December 30, 2006: Mark roared to a start today with a stunning upset win over Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6 (7-0). Post-match mark said he was thrilled with his win and that it was a reward for his weeks of hard work. Alicia Molik also won her match against Petrova. In the mixed they lost 6-7 (6-8), 1-6. They next play France (Tatiana Golovin and Jerome Haehnel) on January 2nd. On a fashion-related note Mark it appears has been back to the tattoo parlor as his tattoo of Alexander the Great shows some new flames or other work surrounding as compared to his earlier one.
December 28, 2006: Mark is still in waiting to find out if he will receive one of the three remaining wild cards for the Australian Open. He is hoping that a good showing at the Hopman Cup starting on the 30th will help sway Tennis Australia his way. Mark has been working in Adelaide with Darin Cahill and looks to be in very good shape. Cahill says it's an informal relationship - he's just helping a friend - and while he will not be in Perth had no comment on any other upcoming tournaments. Expected to arrive in Perth is Mark's dad, Nick, who has been absent from the circuit for several months. Despite constant rumors in the press that the falling-out had more to do with Mark's then fiance Alexis, at a press conference in Perth Mark again spoke that the need was just to be out on his own for a while and that he was still in regular contact with his father. (At the press conference Mark also confirmed that he'd split with Alexis back in September).
December 9, 2006: Mark lost to Henman 6-7 (4-7), 4-6 in their exhibition match at the Blackrock Masters in London. Not a win fans would hope for, but considering it's his first match against a top player in some time it at least wasn't an embarrassing loss. Mark has been confirmed to pkay in the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand starting on January 8th. He's also announced that he will not play in the Australian Open qualifying rounds and will instead request a direct wildcard for the event. Tournament director Tiley has gone on the record as hoping that Mark will re-consider as there is no guarantee the Open will grant him that wildcard. With a current ranking of 114, Mark would need the help of lots of withdrawls to make a direct entry to the Open.
December 2, 2006: Unfortunately for Mark, the Wailea Challenger didn't go as planned for a big rankings boost as he lost to Evans 4-6, 6-3, 3-6 in the second round. Monday's rankings should have Mark ranked aroung 113. As to what Mark intends to do to play in the Australian Open is anyone's guess, but his three options are: 1. Attend the Tennis Australia training camp from the 10th to 19th and hope to be awarded TA's wildcard slot; 2. He can appeal directly to the Australian Open as they have four wildcard slots still open; 3. He can skip the wildcard process entirely and play in the qualifying rounds. Either way Mark's going to need a little bit of luck to make it to round one.
November 29, 2006: Mark is in Hawaii this week playing at the Wailea Men's Challenger in an attempt to boost his rankings to get directly into the Australian Open. When entries close next week it is likely that the last direct entry will be 105. Currently ranked at 117 Mark will likely need to make it to the final in order to get the rankings boost. In Hawaii Mark played a rather uneven match 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 2-2 and was helped by his opponents withdrawl in the third. His second round opponent will be Brendan Evans.
November 21, 2006: A bit late on the news, but Mark had pulled out of the Nashville challenger with tendonitis (inflamation) in his right bicep. Mark is also confirmed for a charity match at the Royal Albert Hall on December 5th during the BlackRock Masters seniors tournament. Mark will play against Henman to raise funds for charity. There's been no word on what events Mark
is planning for the early 2007 season, however the direct entry cut-off for the Australian Open is 100 so he'll need to play some early tournaments if he hopes to boost his ranking enough to avoid qualifying.
November 5, 2006: Mark will next play in the Music City Challenger in Nashville, TN starting on November 6th. His first round match will be against Cecil Mamiit and should be on Tuesday.
October 30, 2006: Mark has withdrawn from the Louisville Challenger with a back injury. There has not been any word on exactly what the extent of the injury is or how long it will keep him out of play.
October 22, 2006: Go Mark! Mark won the Calabasas Challenger today defeating Delic 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3. It was a tight win, but Mark did manage to pull it off. While not a main tour event, this win will help give Mark a boost in the rankings. Next for mark will be the Ford Tennis Championship in Louisville, TN.
October 21, 2006: Mark put together another two wins at the Calabasas Challenger this weekend, defeating Cleveland 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) in the quarterfinals and Healy 6-2, 7-5 in the semifinals. Tomorrow he will play the final against Amer Delic. No real news reports on how Mark is playing in the matches themselves, but for him putting toether multiple wins in a row is a good sign, even if only at the Challenger level, considering tghat a few months ago he couldn't even do that.
October 20, 2006: Mark put two wins back-to-back which fans can only hope is a good sign of things to come. He defeated Levy 6-3, 6-4 in the second round at Calabasas. Next up he will play Tyler Cleveland in the quarterfinals at 6pm tonight.
