page_title: Mark Philippoussis
section_title: 2003: Comeback
hierarchical_section_title: Mark Philippoussis / Biography / 2003: Comeback
caption_attribution_description: en:Lleyton Hewitt and en:Mark Philippoussis confer during a doubles match at the en:2005 en:Queen's Club Championships. Shermozle 21:57, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)
context_page_description: Mark Anthony Philippoussis is an Australian retired tennis player of Greek and Italian descent. He turned professional in 1994. His greatest achievements are winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia in 1999 and 2003, winning the deciding rubber in the final of each. He also reached the finals of the 1998 US Open and the 2003 Wimbledon tournaments, losing to countryman Pat Rafter and Swiss Roger Federer respectively. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8.
  He has had a minor career in modelling and starred in the American reality television dating show Age of Love. He is nicknamed 'the Scud', after the Scud missile.
context_section_description: After three knee operations and a protracted comeback, Philippoussis avowed a new seriousness to his sport. He made himself available regularly for Davis Cup, hired a new physical trainer, and took up surfing as his new recreation. It seemed to work, as he made the 2003 Wimbledon final, finally losing to Roger Federer, 6–7(5), 2–6, 6–7(3).
  During a 2003 Wimbledon tennis match against Andre Agassi (6–3, 2–6, 6–7 (4–7), 6–3, 6–4), he set a new Australian tennis record of 46 aces served in a match, three aces short of the overall ATP Tour record then held by Richard Krajicek.
  Philippoussis broke a two-year singles-title drought by winning the Shanghai Open in 2003. On 30 November 2003, he defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain to win the fourth match of the Davis Cup final in Melbourne, securing the title for Australia. At the end of 2003, Philippoussis received the ATP Comeback Player of the Year award.
  The honeymoon period with the Australian public, however, did not last. 2004 proved a disastrous year in terms of his tennis career and public profile. After shouldering most of the blame for losing Australia's Davis Cup tie with Sweden with an unexpected below-par performance, Philippoussis struggled through to the Wimbledon fourth round in June 2004. From Wimbledon in June until the end of the season in October, he failed to win a single ATP tennis match and finished with one of his lowest rankings since turning professional in 1994.
  In October 2004, a much-publicised affair with Delta Goodrem had soured and seriously damaged his standing, after newspapers alleged that he had dated Paris Hilton while with Goodrem. In March 2005, he became engaged to actress and model Alexis Barbara. The Age reported the pair had split in July 2006, but Philippoussis denied this to Australian tabloid New Idea; they did split some time before he began filming Age of Love.
  He confirmed to Sydney's Daily Telegraph on 23 August 2006, that he "parted ways with" his father as his coach and rehired Peter McNamara in an attempt to revive his career.
caption: Philippoussis in a doubles match with Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.
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