Monday September 15, 05:37 PM
Philippoussis misses Davis Cup practice
Australia's Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald has swept aside concerns over a missing Mark Philippoussis, declaring preparations for this weekend's semi-final against Switzerland to be on track.
Philippoussis is yet to have a full practice session since arriving in Melbourne late last week.
The Wimbledon finalist had a cough when he stepped off the plane, but Fitzgerald said there were no concerns over Philippoussis's health.
"Mark is always inclined to practise a little less," Fitzgerald said.
"But we're happy. He had a bit of a cough after getting off the plane.
"Professional athletes play with niggles all the time."
Despite the captain's assurances, the absence from the team's first training session at the semi-final venue at Rod Laver Arena is less than an ideal lead-up to such an important match.
In contrast, former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt had another strong session, as did Australia's likely doubles pair Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs.
Hewitt spent more than two hours on court, following a three-hour session the day before.
The effort led Fitzgerald to suggest Hewitt might deserve to be let off with a lighter workout on Tuesday.
Despite not having seen a lot of Philippoussis on court over the past few days, Fitzgerald said both he and Hewitt were hitting the ball as well as ever.
The ability of players of the standing of Hewitt and Philippoussis to move straight into top gear is hardly surprising.
Fitzgerald also had similar high praise for the veteran Woodbridge.
A fixture in Australian teams for more than a decade, Woodbridge is the world's most accomplished doubles player with 15 grand slam titles to his credit.
At the age of 32, Woodbridge is a lot closer to the end of his career than to the start, but according to Fitzgerald, you wouldn't know it.
"I'm not sure if I've seen Todd Woodbridge hit the ball better," he said.
Woodbridge had a strong session with Arthurs and there seems little doubt that the two will line up for the doubles rubber on Saturday.
Who will be on the other side of the net is less clear with suggestions that the supposedly non-playing captain Marc Rosset might be re-united with his No.1 player Roger Federer or George Bastl.
Rosset and Federer combined to beat the French pair Nicolas Escude and Fabrice Santoro in the Davis Cup quarter-final in April.
Neither team is required to finalise its line-up until the draw for the semi-final is made on Thursday.
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