October 18, 2006: Mark won his first round match at Calabasas, defeating Ram 6-4, 6-3. Mark will next face Harel Levy of Israel in the second round on Thursday. Mark has also been announced as playing with Molik at the Hopman Cup this January in Perth.
October 17, 2006: A correction to yesterday's posting: Mark's first round match against Ram is tonight, not last night. He's scheduled for the last match of the day, which should start sometime after 8pm California time.
October 16, 2006: Mark is indeed playing in the Calabasas Challenger this week in California and his first match will be later tonight against Rajeev Ram of the United States (ranked 237). Two articles from the Australian press added that speak of Mark's work with Cahill and how he is trying to draw inspiration from Agassi. Hopefully Mark can turn it around and start winning some matches again.
October 11, 2006: Last night was not exactly Mark's night as he lost 6-7 (2-7), 5-7 to Mark Warburg, a player nearly 100 places lower than Mark's current 131st. While the score looks close, Mark's play was rather disappointing with errors coming at critical points. The Calabasas Challenger in Calfornia starts next week and while no players are currently listed on their site, it's possible that Mark will try for this event as well. Mark is scheduled to compete in the Ford Tennis Championship challenger event in Louisville, TN starting October 30th.
October 10, 2006: Mark returns to the court today at the Swanston Challenger in Sacramento, California. His first round match will be tonight against Sam Warburg of the US - the match will start at 8pm pacfic time. Mark is the number four seed at this event. (Thanks to Nicholas for the news!) The Sacramento Bee reports that "Philippoussis, in fact, spent the last two weeks working with Agassi's trainer, Gil Reyes, and coach, Australian Darren Cahill, in Agassi's hometown of Las Vegas." Assuming he's willing to listen and follow through Gil is just the man to get Mark back into shape.
September 23, 2006: Australia is out of the Davis Cup, with a straight 3-0 defeat by Argentina. Mark had the first match on Friday against Nalbandian and was taken down 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. This was Mark's first match on clay in almost two years and it showed with Mark making errors all over the place. Later defeats of both Hewitt and Arthurs & Henley meant Agentina has now taken Australia out of the Davis Cup two years in a row.
September 14, 1006: Australia's Davis Cup semifinal match against Argentina is next week and Australia has formally announced their team which will include Mark, Lleyton Hewitt and doubles specialists Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley.
September 2, 2006: In interviews post-match Mark spoke of being pumped up for the Davis Cup semifinals against Agentina. He's feeling healthy and is looking forward to getting in the team spirit. The semifinals will be September 22-24 in Parque Roca, Buenos Aires on clay. Mark also denied reports of a split between him and his father, saying that they still talk everyday and the reason for his father's absence has been because Mark felt he wanted to give it a try on his own for a while.
August 30, 2006: Unfortunately, but unsuprisingly, Mark lost to Nadal today 4-6, 4-6, . Nadal just had the goods and showed why he's ranked 2nd - there wasn't a shot he was missing. Now though Nadal played really well, Mark also played at a level better than I think we've seen so far this year and had he drawn someone other than Nadal he might have advanced. McEnroe was commentating for the match and repeated something we've all heard before - if Mark really wants to make it back to the top he needs to improve just one thing - his fitness. It was especially obvious against such an quick and agile player as Nadal, but Mark hasn't really improved that part of his game. He'd have a much easier time if his overall fitness and quickness were better. Article and photo update to follow later today.
August 29, 2006: The rains that mostly skipped Wimbledon decided to take in the US Open this year with almost today's entire schedule being rained out. As a result, Mark's mnatch against Nadel will be the first of the day tomorrow at 11am on Arthur Ashe.
August 28, 2006: Mark takes the court tomorrow against Nadel as the second match on Arthur Ashe. Also there's an interesting article about the ATP's plans to make some changes to the tour events for next season. Changes include starting tournaments on Sundays (instead of Mondays) and using a round robin format in early rounds. The changes are designed to increase the sports visibility and encourage more fans to follow the sport.
August 23, 2006: The draw has been released for the US Open starting next week. Unfortunately Mark did not get any benefit to his chances. He's in the bottom quarter of the draw and his first round opponent will be none other than Rafael Nadal, the second seed. Mark's going to need to bring his numbr one game if we wants to advance to the second round.
August 22, 2006: In a new twist to his coaching stable, Mark has parted ways with his father. Nick has been absent from the tennis circuit for a few months and speculation was that Mark and his father had a falling out over his fiance Alexis. While Mark declined to comment on the reasons for the split, Mark confirmed that his father will no longer be travelling with him or coaching him.
