in grass-court tennis can change a whole match and that’s probably why he lost the other day (Queens). I didn’t see too much of it, but I saw little bits of it. Don’t count him out for sure. The guy may have lost a
little bit of enthusiasm in terms of excitement, but once the bell rings and Wimbledon starts, the excitement starts again.
Bruce: Gavin, thanks very much for your time and good luck over the next 3 weeks. You’ll have a lot to look forward to.
