5th December 1999
That's 'Flip' at his best Sunday Telegraph (Sydney) Fired-up Flip our big hope Sunday Herald Sun (Melbourne) Composited article from both papers by Peta Mark Philippoussis's performance against Sebastien Grosjean in the Davis Cup final was the best match I've ever seenfrom him and it keeps Australia in a strong position to win. Flip was terrific and handled the pressure unbelievably well to give Australia a 1-0 lead before Lleyton Hewitt justcouldn't quite pull it off against Cedric Pioline. I still think Australia's chances of winning this final are very good. The way this tie is developing nobody will be surprised if it comes down to the fifth rubber between Lleyton and Grosjean. If it does, my money will be on Lleyton. The first day had everything we've come to expect from Davis Cup, but the thing which really surprised was the way inwhich Mark handled the occasion. I was uncertain of how he would go simply because nobody knew much about his preparation for the match. He is obviously in very good form and his confidence reflects that. For a long time now Mark has been regarded as a very good player capable of great things and, in his match against Grosjean, he really lived up to his reputation. He was under all sorts of pressure to prove himself and he did very well. The last time I saw him play at that level was when he beat Pete Sampras at the 1996 Australian Open, but the difference between the two performances was that he didn't know what pressure was three years ago. Now he does and it takes special character to be able to walk into a situation like he did and come out with a win. If Mark had lost, it would have been even tougher for Lleyton. Cedric is a Wimbledon and US Open finalist and youcould see why as the match wore on. Lleyton struggled after not taking his chances in the first set. He was up a break a couple of times and then served for it in the tiebreak. Against a player like Pioline, you've got to make the most of your opportunities. What intrigued me most was how calm Lleyton was on court. I wonder if he might have been better off playing like he usually does. I spoke to him about an hour and a half before the match and he was determined not to give the crowd anything so that they wouldn't get on his case. As it turns out, it might have been a bit of a negative. He needed to get on top of Pioline, who likes to stand inside the baseline and get his opponent on the defensive. Lleyton showed what a fantastic fighter he is by coming back from 1-5 in the third set, but he just couldn't quite get there. We've got two great chances of wrapping it up tonight (Pat would have written this prior to the Doubles match, so he had already picked their win there!) On current form, and given that Lleyton kept Pioline out there for 3½ hours, Mark will be very hard to beat in the first match. Lleyton would have learnt a lot from his match with Pioline and I can see him beating Grosjean. Captain John Newcombe and all the boys believe they can nail this match and that's the way they're approaching it. ---------------------------------- My shoulder is healing well and I'm very happy with the progress. I'll be hitting a few balls this week, but I still don't have a clear answer about whether I'll play the Australian Open.T
hanks for the typing Peta