Mark videotapes for sale I am selling off some of my Mark tapes now that I've digitized them and have the following tapes availble for purchase (first responders get them - email hoo@hooloovoo.com). Cost with shipping is $11 to US/Canada, $14 overseas. The tapes for sale are:
1. 2003 David CUp Semifinals vs. Federer (NTSC)
2. 2003 Wimbledon Final vs. Federer (NTSC)
3. 2003 Wimbledon Rd 4 vs Agassi (NTSC)
4. 2004 Davis Cup Final vs Moya (PAL)
5. 2004 Davis Cup Final vs. Ferrero (PAL)
6. 2004 Davis Cup vs. Enqvist and vs. Bjorkman (PAL)
7. 2004 Australian Open Rd 1 vs Johansson, Rd 2 vs Santoro part 1 (PAL)
8. 2004 Australian Open Rd 2 vs Santoro part 2, Rd 3 vs Ancic part 1 (PAL)
9. 2004 Australian Open Rd 2 vs Ancic part 2, Rd 4 vs. Arazi (PAL)
August 19, 2006: The draw for the main event at the Pilot Pen has been made and Mark was nto awarded a wildcard for the tournament. Nor did he attempt to qualify so it looks like he will be sitting out this week prior to the start of the US Open.
August 17, 2006: Mark has received the nod from Tennis Australia for their wildcard slot for the US Open. The US Open begins August 28th. With the US Open wildcard the chances increase that the organizers of the Pilot Pen may also grant Mark a wildcard.
August 16, 2006 Mark withdrew from the Bronx Tennis Classic yesterday due to the bone bruise on the toe. Now Mark's tennis life is going to become very tricky - he's applied to the US Open for a direct wildcard, he might have to have a playoff with fellow Aussies for the Tennis Australia wildcard, if he gets neitehr he may have to qualify, but he's also applied for a wildcard into the Pilot Pen which runs directly opposite the US Open qualifying.
August 13, 2006: Poor Mark just cannot seem to get a break. In his quarterfinal match on Thursday he injured the little toe on his left foot. He received treatment but it was still very painful to put weight on. He was able to make it through that match, but yesterday he withdrew from the semifinal match. The diagnosis is a severe bone bruise that if he keeps playing on before it heals could fracture. Mark is entered in the Bronx Tennis Classic that starts on Monday but it's not yet clear whether the toe will be strong enough for him to compete. His potential first-round match up is with Jeff Morrison. Mark has also asked for a wildcard into the Pen Pilot tournament in New Haven that begins August 21st.
August 11, 2006: Although Mark did not start off the match well, he was able to pull his fame together and defeat Cakl 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinals of the dBI Challenger. Mark has been showing some excellent form this week with some relative consistancy on both serve and groundstrokes. Post-match yesterday Mark spoke about playing better when he's more aggressive and that as he plays more matches he's getting back into the form of that kind of play. Here's hoping he can take that confidence with him back to the main circuit. In his semifinal match Mark will play Scott Oudsema with play starting at 2pm EST. There has been no update on whether Tennis Australia will grant Mark their US Open wildcard, or whether he'll have to play off against his fellow Aussies for the spot.
August 10, 2006: Mark advanced to the quarterfinals today defeating Okun 7-5, 6-1 in their second round match. Mark's next opponent will be Tomas Cakl of the Czech Republic. Unfortunately there's next to no major press at the dBI Challenger so other than results there's been no word on Mark's level of play.
August 8, 2006: Mark won his first round match at the dBI Tennis Challenger tonight, defeating Martin Lee 7-6 (7-2), 3-6, 6-3. His next opponent will be Noam Okun on Thursday.
August 6, 2006: Mark's first round opponent in the dBI Tennis Challenger will be Martin Lee of Great Britain. He will take the court on Tuesday.
August 2, 2006: Yesterday Mark withdrew from the Vancouver Open due to "suspected back problems." There's been no update as to what that is but it is likely a reoccurrance of the back spasms that bothered him back in February. Mark is still scheduled for the dBI tournament next week in Binghamton. (thanks to Ruth for the injury news)
July 30, 2006: Mark has been given a wildcard into the Odlum Brown Vancouer Open, a Challenger event in Vancovuer, British Columbia. His first round match (played either Monday or Tuesdau) will be against Simon Stadler of Germany. (Thanks to opiklop for the heads-up).
July 28, 2006: Mark will next play in the dBI Tennis Challenger event in Binghamton, New York which runs Aug 7th to 13th. Tennis Australia has set another wildcard exchange with the US Open organizers and they will be deciding in the next few weeks whether to award the wildcard directly or have a play-off for it. While the US Open takes 128 spots, Mark just misses out as places need to be held open for qualifiers and wildcards - Mark will need that wildcard to will have to qualify. The US Open begins August 28th.
July 24, 2006: Where's Mark? A very good question! Despite his claims that he'd be entering every tournament he could, he's no where to be found this week - either on the main tour or the Challenger circuit.
