Rested Hewitt directs top US form at cup tie
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His batteries recharged, World No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt is set to play a key role in Australia's world group promotion-relegation Davis Cup tie against Morocco at Royal Kings Park this week.

Hewitt flew into Perth yesterday, dodging a media throng at the domestic airport.

Less than two hours later, he was at Kings Park for his first training session since the US Open.

Australian Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald was impressed with Hewitt's transition from a hard court surface to grass and believes he is in the best shape of his career.

"His form is terrific and he is playing as well as he has ever played," Fitzgerald said.

"He has this innate ability to step on to a different surface and hit the ball in the middle of the racquet.

"He's hitting the ball well, his form is good. Once you have as many wins over the summer that he's just had in the US, it's really just freshening up that is important."

The 23-year-old has spent the past week recuperating in his hometown of Adelaide after winning two tournaments and finishing runner-up in a further two in the United States.

Included in that hot streak was a loss to world No. 1 Roger Federer in the final of last week's US Open.

The straight sets defeat ended a winning run of 15 matches for Hewitt - including tournament wins at Washington and Long Island - in five weeks.

Fitzgerald said he was confident a rested Hewitt could bounce back from such a demanding tournament schedule to spearhead Australia's assault for the tie, starting on Friday.

"If you do that well in tennis, you are hitting the ball awfully well," Fitzgerald said yesterday.

"Practice is not necessarily as important as getting the rest. More than anything after the US Open, he needed just to freshen up.

"Have some easy days, get a lot of massages and put his feet up . . . maybe rest his mind a little bit, too.

"He has had a week now since he flew back from New York. He needed a little bit of rest more than anything else."

Todd Reid remains in doubt for the tie with an ankle injury.

Reid and Wayne Arthurs are competing for the second singles berth after Hewitt. Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge are expected to pair up for the doubles.

Fitzgerald said he was confident Reid, the world No. 91, would be available for selection in the singles as well as world No. 79 grass-court specialist Arthurs.

"Todd's ankle has been a bit sore. He sprained it slightly about 11 days ago in Melbourne," he said.

"You always have things like this leading into a tie but we are not too worried about it. We are quite confident that he will be fine but if he's not, we will have to assess the situation in a couple of days.

"He is improving rapidly each day and is considerably better today than he was yesterday."
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I don't think Australia will have any problem accounting for Morocco. This tie is a qualification tie to get back into the main draw for the 2005 season.

To actually win the Davis Cup in 2003 and then to bomb out first round in 2004 was very disappointing, considering we had to fight for it pretty hard in 2003. It's like winning the premiership and then next season getting the wooden spoon.

Morocco hit by Arazi's shock withdrawal
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This weekend's Davis Cup tie between Morocco and Australia took on David and Goliath proportions yesterday after the shock withdrawal of world No. 40 Hicham Arazi.

The host nation was always well placed to win the World Group playoff tie at Royal Kings Park, starting on Friday.

But the departure of Morocco's top-ranked player after the withdrawal of injured teammate Younes El Aynaoui has robbed the tie of considerable interest.

Tennis Australia officials claimed that Arazi had withdrawn because of an injury. But reports in the Moroccan press attributed Arazi's departure to a pay dispute.

The 30-year-old reportedly asked for a considerable amount of money to play in this weekend's event.

"It is certain that Hicham Arazi has decided not to play against Australia," a source close to the Moroccan tennis federation said without giving reasons for Arazi's absence.

Australian Davis Cup captain John Fitzgerald said it was pleasing that his squad members were not influenced by monetary rewards.

"I know that I am proud of my guys turning up and playing for their country," Fitzgerald said.

"We all believe in it and for me that's the most important thing."

Fitzgerald said although Australian squad members were paid, they could be earning greater sums at other tournaments.

"They are paid but believe me, for Lleyton Hewitt it is not a lot of money," he said.

"He doesn't play here for any sort of monetary reward because for him he could make a lot more money elsewhere. He comes here because he wants to, which is nice."

World No. 428 Mounir El Aarej was thrust into the No. 1 role for Morocco, while Arazi was replaced by world No. 1247 Talal Ouahabi.

Morocco's hopes of remaining in the elite World Group for next year's competition all but evaporated when Arazi pulled out. It left the tennis minnow's hopes in the hands of El Aarej, world No. 507 Mehdi Tahiri, world No. 1022 Mehdi Ziadi and Ouahabi.

