Mark Philippoussis' style of play is to hit every shot hard and can often hit groundstrokes at the same speed some player’s serve, earning the nickname Scud. He is considered to be one of the hardest hitters in the history of Australian tennis due to his strong legs and towering height at 6’5”.
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
In 1998, Philippoussis reached his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open losing to fellow Australian Patrick Rafter.
On March 29, 1999, he entered the top 10 ranking for the first time in his career and stayed there for 11 weeks reaching his all time high Ranking of 8th.
He advanced to the quarter finals at Wimbledon for the second straight year and retired in the 2nd set against no. 1 Pete Sampras after having won the first set due to a torn ligament.
After three knee operations Philippoussis made himself available regularly for Davis Cup and hired a new physical trainer. It seemed to work, as he made the 2003 Wimbledon final, losing to Roger Federer 6-7, 2-6, 6-7 [2].