July 18, 2006: Unfortunately Mark's winning streak came to an end today with a loss to Lee in the first round of the RCA Championships 4-6, 6-7 (3-7). Post-match Mark said it was the humidity and surface that cost him the match. After playing so much recently on grass he wasn't prepared for the switch in play to hard courts. For a off-court glimpse of Mark check out Gimelstob's Sports Illustrated blog where he talks about the match and his trip to Indianapolis with Mark. While there's been no mention of where Mark will play next, it is likely he will try to qualify for the Los Angeles tournament at month's end.
July 17, 2006: It's amazing what one little win can do for your rankings. Mark jumped a whopping 89 places up to 125 in the entry rankings and up 37 to number 74 in the year-end race. While some of the games biggest returners weren't in Newport, one amazing stat to come from Newport is that Mark only faced 8 break points and saved all of them - he was undefeated for all 54 service games! Mark's first round match at the RCA Championships will be the second match of the day on center court against Lee of Korea.
CONGRATULATIONS MARK!!
July 16, 2006: Mark has won the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships! Way to go Mark! In a masterful display of tennis Mark made short work of Gimelstob 6-3, 7-5. Mark had the serve working and was hitting some beautiful groundstrokes. Some of those backhands were textbook perfect and he made good use of something we don't see a lot of, the offensive lob - very effective against a player like Gimelstob who hugs the net. This was Mark's 11th career title and the first since the Heineken Open in 2003. Along with a nice boost to his rankings, this win and the good level of play all week will give Mark a nice boost of confidence for the upcoming tournaments.
July 15, 2006: Newport is certainly turning out to be a good location for Mark as he advanced to the final today defeating Melzer 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 6-0. This is Mark's first appearance in a final in almost 3 years! (The last was the Heineken Open in September 2003). Mark had a very slow start against Melzer with problems getting first serves into the court. Once he settled back and stopped trying to ace every serve he got more balls in play and was able to build to win the points. In the second and third sets Mark finally got his serve firing and practically steam rolled Melzer. In tomorrow's final he'll be playing Gimelstob whom he holds a 2-1 lead with their last match in 2000. Mark has also received a Special Exemption into the RCA Championships in Indianapolis starting July 17th. His first round opponent there will be Hyung-Taik Lee of Korea. A Special Exemption (SE) are given when a player who has entered the qualifying round for the a tournament is playing in the semifinals of the previous tournament (ie. Mark had entered the RCA qualifiers but can't make them as he's still playing in Newport, thus he gets a SE to the main draw). They're not that common since usually the players who make it to the semis are ranked high enough that they wouldn't need to qualify. (thanks to Vittorio and Ruth for the RCA info!)
July 14, 2006: Go Mark! For the first time since the Ordina Open in June 2005, Mark has advanced to the semifinals of a tournament. It may not be a Slam or Masters, but still it's a good milestone. To advance Mark got some revenge on Fish for his past three losses, defeating him 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. He managed to overcome some erratic moments which is another good sign. Next up is Melzer, whom he's only played once - a win at Wimbledon 2000.
July 12, 2006: Mark won his second round match in Newport today 6-3, 6-4 over De Voest. Mark's opponent in the third round will be the winner of the Fish and Alvez match.
July 11, 2006: Mark has won another match! This time 6-4, 6-2 over Goldstein in the first round of the Hall of Fame Championships. Next Mark will play De Voest of South Africa (ranked 140) in the second round.
July 10, 2006: Sadly Mark's Wimbledon appearance didn't do much for his overall rankings. While he did advance 9 spots in the Champions race, more importantly he dropped 4 spots in the entry rankings to a miserable 214. He'll need some significant wins to bring that up close to the level for direct entry to the larger tournaments! In Newport Mark's first opponent will be number 3 seed Paul Goldstein and they will take the court tomorrow.
July 5, 2006: Mark has been granted yet another wildcard, this time to the Campbells Hall of Fame Classic in Newport, NY starting July 10th. Newport is the only ATP event on grass to take place in the US, so it's a good surface for him. Former Australian Davis Cup champion John Alexander spoke out over the weekend that Fitzgerald should strongly consider Philippoussis for the upcoming tie with Argentina. Also the word around Wimbledon, though there was no official announcement, was that Mark has asked McNamara to stay on as a full-time coach for the rest of the season.
June 30, 2006: While Wimbledon may not have been as good as he'd hoped, Mark is pleased that he showed some good form and feels fully healthy right now. In his post-match press conference he spoke about the need to get out onto the Challenger circuit: "I've got to sit down with my agent and see what is out there, but I'm sure there's a whole bunch of Challengers in America. This is no time to be fussy - this is just a time to get out there and no matter what tournament it is, just go out there and play it." A good sign that Mark is finally willing to put in the grunt work needed to improve his ranking (especially as it's likely that the Wimbledon wildcard may be the last one he sees if he doesn't start advancing farther into tournaments). Also Mark appears to have a new agent, Carlos Fleming, though I assume he's still with IMG. ALso a bunch of Wimbledon photos added.