"It will be a good experience against good players on this surface," El Aarej said yesterday.

"We know it is going to be tough because Australia has won the Davis Cup so many times . . . but we will be trying our best. The other guys are motivated to play well here, too, and we are here for a fight."

In an apparent mismatch, the lowly ranked Moroccan quartet face the might of an Australian combination stinging from a first-round loss to Sweden in February. That defeat came just three months after Australia beat Spain in Melbourne to claim the Davis Cup title for a 28th time.

World No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt will spearhead Australia's assault, with Wayne Arthurs (No. 89) or Todd Reid (No. 105) to fill the second singles berth.

Arthurs and Todd Woodbridge are the favoured pairing for the doubles on Saturday.
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Hewitt eyes Davis Cup history
Lleyton Hewitt is set to become Australia's most successful Davis Cup singles player when he takes to the court on day one of the relegation tie against Morocco in Perth.

The Australians are the overwhelming favourites against the depleted Moroccans, who are without their top-ranked players Hicham Arazi and Younes El Aynaoui.

Hewitt, who is currently equal with Adrian Quist's record of 24 victories in the 1930s and 1940s, seems set to rewrite the record books when he takes on world number 507 Mehdi Tahiri in today's singles.

But rather than focussing on records, Hewitt is treating the tie against Morocco as the start of Australia's campaign to regain the Davis Cup next year.

"We're in the same position two years ago in Adelaide playing against India and we all decided that it was going to take five matches from there to try and get the Davis Cup back," he said.

"The whole team really came together and bonded extremely well, even though we were the red hot favourites for that tie as well."

Veteran Wayne Arthurs will play the opening singles rubber against Mounir El Aarej, who is ranked 428 in the world.

But despite knowing very little about his opponent, Arthurs is not taking a win for granted.

"Never take the opposition lightly," he said. "They have nothing to lose and I'm just going to be on top of my game.

"As Lleyton said, you just take care of your own game and sort of work out how their game matches up against yours over the first set or so."

Hewitt was also cautious about Morocco, saying he regarded Tahiri as an unknown quantity.

"It's always difficult playing someone you've never seen play before, because you just don't know what they're going to do on the big points," he said.

Hewitt said he had been pleased with his form leading into the Cup tie.

"I've got to be extremely confident with how my game's standing at the moment, I just go out there and play my game," he said.

Meanwhile Moroccan captain Karim Alami said his players hoped to cause a major upset.

"In sports you always have surprises and you never say never or it will never happen," he said.

"If you don't believe in yourself it's not even good to come here, so obviously we believe in ourselves"
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Aussies take out Cup tie 4-1
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Todd Reid went down in his Davis Cup debut against Mounir El Aarej 6-2,6-3.Getty Images
Australia has wrapped up its Davis Cup tie against Morocco 4-1 at Kings Park in Perth.

Todd Woodbridge finished the tie on a high note for the Australians, taking out the final dead rubber against Medhi Ziadi 6-0,6-2.

Earlier, Todd Reid made a disappointing Davis Cup debut for Australia, losing in straight sets to Morocco's Mounir El Aarej.

Nerves got the better of the 20-year-old Australian, who lost the dead rubber 6-2, 6-3.

Reid, ranked 105 in the world, was favoured to beat the 428-ranked El Aarej.

Australia's victory was confirmed yesterday after Wayne Arthurs and Woodbridge won the doubles 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 to take an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The victory was set up on Friday with wins to Arthurs and world number three Lleyton Hewitt in their singles rubbers.

In winning his match on Friday, Hewitt became Australia's most successful Davis Cup singles player, surpassing Adrian Quist's record of 24 victories in the 1930s and 1940s.
http://www.abc.net.au/wa/news/200409/s1207336.htm

Hopman berth a lifeline for Scud
Australian Davis Cup hero Mark Philippoussis will aim to put a demoralising 2004 behind him and kick-start his 2005 campaign at next year's Hyundai Hopman Cup.

The Victorian is expected to be confirmed as Alicia Molik's partner at today's launch for Hopman Cup XVII at the Burswood Dome, from January 1-8.

Each will be competing for the fourth time at the $1 million mixed teams international.

