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| December 29, 2006 | Friday | Zilhaj 07, 1427 |
Philippoussis out to emulate Agassi revival
PERTH (Australia), Dec 28: Forgotten Australian Mark Philippoussis hopes to revive his career at the Hopman Cup mixed teams tournament — with a little help from retired American star Andre Agassi.
Agassi, who called it quits after the US Open, slumped to 141st in the world rankings in 1997, before claiming the top spot in 1999.
Philippoussis, twice a Grand Slam finalist but now ranked 114th, says he is inspired by the Agassi story, and has received some pointers on and off the court from the American in Las Vegas, where the Australian is training.
“He's helping me when he can,” said Philippoussis, known as the ‘Scud’ at the height of his career for his powerful serve.
In his attempt to emulate Agassi, Philippoussis has even turned to the American's coach, Australian Darren Cahill, and his fitness adviser, Gil Reyes.
Philippoussis, ranked as high as eighth during his career, is still waiting for confirmation he will be given a wildcard into the Australian Open, having elected to skip the qualifying play-off for the first Grand Slam of 2007.
He hopes to use the three singles matches guaranteed by the round-robin format of the Hopman Cup to prove he deserves a spot in the tournament.
He will sharpen his volleying skills by playing doubles with Alicia Molik, herself a former top 10 player who is on the comeback trail.
Philipppoussis and Molik will open the event on Saturday, with a Group A clash against the Russian duo of Dmitry Tursunov and Nadia Petrova.
That tie is followed by another Group A match-up pitting the defending champions, the United States, represented by Mardy Fish and Ashley Harkleroad, against France's Tatiana Golovin and Jerome Haehnel.
In group B, India’s Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna will attract plenty of interest despite being outsiders, after winning through to the tournament proper with victory in the Asian Hopman Cup.
India's first tie is on Sunday, when they play the Czech Republic pairing of Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych.
The other Group B teams — Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues and Tommy Robredo, and Croatia's Sanja and Mario Ancic — meet on Tuesday.—AFP
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