June 28, 2006: Unfortunately the magic of Wimbledon just couldn't hold as Mark lost 6-7 (6-8), 4-6, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6. to Mirnyi today. It was a battle of the big servers with every chance to break that much more important and Mark just failed to convert today with 10 break opportunities and only one conversion. While it wasn't the Wimbledon Mark hoped for, his level of play on the grass this week has been better than we've seen in months - here's hoping it will improve even more on the summer hardcourt. A bonus for Mark this month has been a return to working with former coach Peter McNamara (who coached Mark as a junior and in 02-03). While there's no word as to whether this is going to be a permanent arrangement, McNamara has long been a supportive and steadying influence on Mark so any time spent with him is a good thing.
June 27, 2006: Proving that there's just something special about the grass at Wimbledon, Mark won over Mathieu with monster fourth set tiebreak 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, 7-6 (14-12). Mark's serve was booming - with an incredible 39 aces! While his first serve percentage dropped in the fourth set to 49%, the earlier three sets had it up over 65%. Next up will be either Max "The Beast" Mirnyi (a sure bet slug fest) or Ramirez-Hildalgo.
June 26, 2006: It just wouldn't be Wimbledon if it didn't rain, and this year the rain struck early, allowing only 30 minutes of play today. Mark now has the 3rd match of the day on Court 2 on Tuesday.
June 25, 2006: The order of play for Monday has been released and Mark will have the second match of the day on Court 3 against Mathieu. This will be a new change as Mark and the 32nd seed have never played before.
June 24, 2006: THe Wimbledon draw has been released and Mark is in the bottom quarter of the top half of the draw. He will face Frenchman Paul-Henri Matheui in the first round. Top seeds in his quarter are Nalbandian (4), Johansson (12), and Blake (8). Mark was scheduled to play an exhibition match against Nadel at the Hurlington Club this week prior to Wimbledon but NAdel withdrew due to a foot injury and there's been no word if the exhibition went on with other players.
June 16, 2006: Mark can breathe a little easier tonight as the All England Club granted him one of the remaining wildcards for Wimbledon. Now fans just have to hope for a little luck from the draw!
June 15, 2006: Mark's feeling of match win glory was sadly short lived with a 2-6, 6-3, 3-6 loss to Gonzalez in the third round. Mark fought for the match and showed signs of good quality play, but he had a bit of trouble with the serve and that cost him (and getting broken the first game of the match didn't exactly set a good tone). Unfortunately for Mark I have a feeling two match wins just won't be enough for the All England Club to justify a wildcard when there are many other deserving players out there. Thankfully for fans, Mark has indicated that if he doesn't get a wildcard he will be attempting to qualify, and that might not be a bad thing - he could certainly use the match play.
June 14, 2006 pm: For a player who couldn't manage to win one match on the hardcourts, Mark proved his grass court prowess by winning two in one day! Following his morning defeat of Moodie, Philippoussis went on to defeat Grosjean 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 4-6. Grosjean is ranked 23 so it's an impressive win for Mark and will garner him some nice bonus points in the rankings. Hopefully it will also impress the All England Club. Mark looked in good form in both matches and that all important serve was firing - 22 aces in the Grosjean match alone! Mark will only get a short time to rest however as he has the first match of the day (granted a 12:30pm start) tomorrow against 6th seed Gonzalez. Big update to the photos page with photos from Queens as well as back at the Nasdaq 100. It appears that Mark has switched from Fila to Nike. Although there's been no formal announcement Mark has been wearing the trademark Swoosh since late May and is wearing it still at Queens.
June 14, 20006: He won! He won! Mark won his first round match at Queens Club today defeating Moodie 6-3, 6-4. Showing that grass is his best surface Mark looked comfortable during the match and while not an inspiring performance Mark played a solid game. The key to the match was Mark's serve that held up throughout the match. Next up he'll face Grosjean against whom he lost earlier this year at the Australian (though Mark did win their lone meeting on grass at Wimbledon in 2003).
June 13, 2006: That staple of the British grass court season has struck earlier, with rain interrupting play today at Queens Club. They haven't released a revised order of play for tomorrow but about half the matches got completed so Mark will likely have the second match of the day tomorrow. Also he must still wait for a Wimbledon wildcard. The All England Club announced 3 of its' 8 mens wildcards (all Brits - Alex Bogdanovic, Richard Bloomfield and Jamie Baker) and will be announcing the other 5 later this week. It is likely they are waiting to see how players fare at Queens so it is now even more important than before for Mark to play well.