Philippoussis' world ranking has tumbled to 103 after a spate of first-round losses and a run of nagging injuries.

The former world No. 8's most recent first-round exit came at last week's Japan Open when he was beaten 6-3 6-4 by Czech Tomas Zib.

It was the 13th time in 17 tournaments this year that Philippoussis had bowed out in his opening round.

But the powerbrokers of Australian tennis believe Philippoussis can snap his run of outs and return to being a force in world tennis.

At last month's Davis Cup tie against Morocco in Perth, Australian captain John Fitzgerald said Philippoussis could overcome his injuries and form loss to return to the Davis Cup fold.

"We want him to be firing on all cylinders and ready for next year's campaign," Fitzgerald said.

Philippoussis is expected to get the nod for next year's Hopman Cup ahead of higher-ranked countrymen Wayne Arthurs and Todd Reid.

After combining with Molik at the past three Hopman Cups, world No. 3 Lleyton Hewitt will instead play an event in his home town of Adelaide next January.

Hopman Cup policy has been to recruit the participating country's top-ranked player, although organisers have reserved the right to pick the player of their choice.

Left-hander Arthurs is the highest-ranked Australian on the men's world tour at No. 93, with Philippoussis at 103 and Reid at 108.

Philippoussis is the only Australian male to have won the ITF-sanctioned West Australian mixed teams event.

A member of Australian teams which claimed the Davis Cups of 1999 and 2003, Philippoussis partnered Jelena Dokic in Australia's 2-1 victory over Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman and Asa Carlsson in 1999.

Philippoussis also combined with Nicole Bradtke at Hopman Cup VIII and IX and teamed with Dokic in an unsuccessful title defence at Hopman Cup XII.

Other men to have represented Australia in the tournament's 16-year history include Pat Cash, Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge, Wally Masur, Pat Rafter, Todd Woodbridge, Richard Fromberg and Hewitt.

Australian women to play at the Hopman Cup include Hana Mandlikova, Liz Smylie, Rachel McQuillan, Bradtke, Kristine Radford, Annabel Elwood, Dokic, Nicole Pratt and Molik.

While Philippoussis' world ranking has spiralled downwards, Molik's world-ranking is at a career-high 18.

The only team announced to date, Russians Marat Safin and Anastasia Myskina, is expected to be one of the top seeds for Hopman Cup XVII.

Safin has forced his way back into the top 10 while Myskina is world No. 4 after having a shot at the No. 1 women's ranking at this year's US Open

Hopman launch pad for the Poo
TOURNAMENT director Paul McNamee is hoping next year's Hopman Cup can help Mark Philippoussis resurrect his fading career, insisting the Victorian is "not done yet as a player".

Philippoussis, whose ranking has slumped to No.103 in the world, replaces Lleyton Hewitt in the mixed team event starting on January 1 at Perth's Burswood Dome.

Hewitt has decided to start his 2005 season at the hard-court tournament in his home town of Adelaide.

Philippoussis will partner Athens bronze medallist Alicia Molik, who has risen to No.18 in the rankings and is enjoying career-best form.

In contrast, Philippoussis is stuck in the worst slump of his career, having lost the opening match in 13 of his 16 ATP Tour events this year, including the past five.

But McNamee said the former Wimbledon and US Open finalist was hoping the Hopman Cup could re-kindle his career.

"Mark is very, very keen to start well here and to get back and turn his career around," McNamee said.

"He's not done yet as a player and I think we'll see a very determined Mark come here and really try and start the year well."

Australia are unseeded in the eight-team competition, with Russia's world No.9 Marat Safin and French Open champion Anastasia Myskina seeded No.1.

Second-seeded Americans Lindsay Davenport and James Blake are back to defend their title, with the Slovak Republic and Argentina seeded third and fourth respectively.

Italy and Germany are also in the field, with France and The Netherlands to play off for the final place.

McNamee said Philippoussis was invited to represent Australia in July, when he was still ranked in the top 20 and lost in the fourth round of Wimbledon to Tim Henman.

Had the invitations been made today, world No.93 Wayne Arthurs might have been considered, McNamee said.

But Philippoussis won the Hopman Cup with Jelena Dokic in 1999 and McNamee feels everyone involved in Australian tennis should be supporting him.

