February 24, 2007: Mark is staying active during his recovery and will be taking part in the Celebrity Racing Challenge at the 2008 Formula 1 ING Austrailian Grand Prix on March 16th at Albert Park in Melbourne. He will be driving a racing version of the Fiat 500 which at 193cm Mark just fits into.
January 22, 2008: Good news for Mark is that the surgery went well and the damange was not as bad as anticipated. He's expected to be on crutches for two weeks. He's currently rehabbing in the pool and then it's back in the gym. Mark's given a couple interviews where he spoke about be willing to wait and see what his body tells him and not push to get back on court before he's ready. His priority is to rehab the knee.
January 11, 2008: Now you can test your skills on the court against Philippoussis at the Aussie Open. Nintendo has a stand at the tournament where fans can try their skills at Wii Tennis. Those who hold court long enough are daily champions and the player with the highest ranking will get to take on Mark on Januarry 27th to win two tickets to the Men's Final. Mark will also be at the Nintendo booth on January 15th at 11am signing autographs. It is also likely that Mark will be doing some announcing again for Aussie tv during the tournament. Rumors are also afloat that Mark may be a contestant on season three of Australia's Dancing with the Stars. It's still speculation but a reporter apparantly asked him if he would be interested and he said yes. The show has featured tennis players before including Todd Woodbridge. Lastly, though no surgery date has been announced, it is reported that Sydney surgeon Merv Cross and his Miami colleague Harlan Selsenick were to be involved in Philippoussis's latest surgery.
December 19, 2007: The news is out and it's all bad. Mark's withdrawl from the Open play-odds with knee pain turned out to be what we all feared - an MRI revealed a cartilage tear in his right knee. Yes, the same knee that broke down last January. What's sobering this time around is there's no talk of "I'll be back soon," but instead Mark had this to say “I’m just going to be thinking about spending time with my family, spending time at home and then assessing things — you know, where life will lead me and what direction I want to take in life and whether I’ll be going again."
December 17, 2007: Another day of mixed messages for Mark fans. First the good news, Mark made it through the to the quarterfinals and is still in the mix for the wildcard. The bad news is how he made it - the luck of mathematics. Mark was supposed to play his third round robin match today that was strictly practice because of Jones withdrawl, but he withdrew from the match because of swelling in the lateral meniscus in his right knee. The math comes in because to determine what two players advanced from Group A meant divided the number of games won by games played. It came down to Groth at .622, Mark at .615 and Klein .600, thus both Mark and Groth advanced. While the math is not the greatest way to advance, the really bad part is the knee swelling. Two matches and the knee causes problems? One can only hope that more play will help and not hurt.
December 16, 2007: It's been an up and down two days for Mark in his quest for a wilcard. On the 15th he began by facing off against Brydan Klein after a seven hour rain dely. Brydan's the reigning Australian Open junior champion and at 17 is a face of the future of Australian Tennis. Mark managed to show that age still has staying power by defeating him 6-3, 7-5, a good solid start. Unfortunately today the down happened as Mark lost 4-6, 3-6 to Samuel Groth, 20, who's ranked 341. Not something to show the officials he's back to take on the main tour players. But thanks to Lady Luck, Mark is still alive for the wildcard slot as it's a round robin format and his next opponent Alun Jones had to withdraw to injury. Mark will play his replacement and still has a chance to make the quarter-finals where it's back to elimination format. Reports from the event however are not encouraging as Mark is playing with a knee bandage and is showing only limited movement. We can only hope he's just warming it all up slowly. If Mark doesn't win the wildcard he still has a hope to show Tennis Australia that he's playing well enough to get one of the remaining discretionary wildcards (which can go to players from all over the world, not just the Australian one he's playing for now). Also Mark appears to have new management - Ice Edge Marketing and Rob Aivatoglou (familar to Aussie fans as Hewitt's former management). Aivatoglou says that the plan for the upcoming weeks is to get a wildcard for the Adelaide International, skip Sydney and then off to the Australian Open where Mark will play qualies if he doesn't get a wildcard.