June 12, 2006: Queen's Club begins tomorrow and Mark will take the court on day two of play (Tuesday). He will be facing off against Wesley Moodie of South Africa who's currently ranked 70th in the world. Tomorrow is also the big day when the All England Club will be announcing their wildcards for Wimbledon.
June 7, 2006: Mark's first round match at Surbiton was not an encouraging one as he lost 4-6, 4-6 to Whitehouse - a player currently ranked 602! So far there are no real match reports in yet as every article has relegated the results to a one-liner at the bottom of the other articles. Several used the words "slumped to defeat" which leads one to believe that it wasn't exactly a promising performance. Also today former teammate Todd Woodbridge went on the record in The Age to state that following the grasscourt season Mark should stop trying to pursue wildcards, swallow his pride and hit the Challenger circuit and play as many matches as he can get in order to find his game rhythm again. The All England Club will decide next week whether to grant Mark's request for a wildcard.
June 6, 2006: Mark takes the court tomorrow as the last match of the day on Court B. Good luck Mark!
June 5, 2005: The Surbiton draw has been made and mark will play Wesley Whitehouse, a qualifier, in his first round match on Wednesday.
June 4, 2006: We'll get the chance this week to see just how much work Mark has put into his fitness over the past few months as he's entered in the Subiton Trophy Challenger in London. Men's play starts on Tuesday, June 6th where he's likely play a qualifier. Full draw will come out tomorrow afternoon. (thanks to Kathy for the tip!)
May 31, 2006: Mark has secured one step on the road back - today he was granted a wildcard into the Stella Artois grasscourt tournament at Queen's Club. The Stella tournament organizers have been good to Mark over the years since he won the event way back in 1997. Mark will still need to receive a wildcard for Wimbledon if he wants to avoid having to qualify at Roehampton.
May 10, 2006 He reappears! It seems that Mark's vanishing act has been to receive another series of injections on his left knee and then work in southern California with trainer Markus Heon on fitness. Heon is the man responsible for getting Mark into his best ever form prior to his run to the final at Wimbledon in 2003. Mark has also dismissed coach Adams, preferring to return to working with just his father as his coach. Mark will be skipping the clay court season, including the French, to prepare for an assault on the European grass circuit leading up to Wimbledon.
May 8, 2006: It's another vanishing act for Mark. He was scheduled to play at the Harrah's tournament in Tunica starting this week but his name is missing from the draw. Though there's been no reports, my guess it's either a return of one of his nagging injuries from this season. Not a good sign if he wants to qualify at the French (again, no word on that but since he turned down a wildcard playoff, my guess is that he's try to get through the qualifying round).
May 2, 2006: It appears that Mark is in no hurry to start mending fences with Tennis Australia. TA invited Mark and four other Australian players to compete for the sole wildcard TA has for the French Open. Mark refused to compete for the wildcard. Not sure quite what he's thinking, but this doesn't seem like the smartest idea - his current level of play isn't exactly enough to inspire TA to just hand over the one wildcard they have. Currently there's no word on where or what Mark is exactly doing. He didn't play in any of last week's Challenger events, nor is he entered in any of this weeks.
April 21, 2006 pm: Some bad news on the Mark front - he withdrew from his doubles match tonight with a sore left knee. No other news on how bad it was, but hopefully nothing serious.
April 21, 2006: Unfortunately once again Mark was unable to back up a first round with another one. He lost last night to Mardy Fish 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 4-6. The one bit of good news about this loss is that it was close and Mark managed to win the first set. It was the windy conditions in the 2nd and 3rd set playing havoc with his serve that really cost him. Philippoussis and Becker also won their first round doubles match against Delic and Goldstein 6-1, 4-6, 11-9. They will play their second round doubles match tonight against Fleishman and Pehar, so at least Mark's getting more time on court.
April 19, 2006: Mark finally managed a tournament win, defeating Marin 6-1, 6-1 yesterday at the first round of the Bermuda Open. He next faces a bigger challenge in Mardy Fish. Mark is also playing doubles in Bermuda with Benjamin Becker of Germany. Their first match is tonight against Delic & Goldstein. Also Mark has been confirmed for the Harrah's Entertainment Pro Challenger in Tennessee in May.
