last updated 12/31/01
December 31, 2001: It seems that Mark is back to playing doubles again! At the AAPT he's teamed up with Briton Tim Henman and they won their opening match against Kreitzmann/Vanhoudt 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Mark will begin his singles run tomorrow against Boutter. Be sure to read the Herald Sun article "Reborn Scud hard to fault" - Mark talks about having a renewed passion for the game and training thanks to time spent training with Sampras in L.A. before Christmas. And best of all he says that his knee has been inflamation free for some weeks now! Go Mark!
December 30, 2001: Four new articles about the upcoming season added.
December 28, 2001: The new tennis season is about to begin - just three days til Mark's first outing of the season at the Australian Mens Hardcourt Championships in Adelaide. Good Luck Mark! Also Mark may be playing in the new Octagon run event at the Boroondara tennis centre in Melbourne from January 9th to 11th. No official confirmation yet though. One new article and photo added.
December 7, 2001: It's the off-season so things are slow, but there is one new article available. Also for the upcoming season, right now Mark has the following scheduled: AAPT Championships in Adelaide (start Dec 31st), Australian Open (start mid-Jan), and one exhibition between the two.
November 26, 2001: While the 2001 tennis season may be over for the year, there will still be updates of whatever news comes out. The first potential event for 2002 is the Australian Mens Hardcourt Championships in Adelaide from December 31st to January 6th. Because he is currently ranked 105 he is outside the potential field, but he has applied for wild card entry and chances are good he'll get it.
November 6, 2001: My apologies for the week of missing updates. I was out of the country and my laptop chose that time to act up so I was without 'net access. Mark did reasonably well at the Masters event in Paris. In round one he defeated Mahut 6-3, 6-4. In round two he lost to number 4 seed Kafelnikov 6-7 (2-7), 4-6. Two articles added.
October 23, 2001: Mark had another shaky outing at the Stockholm Open, losing to Grosjean 2-6, 7-5, 2-6. Unfortunately with it being a night game, it won't make the print cycle til tomorrow and there doesn't seem to be any details available on the match, so we'll have to wait til tomorrow to find out what cost Mark the match.
October 18, 2001: A new feature has been added to the site - The Mark Philippoussis Archives Announcement email list. This list will allow visitors to subscribe to receive a message whenever this site is updated. Send a message to mark-philippoussis-archives-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to subscribe. This is an annoucement-only list for site updates so at most there will be one message per day. Announcements will include the latest scores, articles, photos and other items that have been added to this site.
October 17, 2001: Another stumble for Mark, this one by the name of Goran Ivanisevic and a loss 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 3-6. But it was a good battle, with mark not dropping serve til the 8th game of the final set. Two new photos, a few articles and an excellent interview from Monday added. I recommend the interivew as it's one of the more comprehensive ones since his injury.
October 16, 2001: Mark got a little revenge in the first round of the Masters Series in Stuttgart, taking out A. Martin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. It was Martin who defeated him last week in Vienna. Up next for Mark is Ivanisevic. Several articles and one photo linked.
October 11, 2001: Approximately one dozen new articles added, going back to 1998.
October 9, 2001: In a small setback to his tennis return, Mark lost 6-3, 3-6, 1-6 to Alberto Martin at the CA Trophy in Vienna. Mark was quoted post-match saying: "I was serving and volleying and then I stopped doing it," Scud said. "That's what happens when you lack match practice." One photo and nine article added.
Septmeber 27, 2001: Mark his his first snag on the comeback trail, losing 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 3-6 to Schuettler in the second round of the Salem Open. Fifteen new articles and one photo added. (several articles had photos, but only one was actually recent - Mark's growing his hair out again
September 26, 2001: He's back! In a great first outting, Mark put away Levy 6-3, 7-5 in the opening round of the Salem Open. But the best news is that after the match Mark said that his knee seemed to be holding up well and there was no pain.
September 23, 2001: Finally, some great news! Mark will be returning to play next week at the Salem Open in Hong Kong! After that event, he has a week off before heading to Europe for the Masters Series tournaments in Stuttgart and Paris. Also a number of articles on his comeback. We wish him the best of luck in his comeback!
September 17, 2001: Mark's comeback is still unofficial at this point, though one source did mention the possibility of the Hong Kong tournament. Thanks to Caryn for spotting a great article on Mark's injury and time off.
August 27, 2001: In a recent Australian news article Mark's manager says he's looking to the post US Open circuit in Asia and Europe to start his comeback, although they have not yet decided which tournament it would be. He was just about ready to make it at the US Open, but decided that jumping suddenly into 5 set matches on hard0court with no warm-up tournament would be a mistake for his knee. This update the 2000 articles were moved off to their own archives.
August 22, 2001: While there's been no official press release on the matter it seems that Mark will be passing on the US Open. The draw for the event was recently posted and Mark is sadly not listed. On the positive side, missing the US Open means he has a protected ranking of 16.
August 9, 2001: I'm feeling a bit like a broken record with these updates, but the latest news is that 'there is no news.' Mark is hitting balls and right now is still scheduled for the Legg Mason starting this weekend, but it's not looking good. Three articles have been added talking about Mark coming back for the US Open or not. If he doesn't play the US Open, he'll have been out for 6 months which invokes the ATP protected ranking rule and he can retain his pre-injury ranking of 16 for entering events. Also this update the Archives were purged of numerous links (mainly articles) that have expired.
July 27, 2001: Well Wimbledon has come and gone and the US Open is only a few weeks away. I'd hoped by now there'd be some good news to share, but the best I can offer is some so-so news. It seems that Mark has postponed his comeback again, pulling out of the Masters Series in Montreal. He is still listed for Cincinnati the week after, but the report is that that event is iffy and a more likely comeback will be August 13th in Washington. It seems that Mark is aware he came back too fast last time and so it taking it *very* cautiously. One news article added and a link to a new Mark site as well.
