|
23rd July, 2000-07-23 Team spirit a priceless commodity AFTER the events of the past month at Wimbledon and the Davis Cup in Brisbane, it hasn't been too hard to sleep this week. I've been relaxing at Noosa with my brother Geoff and "Guga" (Gustavo Kuerten). I've been playing golf while the other two have been taking on the waves. But it's also been a time to think back on our semi-final victory over Brazil and realise what a difference strong team spirit makes. Lleyton (Hewitt) spoke of the value of team spirit after his win on Sunday and, the fact is, you need good energy around you. You must have that camaraderie and a desire to hang out together. That's what being in a team is all about. When you don't have those things, there's an imbalance and it has an impact on the team. We have all said our piece about Mark Philippoussis missing the semi-final and there's nothing more to say on the subject. There are a lot of important tournaments coming up, including the US Open and Olympics, and the last thing we need is for the issue to keep re-surfacing. If Mark wants to talk, I'm sure we will talk. For the moment, all of us are focusing on doing our best on the US hardeourt circuit, which is where 1 tend to have my best results. Selection in the Olympic team was one of my major goals this season. I knew a couple of weeks ago that I had cemented a spot, but it's always nice to see it confirmed in public. I can't wait to get there, to live in the athletes' village and soak up the atmosphere. The US Open finishes on September 10, and we are heading straight back to Sydney for a training camp with "Rochey" (Davis Cup coach Tony Roche) to give ourselves the best chance of doing well, I'm also going to carry the Olympic torch in Sydney from the Opera House to Circular Quay. It is going to be another amazing aspect of the whole Olympic experience. |