April 8, 2006: April is not turning out to be a better month for March with a 1-6, 2-6 loss to Jenkins at the River Oaks International. What's frightening about that result is Jenkins is ranked 236th! If Mark wants to save what's left of his tennis career these are not the kind of players he can lose to. Mark's wildcards are also in jeopardy as his biggest support at Tennis Australia, Paul McNamee has departed. While it may hurt Mark's ego to have to qualify for the French and Wimbledon, doing so may be better for his game as he could get a few wins under his belt before the main draw begins. (thanks to Vittorio for the River Oaks info)
March 28, 2006: On Saturday Mark followed up his first round win with yet another loss, this one 4-6, 6-7 (3-7) to Nieminen. No real match reports or news articles spoke of the match other than to say it was yet another in a line of disappointing performances for Mark. On Sunday Mark took to the doubles court with Safin, but they lost 5-7, 3-6 to Grosjean and Serra. Not exactly the kind of weekend Mark was looking forward to.
March 26, 2006: It took two days but Mark managed to beat Sanguinetti 6-4. 4-6. 6-3 to advance to the second round at the Nasdaq 100 Miami Masters event. It's a good sign that Mark was able to keep his focus over two days of play and prevail after the rain delayed the match. Next up will be Niemenan.
March 15, 2006: Mark just cannot seem to catch a break these days. He was withdrawn from the BMW Tennis Championships Challenger in Sunrise, Florida. It seems that he has the flu and hopes to be fully recovered in time for the Nasdaq. So much for getting some more match play in.
March 12, 2006: There's more bad blood brewing between Mark and Tennis Australia. Mark spoke to the press saying he will not play in the upcoming Davis Cup match and that he is sick of the back-room politics that go on. Reports indicate that Tennis Australia is less than pleased by this as they payed Andrew Florent's coaching fees for three months on the understanding that Mark would be available for Davis Cup. And to make matters worse, the word is that tournament directors are starting to feel that Mark isn't worth a wildcard if he's not going to make it past the first round. Lucky for Mark he was awarded a wildcard spot to the Nasdaq 100 Masters event in Miami starting March 22nd, and in the hopes of getting some more match play Mark accepted a late wildcard offer to the BMW Tennis Championships Challenger event in Sunrise starting this Tuesday. Here's hoping he can get a few wins under his belt!
March 10, 2006: Mark's first round match at the Pacific Life Open didn't go as he'd hoped with a loss to Mayer 4-6, 3-6. Reports say that Mark struggled and had trouble getting into the match, never really challenging Mayer. To help make up for the latest depressing bit of news I added a new article to the Print section. This is a great interview piece told entirely in Mark's words from The Age's Sunday Life. It's called "Returning Serve" and also has soem nice off-court photos.
March 7, 2006: The draw for the Pacific Life Open has been released. Mark will play Florian Mayer in his first round match and it will be the first meeting for the two. The tournament is being televised worldwide so check for your country's schedule.
March 4, 2006: Mark has been granted another wildcard, this time to the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells (helps to be a former champ!). The tournament starts March 10th.
February 27, 2006: Where's Mark? That, dear readers is very good question. Although Mark's agent indicated that Mark has received a wildcard to the Tennis Channel Open this week, he seems to have gone missing. There's no news or announcements from the tournament indicating a withdrawl reason. Nor can Mark be found at any of the other ATP or Challenger circuit tournaments, so it's anyone's guess where he might be.
February 20, 2006: Bad news on the injury front. Turns out Mark had been granted a late wildcard to the Memphis tournament starting this week but he's had to withdraw citing back pains. The last thing Mark needs is to have another chronic injury to add to his knee problems.
February 16, 2006 pm: I know I should know better than to get my hopes up with each tournament, but I really thought the win over Robredo might be the start of something good. Sadly it was not to be as Mark lost to Soderline 2-6, 3-6 today. What's troubling is that in all of today's press Mark has been relagated to the final lines listing results with not a word of how the match was actually played - that doesn't happen when the match was a good one.
February 16, 2006: Mark got a vey nice little win last night, beating Robredo 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the first round of the SAP Open. This is Mark's first win over a top-twenty player (Robredo is ranked 14th) sine May of 2004! Reports say that Mark look fit and held it together mentally despite some up and down play. Next up is Soderling in Round 2. Mark has also added the Bermuda Open challenger to his schedule. Play begins Aprul 15th.
February 13, 2006: The SAP Open started today and it looks like Mark will first take the court on Wednesday. He'll be up against the number 4 seed, Tommy Robredo. It's anyone's guess what the match will be like as Mark has been avoiding the press like the plague. Unfortunately this month our message board was also hacked and all the data totally lost. With Mark playing so poorly lately the chatter has been almost non-existant so I'm not bringing a new board up. Once Mark gets on a role again (he will! he will!) if there's an interest I'll open a new one.
January 22, 2006: Some wrap-up from the Australian Open.
Mark is also still a borderline for consideration for the Davis Cup. Of all the articles, The Age really seemed to sum it up right:
The two-time grand slam runner-up looked fit and strong, was able to match the Frenchman for long periods from the back of the court. Some of his winners were breathtaking, full of power and precision, and his volleys were deft. But then there were double-faults and inexplicable unforced errors, way too many of them.
