Former Australian tennis star Mark Philippoussis is currently facing financial collapse as he is unable to pay his mortgage on his Williamstown home in bayside Melbourne.
Philippoussis earned more than $8 million dollars on court over the years, but is now being sued for failing to pay the mortgage and not just for a small amount, for about $1.3 million.
“Money came in left, right and centre; you just thought that’s how it was for everyone and that’s how it will always be,” he said.
“It’s the toughest time of my life right now, but it’s also the best time because I’ve woken up to so many things in my life.
“When I get back up from this I’ll appreciate so many things so much more. I’ve fallen down and I’ll get back up. This is how it is. It’s life.”
The Australian Davis Cup team has just escaped suspension from the Davis Cup and instead will be fined $12,800 AUD by the ITF.
The ITF’s five-member Davis Cup committee held talks about what penalties Australia should face for refusing to travel to Chennai for the May 8-10 tie because of security concerns.
“The ITF’s Davis Cup committee … decided that Australia would not be suspended from the 2010 competition or relegated from Asia/Oceania zone group 1,” the ITF said in a brief statement.
“Australia will lose choice of ground for their next home tie regardless of the opponent and will pay a fine of $US10,000.
“Australia will also be liable for costs to both the ITF and to the All India Tennis Association to be determined at a later date.”
Tennis Australia had asked for the event to be moved to a neutral venue but the ITF insisted it should go ahead as scheduled.
India’s tennis chiefs have urged the ITF to punish Australia, saying they would have been aware of the potential consequences of forfeiting the tie.
The boycott gave India automatic qualification for the World Group play-offs in September.
The Internation Tennis Federation (ITF) has scheduled to make a final decision today about whether to suspend the Australian Davis Cup team for next year. This all has to do with Australia not wanting to play their Davis Cup match which was scheduled on May 8 – 10 because of security concerns.
In an interview with ABC News Australia, the former world number one doubles player said that ITF should consider the fact that the team made the decision for valid reasons. Aside from the one year ban, Tennis Australia could be fined up to $100,000.
Tennis Australia has today advertised for a new coach for the Optus Australian Davis Cup team.
The position has been vacant since Darren Cahill resigned earlier this year.
Former national coach Wally Masur returned to his old job temporarily to help the team out for the Australian victory against Thailand in March.
The traditional responsibilities of the role have been expanded to make it a full time position overseeing the improvement and development of every member of the Optus Davis Cup squad as well as other leading athletes.
“The job is pivotal to the development of tennis in Australia,” said Tennis Australia Director of Tennis Craig Tiley.
“We are looking for a major commitment from a world-class coach,” he explained. “It will involve travel on the tour and on-court work with our very best players and coaches. The successful applicant will undoubtedly be one of the leaders in the sport in this country.”
The successful applicant will work closely with program coaches (including AIS and National Academy coaches) and have strong input into the technical and coaching direction for the tennis training and competition pathway.
Some of the key skills required for the job include:
• A proven ability to develop and implement successful, high performance tennis programs for evolving elite tennis athletes
• Successful and extensive experience coaching tennis at an elite national and international level with a proven ability to influence and motivate athletes
• Past playing experience at the elite international level
The International Tennis Federation turned down a request to move the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I third-round tie from Chennai, despite Tennis Australia saying India was too dangerous a venue.
“Davis Cup is very important to us but some things are more important than tennis” – Geoff Pollard
“We asked for the tie to be moved because we have major security concerns for the players, particularly during the [Indian] election,” Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said. “The ITF decision has left us with no other option. We cannot send the team. It is extremely disappointing. It would be irresponsible of us to send our players into an area of such high risk.
“Davis Cup is very important to us but some things are more important than tennis,” Pollard said.
It is going to be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Australia’s most capped Davis Cup player has accused the International Tennis Federation of being irresponsible for insisting the May 8-10 Davis Cup match against India go ahead as planned in Chennai.
Todd Woodbridge, who helped Australia win the Davis Cup and played in a national-record 32 matches, said the ITF shouldn’t expect the match to go ahead in Chennai when other international sports events were being canceled or moved abroad due to regional tensions.
“The main thing right now in India is that there are elections underway — there’s been deaths because of these elections in other parts of India, not in Chennai where this tie will be played,” Woodbridge told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday. “But how can we expect our team to go and play in India when everybody else in that region is pulling out?
“I think it’s irresponsible for the ITF to expect us as players to go there and put ourselves on the line in a very, very difficult predicament with the way their social system’s running.”
As you might know there have been arguments about the tight schedule of the tennis player between the player representatives and the ATP for many years. One of the recent years’ complaints was for instance that the season lasts longer and longer, now until late November with the Masters Cup followed by the Davis Cup. This leaves the players not enough time to recover from a long season and of course cuts short the preparation time for the next season.
The latest complaint concerns the Australian Open: players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal wouldn’t mind if the Australian Open was moved to February. Rafa argued: “Why play one of the most important tournaments one week after the beginning of the season?”
Andy Murray agreed with his rival Nadal and added another wish thinking of Wimbledon: according to him there is not enough time between the French Open and Wimbledon which makes it difficult to switch from clay court to lawn.
Let’s wait for the reaction of the ATP where recently some changes took place and Adam Helfant became new chairman and president…
The Australian Open is slowly starting to launch their own TV advertising campaign in Australia. The tournament is scheduled to run from January 21st to February 1st. Take a look at their new ad and let me know what you think!
Just when we were wondering what to do with ourselves after Andrew Castle’s elimination from Strictly Come Dancing, comes the incredible news that the multiple grand slam winner will be one of the 10 celebrities on this season’s show.
The 52-year-old American (for reasons known only to herself) will join nine C-list celebrities for two weeks of car-crash TV, starting on ITV1 this Sunday night.
Navratilova will become bosom buddies with the likes of celebrity WAG Carly Zucker (Joe Cole’s fiancée), TV presenters Esther Rantzen and Dani Behr, Star Trek’s George Takei, ex-EastEnder Joe Swash, glamour model Nicola Mclean, singer Simon Webbe and former chat show host and politician Robert Kilroy-Silk.
Sydney has embarked on a secret initiative to snatch the Australian Open tennis tournament from Melbourne, the Sydney Morning Herald said, citing Events NSW Chief Executive Geoff Parmenter.
The pitch involves a plan to build a multimillion dollar stadium at Glebe Island, west of central Sydney, that could host the Grand Slam event once Melbourne’s contract expires in 2016, the newspaper reported.
Sydney will face competition from overseas cities, with Shanghai, Dubai and Abu Dhabi all preparing campaigns to hold the Asian Grand Slam event, the newspaper said. The Australian Open is worth more than A$100 million ($64 million) to Victoria state’s economy, it said.
Former Australian tennis star Mark Philippoussis is currently facing financial collapse as he is unable to pay his mortgage on his Williamstown home in bayside Melbourne.
Tennis Australia has today advertised for a new coach for the Optus Australian Davis Cup team.
