19th December, 1999

SHOULDERING A BURDEN

After weeks of carefully resisting the temptation to speed up my rehabilitation following shoulder surgery, I was given the all-clear this week by the doctor to start stretching out.

But, after talking to my physio, Lyn Watson, I've decided to continue on our present course of taking things slowly.

I haven't tried to hit serves yet and that is going to be crucial to when I'll be able to play again.

Hitting ground strokes and hitting serves are completely different challenges.

Serving will test the muscles around the shoulder in a different way to hitting ground strokes and if I push too hard, I could put myself two weeks behind again.

I had some soreness immediately after hitting ground strokes for the first time last week, so it is natural to expect there will be some discomfort when I start serving again.

That said, the doctor's report was encouraging, but I still haven't made any commitment to when and where I can start playing again.

The main reason is things are changing from day to day. There are days when the shoulder feels better than it does at other times.

I'm still confident of playing during the Australian summer and I've entered the AAPT Championships in Adelaide and the Colonial Classic in Melbourne before the Australian Open.

But if things don't work out, my next target will be the first-round of the Davis Cup against Switzerland in Zurich in the first week of February.

All I can do at the moment is concentrate on strengthening the muscles in the shoulder to make it stronger than it was before.

If I can do that, and I'm careful about how I train, there's no reason why I can't continue to play at the top level for a long time.

The ticker-tape parade in Melbourne on Wednesday will be a fantastic tribute to the guys who helped bring the Davis Cup home to Australia. None of us have ever been involved in this type of celebration as a team and it's appropriate that it should take place in Melbourne, the home of Australian sport.

The parade, which starts at 11am and proceeds down Swanston Street to the Town Hall, is also an opportunity for the people who have stuck behind the team to enjoy the occasion. And for the players it will be a chance to say thank you to those people.

The past week has been taken up with a combination of activities, including training, treatment and learning to surf.

I've been up in Queensland training with "Muddy" (fitness trainer Mark Waters) and Peter Tramacchi and everything has been going well. I'm feeling strong.

I was down in Sydney on Monday for the launch of my book Rocket to the Top at Fox Studios where I took a group of kids on the backlot tour and then stayed on at Sport Central for a function

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