Mark still sounds pretty positive about his tennis and the fact that he's planning to keep working hard on his game. He's just waiting for that one breakthrough to really boost his game. According to his agent at IMG he has already secured wildcards to both San Jose and Las Vegas. And on the ironic trivia end of things, this bit from the Sydney Morning Herald is a good one:
A large poster of Mark Philippoussis still adorns the corridor of the ATP offices in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Immediately underneath the photograph is a quotation from John McEnroe: "This will be the next guy to dominate men's tennis."
January 17, 2006: Mark's 2006 season is not going the way he could have hoped. For the first time in 11 years Mark was eliminated from the Australian Open in the first round. He was soundly beaten by Grosjean 4-6, 2-6, 3-6. Grosjean easily handled a weakened Scud serve and dominated him at the baseline. There's been no word as to where Mark will play next.
January 16, 2006: Mark's first match against Grosjean will be the second night match on Rod Laver Arena. There's been no reports as to how Mark is looking as he's been practicing at the Albert Park reserve and sessions have been closed to the public and media.
January 15, 2006: The draw for the Australian Open has been made. Mark is in the top half of the draw and his first round opponent will be Grosjean who's seeded 25th. Top seeds in his quarter include Hewitt (3), Gonzales (9) and Coria (6).
January 7, 2006: Tennis Australia has confirmed that Mark will be receiving a wildcard for the Australian Open. On the heels of that announcement came a less encouraging one as citing a sore back he's withdrawn from the Heineken Open in Auckland next week. Mark was a bit sore after his second round singles match in Adeliade and was still feeling stiff after his doubles match. It's more of a precaution than a serious injury (we hope) as Mark wants to have it fully rested before he competes in the Open. Here's hoping the back just needs a day or two off and that Mark will be fully ready for the Open.
January 6, 2006: Unfortunately the Adeliade tournament is over for Mark in the doubles as well. He and Malisse lost to Erlich and Ram 2-6, 2-6 in the semifinals. Both players said they enjoyed the partnership and hope to team up again.
January 5, 2006: Mark's comeback took a bit of a u-turn today with a 6-3, 4-6, 1-6 loss to second seed Hrbaty. Mark started very strongly and looked great in the first set, then opened the second set with a break and a hold to go up 2-0 and looked on track to win. However lack of play took it's toll and Mark lost the rhythm on his serve. Forced to relay on a second serve the nerves kicked in and Mark barely held on to three more service wins. While Mark was disappointed to lose, he says he feels on track with his comeback and just needs match play to get eveything working together. Thankfully he's still in the doubles event and can get more time on court. Mark and Xavier will play their doubles semifinal match tomorrow night against either Guccione/Healey or Erlich/Ram.
January 4, 2006: Philippoussis and Malisse seem to be working out well together as a doubles team. Today they defeated Kerr & Parrott 6-3, 6-3 and reports indicate they both played well during the match. Mark will play his singles match against Hrbaty tomorrow at 2pm.
January 3, 2006: It wasn't a perfect match, but it was a win! Mark beat Spadea 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to the second round in Adelaide. Mark started the match very strong with a serve that gave up few points, but in the second set he had some lapses and was barely able to hold serve. Thankfully he pulled it together for the third set. He's still not the Mark of a few years ago, but he's showing definite improvement over last year's dismal form. Post match Mark said that he's spend the past two and a half months working extrememly hard in Florida to prepare for 2006. Next up for Mark is the number 2 seed, Dominic Hrbaty, against whom Mark is 2-2 having lost both recent matches in 2005. Tomorrow Mark plays his second round doubles match with Malisse against Kerr and Parrott. Match will start at 7pm on center court.
January 2, 2006: Mark's first court appearance of 2006 seems to be a positive one. He and Malisse downed Lindstedt / Nieminen 7-5, 6-1. Mark is also looking trimmer and more fit, seeming to move around the court with ease and none of the lumbering that was present last year. He looked at-ease on court, except for one slightly icky moment when he swallowed a fly during the ball toss for a serve. Also it seems Mark ahs gone through another round of musical coaches, leaving Andrew Florent and hiring Archie Adams who used to coach Mark as a child. Mark will play his first round singles match against Vince Spadea tomorrow at 12:30 on centre court. Several photos and articles added.
January 1, 2006: Happy New Year Mark Fans! May 2006 see a return to the top of the standings for Mark - and preferably a rise with low worries/stress for his fans :) Mark will take the court tomorrow at 5pm for his first round doubles match with Malisse against Lindstedt and Nieminen. On the romance front it's anything is possible as Mark has been spotted with a gold band on his wedding finger and reports vary from: the wedding happened, the wedding will happen soon, to the wedding is far off.