June 15, 2001: Well, Wimbledon confirmed it yesterday, Philippoussis has withdrawn from the event. There's no word on when his comeback will be, but there is still hope for the US hardcourt season and the US Open!
June 8, 2001: Things are not looking positive for fans to see Mark play the grass-court season. On Thursday Tennis Australia announced that while Mark is still officially entered in Wimbledon that it is likely he will not be playing. Right now he is still recovering and is not hitting on the courts. Hope still shines for the US hardcourt season and US Open.
June 6, 2001: Stella Artois (Queens), the opening tournament of the grass court season starts on Monday the 11th and as of today Philippoussis is still listed to play. Hopefully this will be a triumphant return from injury for Mark!
May 7, 2001: Finally some news! This past weekend it was reported that Mark is still off the court and not hitting any balls, confirming that he is out for the entire clay-court season. Depending on how the workouts go, Mark may return for some of the grass court season, including Wimbledon, but he is taking his time and not wanting to rush the knee.
April 3, 2001: Two more articles on Mark's injury added. The cartilage damage while in the same knee is to a different area and doctors estimate a full recovery. Mark hopes to be back for the grass court season later this year. On the up side, a link to Caryn's photos from Indian Wells was added to the photos page.
March 30, 20001: Bad news for Mark fans today, it seems that at the Ericsson Mark tore the cartilage in his left knee (the same knee injured at the end of last season). He is scheduled to undergoe surgery in the U.S. and will be off the circuit for the next two months.
March 27, 2001: While Mark's run at the Ericsson Open was cut short by Federer 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 2-6, it wasn't all bad news - his clothing sponsor, FILA, extended its contact with Philippoussis til 2003.
March 26, 2001: It's become something of a relief for Mark when he has to face Chang, Saturday marked the fourth consecutive win for Mark over Chang. At the second round of the Ericsson Mark advanced 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.
March 23, 2001: The Ericsson Open is underway, and seeded 16th Mark had a first round bye. He will face Michael Chang in the second round. More photos were added to the Ray Giubilo gallery and two articles on Davis Cup also added.
March 14, 2001: The first round at Indian Wells came with a nasty suprise for Mark, namely Fish, who's been on something of a giant-killer streak lately. Unfortunately Mak wasn't able to break his streak and lost 4-6, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6. One photo added to the gallery.
March 8, 2001: Mark may be on break this week, but this site isn't! Eight new fantastic photos from Ray Giubilo were added including some off court photos with one of his many cars.
March 2, 2002: Mark's impressive comeback win cme to a halt last night with a 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (3-7) to Balcells at the SyBase Open. There don't seem to be any good reports up of the match, but judging by the stats Mark's biggest problem was on a 49% first serve percentage and an unhealthy 32 unforced errors.
March 1, 2001: Fighting off a high fever and flu-like symptoms Mark struggled to a first round 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 win over Hantshck last night. It might not have been pretty (45 unforced errors) but he's through and he has the seventh match of the day today against Balcells so there's time for some recovery.
February 27, 2001: A fantastic new addition to the site is a photo gallery for the work of Ray Giubilo! Several great on court and off-court photos of Mark are currently in his gallery on the Photographs page. This week Mark is at the SyBase Open trying to defend his title! Good Luck Mark! You can follow the action at the Sybase website at www.sybaseopen.com - for a real treat look up Mark under 'Player Personality Profiles' for an extensive Q&A. General site updates on other pages.
Congratulations Kroger St. Jude Champion!!
February 24, 2001: Another day, another win! Mark blasted past Haas 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-5) to gain the final. With an impressive 26 aces, Philippoussis went 3-1 lifetime against Haas and reached the Kroger St Jude final for the second time (he won the title in 1998). In interviews Mark has said that the knee feels 110% and is giving him no pain at all.
February 23, 2001, pm update: Another match and another win for Mark, with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Tursunov. This is will be Mark's third appearance in the semi-finals in six appearances at the Kroger St. Jude. Next up is Tommy Haas, winner of the tournament last year - this will be a match between the two previous tournament winners.
February 23, 2001: Mark's comeback just keeps right on rolling. Thursday night he defeated Gustafsson 6-3, 7-5 and on three games in the secodn set he didn't allow a single point on his serve. Next up is Tursunov in the quarterfinals today. In one of the articles Mark credits Agassi for the inspiration to work on his conditioning. Fans will also be happy to note that the bad blonde dye job has gone and he's back to his natural dark brown color!
February 21, 2001: Mark's season opener against Viloca was a good one, a 6-2, 7-5 victory. But the best part of the victory is that post match, mark said there was no pain in his knee during the match and that he felt he was moving well. Several articles about the match added.
February 20, 2001: For Mark fans, the tennis season is finally about to get under way. Later tonight Mark makes his season debut at the Kroger St. Jude in Memphis against qualifer Viloca. To tide you over til the match starts, here's a new link to tennis photographer Brigette Grassotti - she has some nice photos of Mark in her gallery. Also the ATP tour has changed it's website around so that it doesn't take a small century to load. You still need to drop down several layers to find the information you need, but it is an improvement. Good news is they're carrying live scores from Memphis!
January 25, 2001: Good news Mark fans! The knee surgery went well and Mark has resumed training. He plans to return to tournament play on February 19th in Memphis. While Mark was not able to play in his home country tournament, he kepy busy with charity work. He is supporting a charity called "Open Family" that helps homeless children in Footscray (his old neighborhood in Melbourne's western suburbs). On the 18th he made an appearance to launch a program that provides textbooks, stationery and calculators to the children.