December 5, 2007: Mark has made his first official commitment to his tennis comeback, agreeing to take part in the Tennis Australia playoffs for the wildcard into the Australian Open. The even runs Dec 15th-21st and will put Mark against players 10 years younger. Mark says he's been training, though critics wonder if he's done enough to survive the long matches in brutal heat that the Aussie Open is known to produce. But Mark cannot look too far ahead at this point, he must first produce some very convincing results in the play-offs. Hopefully Mark will be helped by the new Plexicushion courts installed in Melbourne. The courts replace the old Rebound Ace surface and the thinnger layer of rubber is supposed to retain less heat which will reduce courtside temperatures. The Open begins on January 14th.
November 22, 2007: It's been a quiet month for Mark with not much news until recently. Mark has returned to Melbourne and is currently practicing at the Tennis Australia facilities with Darin Cahill (though it is undetermined whether this is a new full-time coaching arrangement or just temporary). Mark did apply for and receive an injury protecting ranking of 112. That ranking is available for nine months from the return to play or the first eight tournaments. Unfortunately while much better than his current ranking of 1115, it's still outside the main draw (104) for the Australian Open so he will have to hope for a lot fo withdrawls or a wild card. The wild card option is still very much a battle of wills. Tennis Australia is insisnting that Mark come to the play-off like any other player and Mark is insisting that he will not come and deserves a wildcard due to past performance. It will be interesting to see who wins. Mark would like to start his season at the Adelaide International on December 31st but will have to wait on a wilcard decision from tournament co-director Mark Woodforde. Woodforde says Mark is being considered based on the crowd he would draw for his return to play. On a somewhat sour note boht Rafter and John McEnroe were quoted in the press as questioning Mark's will to return. McEnroe took the more severe line calling Philippoussis one of the laziest players he's every worked with.
October 25, 2007: Better late than never, the rest of the results from the Outback Champions Series in Dallas. Following his match against Korda, Mark played Todd Martin and won the match 1-6, 6-4, 10-7 (Champions Tie-Break). I believe Mark then played a match against Ferreira but I could find no articles mentioning it. In the final match for third place on the 22nd Mark, the youngest player, took on John McEnroe, the oldest, and lost 4-6, 4-6. It was McEnroe's crafty skills that vanquished Mark's power. Philippoussis said he was not sure what his next event would be, but he is planning to play the Australian summer circuit in January and will ask for a wildcard into the Australian Open. Mark also posted a short blog entry on the tournament site where he spoke about his plan to move from Vegas back to San Diego (what that will mean for his training with Gil and Andre is anyone's guess). Mark's going to need help whatever he does as he dropped to an all-time low of 1109th in the rankings. He has an injury protected ranking of 112 but has yet to file any paperwork to take advantage of this.
October 20, 2007: Mark's return to tennis on Thursday was a positive one with a 6-4, 4-6, 10-2 win over Peter Korda. The tournament uses an unique super-tiebreaker format if it's tied after two sets. While news sources are reporting the win, no one's really said much about the quality of Mark's play. Next Mark will face South African Wayne Ferreira for a place in the finals.
October 8, 2007: Mark's official date with tennis destiny is October 18th at 2pm when he returns to the court to face Mats Wilander in the Outback Champions Series in Dallas. Earlier this month Tennis Australia rather unsubtly publically reminded Philippoussis that there will be no guaranteed wildcard for the Australian Open. TA now follows a policy that looks at ranking, current play, future development and includes a tennis camp in December. If Mark wants that wildcard he's going to have to make the effort to go to camp and prove to his federation that he can beat the younger Aussies coming up and deserves the slot based on current play, not past glories.
September 9, 2007: Mark has begun speaking to the press again and has been speaking about his return to tennis. The good news is the knee is at 100%, the back problems are what's been holding him back and right now that's about 70% back to normal. He's playing the over 30s event to judge his fitness and test the knee and back out. He hopes to play a few lesser events this fall and then return to the ATP main ciruit for the 2008 season - hopefully with an Australian Open wildcard. He's been working hard in the gymn wil Gil and practicing with Andre in Vegas and says that every day things are going better.
September 5, 2007: Good News - Mark will finally return to the court in October! He will be playing on the Outback Champions Series, a series of seven tournaments for players over 30. Mark takes the court at the sixth event in Dallas on October 17th-21st. Fellow players will include John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Mats Wilander among others. No word as to whether Mark will compete in the seventh event in Dubai starting November 20th.
