SCUD'S SALVO NOT HURTING TEAM SPIRIT

 

Coach Peter MCnamara's comments about Mark Philippoussis opting out of Davis Cup team contention for the final have been surprising.

 

It was surprising for McNamara to say this week that Scud would be available for the team under John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur next year if it suited his schedule.

 

The Australian team is still trying to work out the motives for McNamara saying what he did.

 

But if there is a positive to come out of a negative situation it is that, at last, Philippoussis has finally come out and given the real reason he does not always want to play.  It is his schedule.  That is an understandable issue and he has gained respect now that it is out in the open.

 

Who knows what is going to happen in Barcelona in the final in a couple of weeks, but it was resolved in Brisbane after the semi-final that the team was prepared to go in with that combination and take whatever result. 

 

If that means losing with Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Woodforde, Sandon Stolle and myself playing, so be it.  It is a team that works well together.  That has not changed.  The team is the most important thing and it is bigger than any individual, no matter how good they are.

 

The Australian Davis Cup team never wants to go to the United States system where players pick and choose when they are going to play.

 

Australia has never been like that.  That said, all the Aussies are getting along well, including Scud and myself and Lleyton and Scud.  But unfortunately Newk and Rochey have been unfairly attacked again by Scud's group over the Davis Cup.

 

Meanwhile the training camp in Marbella has been excellent so far.  There is a great atmosphere.  The Spanish have given us a lot of good courts and have prepared them in a similar way to what the final's surface is expected to play.

 

Apart from getting used to the clay again, the team members are really enjoying each other's company and the spirit is great.  We are going to give it our best shot in the Cup on December 8-10.