Out to conquer

New attitude has Philippoussis dreaming big at the Open

By Richard Deitsch

NEW YORK -- There's a delicious scene in the 2001 documentary tennis film Beyond The Baseline in which Mark Philippoussis is asked to explain the significance of the Alexander The Great tattoo that rests proudly on his right shoulder. Staring deep into camera, Philippoussis complies. "He was a f------ conqueror of the world, he was f------ Greek, and he was gay," Philippoussis explains to the filmmakers, a huge smile on his face. "I guess I'm hoping the conquering part will rub off on me."

And there's the rub for Philippoussis. For the past three years he has done more crumbling than conquering, the lingering effects of three surgeries on his left knee since Dec. 2000. The Australian missed both the 1999 and 2001 U.S. Open due to injury and last year he was forced to withdraw from the tournament when the same troublesome knee buckled against Sjeng Schalken in the first round. Born with a name (Marc Anthony Philippoussis) that conjures up nobility and images of Roman kings, blessed with a 6-foot-4 frame and powerful strokes off both flanks, Philippoussis served notice -- and plenty of aces -- when he reached the finals of the U.S. Open in 1998 before losing in four sets to countryman Pat Rafter. With his 130 mile per hour serves and awe-inspiring nickname (The Scud Stud), he appeared to have the tennis world at his feet. If only his knees and commitment to excellence had been as willing. Since the end of 2000 when he was last ranked in the Top 20 at the end of the year, Philippoussis has played in just 38 tournaments.

Now 26, Philippoussis is ranked No. 20 at this year's Open which for him is cause for celebration. After a third surgery on his left knee following last year's tournament,he found himself convalescing in a wheelchair and even briefly contemplated retirement. Looking for a change of scenery, Philippoussis moved from Florida last fall to an oceanfront home in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Calif., a surf-happy community near San Diego where endless summers last an entire year. There, he says, he found his new passion: surfing. "I remember going out, first wave I got hooked," says Philippoussis. "I ended up buying 15 surfboards thinking that would make me surf better."

Such profligate ways are not foreign to Philippoussis, who collected fast cars (especially Ferraris) and houses in the same manner Colin Farrell collects lingerie models. At Wimbledon he was blasted for his wanton ways by former coach Pat Cash who wrote in his column for The Sunday Times that Philippoussis had wanted to go to a strip club after winning his quarterfinal contest at the Open in 1998 and had to be discouraged from spending the night with Anna Kournikova before another big match (We should all have such problems.) Perhaps worst of all, Cash called him "one of the most uncommitted people to rise to prominence in sport." While Cash hasn't exactly been a model of professionalism over the years and such a column could be construed as the Pat calling the kettle black, Philippoussis himself has admitted that he more than often enjoyed a libidinous lifestyle. "Everyone matures in different stages," Philippoussis told The Australian earlier this year. "I mean, being a young guy, single guy, all of a sudden who gets a bit of fame and some money, what are you going to do? Are you going to buy a little townhouse and train your arse off? "It's the normal thing to do and I was living, you know, other guy's dreams that they dream of and you're in a position to live that life. Why not do it? And I got it out of my system and I've realized that they're not the most important things in life."

If you believe Philippoussis -- and his toned body shows he has recommitted to fitness -- things such as Wimbledon and tennis may now be first and foremost. In a performance that changed the immediate fortunes of his career, he defeated Andre Agassi in the Round of 16 and Sebastien Grosjean in the semis to reach his first Wimbledon final in July. Though he was overwhelmed by Roger Federer in the final, Philippoussis says his performance imbued him with a new attitude toward the sport. "I just feel (Wimbledon) made me more professional," he says.

Still, you can expect hiccups. He was too overwhelming for 19-year-old Serbian qualifier Janko Tipsarevic in a 6-2, 7-6, 6-4 romp Wednesday at Louis Armstrong Stadium but had a unimaginable laps of concentration in the second set when he lost track of the score and mistakenly thought he had a won a game. And those shaky knees are still one bad landing away from a permanent life on the surfboard. "He'll be lucky to last five or six years on those knees," says Jim Courier, now an analyst for USA Network. "What it might have to come down to is playing less on hard surfaces and playing more on forgiving surfaces."

Like water? Philippoussis spoke at length yesterday about surfing as if he were on a promotional junket for Blue Crush. "They're not into the material side of life," Philippoussis says of the surfing community in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. "It's easy to get stuck into that which I did. Obviously, you love your cars, you love your houses. It just shows you what the important things are in life. They take a backpack, a surfboard and go out and travel. They share a little house, four of them, wake up and go surf. They're the happiest people in the world." He then told the story of his trip to Mexico last month where he was thrilled to share a room with a pro surfer. "The guy was looking at me like I'm crazy because I'm happy about sharing a room," says Philippoussis. "I was excited because I've never shared a room with somebody."

If Philippoussis has genuinely found religion amid the surf and sand of Cardiff, that's good news for the game. He's a handsome and charismatic guy, and has the kind of power game that makes ATP officials swoon with publicity possibilities. Philippoussis says he's happy in his personal life (perhaps new paramour Tara Reid has something to do with that, though call us skeptical about Reid's newfound chaste image) and is ready to win majors. Of course, he'll have to ride quite a wave in  to do that in New York after playing just five matches since Wimbledon. His next opponent is journeyman Frenchman Anthony Dupais, with No. 12 seed David Nalbandian a likely third-round opponent. If Philippoussis gets past Nalbandian, he'll be in line to face Federer in the Round of 16. Plenty of worlds left to conquer before this Alexander can get truly stoked.

Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Richard Deitsch covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com.