August 29, 2007: While there's still no official word on why Mark isn't playing, USA Network addressed the question "Where is Mark?" during today's broadcast. While they didn't have an answer, they did report that Mark was offered a wildcard spot for the US Open and turned it down. A shockingly good offer, yet still no Mark on court. What we can expect from Mark when he turns down a Grand Slam wildcard remains to be seen. Australian Tennis also addresses a similar question and features Mark on the cover of the September issue.
August 17, 2007: Playing where's Mark is no-where near as fun as finding Waldo. It's as if since the end of Age of Love Mark has dropped off the planet. He didn't try to qualify Cincinnati or New Haven, nor did he play in any of this week's challengers. There's been no word from Mark of his agent as to when or where he might next appear on the court. Not a very hopeful sign for Mark's future tennis career.
July 29, 2007: Just when will Mark be back on the court? At this point it's anybody's guess. Even Mark isn't being specific. In a recent Australian radio interview Mark said "I haven't set a time but I'm very confident by US Open time I would definitely be on the court before then." While Montreal has been bandied about, he is not listed as entered in the qualifing round yet and the deadline is around the corner. Possibly he may compete instead at the Binghamton Challenger starting the same week - he did play there last year and it would give him an easier field.
July 19, 2007: For those still following what's left of the tennis portion of Mark's career, the numbers this week were disturbing at the least. Mark dropped 205 places to a professional career low of 370th in the World (his lowest ever is 410 from 1994 when he was first starting out on the pro circuit). The one ray of light is that Mark's got a injury protected ranking of 112 (good for 8 tournaments over 6 months from his first tournament back). While Mark hasn't made any official statements, rumors indicate he might attempt to qualify for the Montreal Masters and that it was back inflamation that kept him from Newport. As you can imagine, Mark is being savaged in the Aussie press for Age of Love and writers and fans wonder if they'll truly ever see Mark on the courts again.
July 11, 2007: Mark is not currently defending his title in Newport. Even his new agent, Rob Aivatoglou, said he hasn't been informed by Mark as to why he's not playing. Currently there is no word as to when Mark might return to the courts - it's now been six months since his surgery. (Thanks to Ruth for the tip)
Age of Love: Mark's reality show is still ongoing in the US and is about to start running in Australia. As for the lack of updates on this site, I admit it, I am a tv snob - these dating reality shows are just unbearable to me and even Mark couldn't get me to watch them. So instead, to keep up on all the Age of Love news, recaps and reviews Search for all Age of Love Articles with Google - there's tons.
May 27, 2007: Mark has officially delayed his comeback until the Newport Championships in July. His manager says that Gil Reyes feels that Mark is only around 95% fit and they don't want to risk further injury. In what is either a good case of spin or just an earlier misprint, Mark's manager says that Mark was offered a Queen's club wildcard but turned it down because he wasn't fit enough. Because of his win at Newport last year, tournament officials have extended him a wildcard. Newport stars on July 9th.
May 24, 2007: It appears that wildcard chances do not last forever. The Age reports that Queen's Club officials have rejected Mark's request for a wildcard entry into the main draw. If he wishes to play he will have to qualify. With time spent on the reality show and no recent match play to show form, it is likely that "No" will be the similar response from Wimbledon as well.
May 17, 2007: Mark has withdrawn from the the Champion Series event in Athens starting tomorrow, citing an unspecified injury. The Australian press says that industry speculation is that Mark's commitment to Age of Love is behind the withdrawl. Either Mark is injured, (again) or he's blowing off actual tournament play for tv - either way it's not a great move for Mark's actual tennis career or his hopes for another Wimbledon wildcard.
May 11, 2007: Mark to tackle reality-tv! Philippoussis is the newest single man to take on the US dating reality world. He will star in Age of Love where he hopes to meet the woman of his dreams. The twist? The 13 female contests are in two different age ranges. "The Kittens" are six women in their 20s who will live one floor above the apartment Mark will have in L.A. and "The Cougars" are seven women in their 40s who will have the floor below. The eight episodes will air on NBC in the U.S. starting June 14th (so far no Australian network has expressed interest in the show). On an actual animal front, Mark has a new four month old rottweiler named Kya. And last but not least on the tennis front, Mark has supposedly been playing four times a week with rocker Gavin Rossdale at Gavin's home in Beverly Hills. One hopes that tennis with a rock-star has been vigorous enough to get Mark into form as his Champions Cup debut is only six days away and losing early on the 'seniors tour' wouldn't exactly be a good warm-up for the grass court season. Although no tournaments have been announced, he will most likely be seeking wildcards or attempting to qualify for Surbiton and Queen's Club prior to Wimbledon.
