20th February, 2000 MARK'S SPARK Mark Philippoussis' great win in San Jose last weekend proved once and for all that it is possible to excel on the ATP Tour and in Davis Cup. Mark had been concerned that adding the first round of the Davis Cup to an already packed schedule was not in his best interests. But his performances in Zurich and then at the Sybase Open showed that anything is possible. It was a huge effort in San Jose for Mark and it was unfortunate he's since pulled out in Memphis with knee soreness. Mark, Lleyton and myself have been in constant contact over Davis Cup and we hope to co-ordinate a plan to share the load. If one of us is tired or injured or struggling for form, the other two can step up and take the responsibility. We're starting preparations for the quarter-final against Germany in Adelaide in April and we know it will be tough. Boris Becker is doing his best to convince Nicolas Kiefer to play. If he does, the Germans will have a full-strength team. My right shoulder continues to hold up pretty well. On Wednesday I put myself under real pressure by serving for 40minutes and I pulled up well the next day, which was the thing I was most concerned about. I didn't feel any soreness on serve, and just a tinge on the sliced backhand, but it was nowhere near as bad as the pain I had when I had to pull out of the Australian Open doubles. I'm hitting on a daily basis and I'm confident I will be back for Delray Beach in just over a week. During visits to Melbourne for the operation on my shoulder and physiotherapy, I had the pleasure of working with the guys from Melbourne Storm. One of the guys I had regular contact with was Michael Moore, who died tragically in Auckland a few weeks ago. Michael was a genuine good bloke whose passing is an incredibly sad loss to the sporting community.