"I think Australian tennis, we really all have I think an obligation to do everything possible to get this guy back up there as a player," McNamee said.

"Otherwise, you lose a star overnight -- that's not a good thing for a sport.

"He's done an enormous amount for Australian tennis and for this tournament, so that loyalty should be rewarded, I think."

McNamee used Safin as an example for Philippoussis.

The Russian's injury-plagued career was in a tail-spin prior to this year's Hopman Cup, but he found form in Perth and went on to reach the final of the Australian Open and got himself back in the world's top 10.

McNamee feels next year's event could have the same effect on Philippoussis.

"It was critical for (Safin), which is the reason he's coming back," McNamee said.

"And why I think also (Argentina's Guillermo) Coria and (German Tommy) Haas and hopefully Mark are looking at what Marat did last year here and in Melbourne and can follow suit.

"There's no doubt that's a good example and a good filip for the tournament."
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11076003%255E2722,00.html


Safin in Russia's Hopman Cup team
Safin will play with Anastasia Myskina in the Hopman Cup
Marat Safin and Anastasia Myskina will comprise the top-seeded Russian team for next year's Hopman Cup in Perth.
The Russians will be pitted against mixed teams from the USA, Slovakia, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Australia and either France or the Netherlands.

Defending champions the USA - with world number one Lindsay Davenport and James Blake - are seeded second.

Organiser Paul McNamee said: "With the shot-making talent we've got, this is as good a field as you'll get."

He added: "For this year's tournament we have five players that have been ranked number one or number two in the world, being Davenport, Myskina, Safin, [Tommy] Haas and [Guillermo] Coria."

The Slovak Republic, seeded third, will be represented by Daniela Hantuchova and Dominik Hrbaty, while the Argentine team contains world number four Coria and 19-year-old Giselle Dulko.

Italy, Germany, Australia are all unseeded along with either France or the Netherlands who will play-off on the opening day - New Year's Day - for the final berth.

The indoor event in Australia splits the teams into two pools with Group A comprising Russia, Argentina, Italy and Germany, and Group B made up of the USA, Slovak Republic, Australia and either France or the Netherlands.

Each tie sees players meet in best-of-three-set singles rubbers before pairing up for the mixed doubles with the top team from each group meeting in the final
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Davenport, Blake to defend mixed team crown
PERTH, Australia (AP) - Americans Lindsay Davenport and James Blake will defend their Hopman Cup mixed team tennis title, while Mark Philippoussis will try to resurrect his tennis career while representing Australia.

Tournament officials said Thursday that Philippoussis, whose world ranking has slumped to 103rd, replaces Lleyton Hewitt in the mixed team event starting Jan. 1 at Perth's Burswood Dome.
Hewitt has decided to start his 2005 season at a hardcourt tournament in his hometown of Adelaide. Philippoussis will partner Athens bronze medalist Alicia Molik, who has risen to No. 18 in the women's rankings.

Philippoussis won the Hopman Cup with Jelena Dokic in 1999.

Russia's Marat Safin and French Open champion Anastasia Myskina are seeded No. 1 in the eight-team competition, with Davenport and Blake second.

Slovakia and Argentina are seeded third and fourth. Italy and Germany are also in the field along with Australia, with France and the Netherlands to play a qualifying match for the eighth spot.

Philippoussis is in the worst slump of his career, having lost the opening match in 13 of his 16 ATP Tour events this year, including the past five.

But Hopman Cup tournament director Paul McNamee said the former Wimbledon and U.S. Open finalist was hoping the Hopman Cup would rekindle his career.

"Mark is very, very keen to start well here and to get back and turn his career around," McNamee said. "He's not done yet as a player and I think we'll see a very determined Mark come here and really try and start the year well."

Russia, fourth-seeded Argentina (Giselle Dulko and Guillermo Coria), Italy (Francesca Schiavone and David Sanguinetti) and Germany (Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Tommy Haas) will play in Group A.

The United States, third-seeded Slovakia (Daniela Hantuchova and Dominik Hrbaty), Australia and France or the Netherlands will play in Group B.

France (Tatiana Golovin and Richard Gasquet) will play the Netherlands (Michaela Krajicek and Peter Wessels) in a qualifying match to see which country advances to Group B.

The group winners will play in the tournament final
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