April 24, 2007: Some more details about the Athens event is being reported in The Advertiser. In addition to Sampras players will include Cash, Krajicek, Courier and Wilander. The Aussie press I'm sure will have a field day should Philippoussis play Cash. The paper also reports that rumors are running wild that Mark's rehab training has been "sporadic at best." Mark's new agent, Rob Aivatoglou (formerly with Hewitt) says the Greek event will be a good fitness test for Mark. With the event being so close to the French Open, it's unlikely that Mark will seek a wildcard entry and we most likely won't see him return to the main circuit until the start of the grass court season in June.
April 18, 2007: Mark will return to court next month in Athen's Greece in the 30-and-over Champions Series event. It will mark the Series first tournament outside of North America as well as the first time an active ATP player will compete. The tournament will be held in the Athens Olympic Tennis Center. In preparation for his return Mark has been training with Darren Cahill. He is looking into entering a few Challenger events prior to the Athens event. Also it appears that Alan Jones is not in fact his full-time manager. The Daily Telegraph ran an quoting a Jones spokesman saying he was not Mark's manager and a quote from Mark's former manager at IMG saying that he was told it was Alan. So who Mark's full manager actually is seems to be a mystery.
March 23, 2007: Mark has a new business manager/agent, radio broadcaster Alan Jones. Jones has been a Philippoussis friend for several years and was by his side the day of his injury and following surgery back in January. Prior to January Mark had been represented by IMG's Brian Cooney. Mark is expecting to begin practicing later this week and return to tournament play (Challengers most likely) at the end of the month.
February 19, 2007: The Australian is reporting that Mark has returned to Las Vegas to resume training with Gil Reyes.
January 16, 2007: Mark's rehab is going well and he is walking without crutches. Mark is working with Barry Richardson in Australia, with whom he has worked in the past. Richardson says Mark should be cycling in two weeks, jogging two weeks after that. Then it's back to Las Vega sto continue working with Gil Reyes and hopefully back to on court training in early March. Everyone is taking it slow and Mark is being very patient knowing that an extra two weeks now could save a knee breakdown from doing too much too soon.
January 4, 2007: It's good news from Sydney today as Mark came through his surgery with a positive outcome. Post-op Dr. Cross characterized the surgery as "straightforward" and that Mark should be back to competitive tennis in six to eight weeks. He said that Mark "had quite a large tear in the meniscus, and about 30% of it had folded back into the joint, which made it very painful." Dr. Cross performed a lateral menisectomy and removed approximated one-third of the outter cartilege (a piece roughly 10mm by 3mm).
January 3, 2007: The verdict is in and it's not good - Mark has torn the lateral meniscus cartilage in his right knee. It's a potential career ender as that cartilage acts as a giant shock absorber - something especially critical for Mark - a big guy playing a sport hard on the knees and with one bum knee already. The inury is also very painful with Mark quotes as saying "Out of 10 the pain level is 15. I have never had anything like this before." Mark will be operated on by specialist Dr. Mervyn Cross in Sydney tomorrow. While the full extent of the tear won't be known until surgery begins, Dr. Cross told The Australian that he was more confident as to Mark's future after seeing the initial MRI's taken in Perth.
January 2, 2007: How much things can change in a new year. Just days ago at the very end of 2006 Mark and his fans were looking for an improved year after such an impressive start at the Hopman Cup. But 2007 saw the return of the Philippoussis injury curse. Just after the start of his match against Haenhell Mark hyper-extended his right knee. He received treatment but after just one more point (where he didn't even attempt to return Haenhell's serve) he retired. He will have an MRI on Wednesday to determine the extent of the injury, but it is likely Mark may have to miss the Australian Open. The difference in the injury this time (not sure if it's a positive or a negative) is that it was his right "good" knee that was injured and not the left one that has undergone all the suergeries. Post-match Hopman Cup director McNamee said "It is not good, he is hurting pretty bad and he is struggling... he is shattered and he is pretty pessimistic about how he is feeling." We wish Mark all the best for a speedy recovery!
