March 19, 1999
By J. Fred Sidhu
Indian Wells, Ca. - After battling for two-hours and 58 minutes last Sunday, Mark Philippoussis served out the match with three aces and defeated Carlos Moya, the new number one player in the world, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to win the 1999 Newsweek Champions Cup.
It was back in 1994 when Philippoussis, a tall, young Australian tennis player with an abundance of raw power turned professional.
With a booming serve he quickly rose in the rankings from 304 to 32 by the end of 1995.
In 1996, he showed the tennis world what he was capable of as he upset number one ranked Pete Sampras at the Australian Open and later won his first career singles title in Toulouse, France.
Philippoussis added three more singles titles in 1997 and seemed poised to make his mark in 1998.
However, he had early round losses at the Australian and French Open last year and the six-foot-four Australian became embroiled in a nasty feud with Australian Davis Cup captain, John Newcombe, after Philip-poussis elected not to play Australia's first round World Group match versus Zimbabwe in which Australia was upset on its home soil. At one point, he even contemplated quitting.
Would Philippoussis ever break through? Many began to wonder aloud if the talented young Aussie ever would.
He did regroup and reached the quarterfinals of Wimble-don last year and then he reached his first Grand Slam final at the 1998 U.S. Open where he lost to fellow Aussie Patrick Rafter.
After finishing the year ranked 15 in the world, Philippoussis began 1999 on a strong note and won the Sybase Open in San Jose last month.
He came into Indian Wells unseeded and needed two tiebreakers to defeat Bohdan Ulihrach 7-6, 7-6 in the first round.
Philippoussis went on to reach the finals with wins over third seeded Alex Corretja; Marat Safin; Todd Martin and Chris Woodruff.
Following his win over Moya in the finals, the happy Aussie said, "It feels great. It's extra special knowing that Carlos was No. 1 in the world. I played some great tennis. I was just pleased.''
When asked about his fast start this year, Philippoussis responded, "I've been working hard the last few months and just enjoying myself. I've just been concentrating on the court, just fighting. Enjoying the challenge.''
Philippoussis, who is now 3-0 against Moya, admits the turning point of his career came last summer when he reached the final eight at Wimbledon and he had seriously thought about taking a break from the game prior to that.
"I was in a bit of a slump in my career. I was thinking about quitting for a while. More of a relief than anything making the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Just going on and playing some good tennis in the summer, then making the US Open final was a big turnaround for me,'' he revealed.
Philippoussis, who also credits coaches Gavin Hopper and former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash for his resurgence, ended his feud with Newcombe as he was recently named to represent Australia in its first round Davis Cup tie, a rematch with Zimbabwe scheduled for next month.
With his victory last Sunday over Moya, the 22-year-old Australian is now ranked a career high 11th in the world.
Philippoussis, who earned $361,000 for his victory, improved his singles record in 1999 to 14-2. He had 23 aces against Moya in the final and finished the event with a tournament high 84 aces.
CHAMPION'S CUP NOTES
Woodruff on Comeback Trail
It has been a long road back for Chris Woodruff. He won the Canadian Open in August, 1997 and had been ranked as high 29 in the world when he suffered a left knee injury in December 1997 while kicking a football. With the exception of one match played, he missed the entire 1998 season and his ranking dropped to 1,342 in the world.
Woodruff came into Indian Wells this year ranked 550 in the world and needed to win two qualifying matches just to earn a spot in the main draw of the Newsweek Champions Cup.
After winning his first two rounds in the main draw, Woodruff faced Felix Man-tilla of Spain in the round of sixteen. The Spaniard had earlier dismissed top seeded Pete Sampras.
Woodruff continued to play well and defeated Mantilla 7-5, 7-5 to set up a quarterfinal match with seventh seeded Tim Henman of Great Britain.
Despite Henman having a match point, Woodruff advanced to the semifinals with a 6-1, 1-6, 7-5 victory.
In the semifinals, Woodruff's tournament run ended with a 6-1, 6-2 loss to eventual champion Mark Philip-poussis.
"It was just a matter of time before this whole week caught up with me,'' Woodruff said following his loss. "It was a great week. This was just a nice satisfying way to let myself and the rest of the tennis world know that I'm back.''
By reaching the semifinals, Woodruff's world ranking will jump from 550 to 165. He was also awarded a wildcard into the maindraw of The Lipton tournament which began yesterday in Key Biscayne, Florida.
Roditi Fails to Qualify
David Roditi, Mexico's lone entrant in the Newsweek Champion's Cup, teamed with Brandon Coupe of the United States, as they attempted to qualify for the main draw of the doubles competition.
In the first round of qualifying, Roditi/Coupe defeated Sjeng Schalken and Jan Siemerink of The Netherlands, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0.
They were eliminated in the second and final round of qualifying by Paul Goldstein and Cecil Mamiit of the United States, 6-2, 7-6.
Later this month, Roditi will join his Davis Cup teammates in San Luis Potosi at the Club Potosino for a first round Davis Cup match versus Paraguay in the American Zone II scheduled for April 2-4.
Doubles Winners Crowned
The unseeded team of San-don Stolle of Australia and Wayne Black of Zimbabwe won the Newsweek Champions Cup doubles title as they defeated Ellis Ferreira and Rick Leach 7-6, 6-3 in the final. Black and Stolle lost only one set in five matches and improved to number four in the ATP Tour team rankings with the victory.
Attendance Figures
The men's final last Sunday drew a sold out crowd of 11,500 which pushed the total attendance for the event to 151,477 — approximately 3,000 above last year's total.
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