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Mark Philippoussis
Singles
Philippoussis in 2023
Country (sports)	Australia
Residence	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Born	(1976-11-07) 7 November 1976 (age 48) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	196 cm (6 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	1994
Retired	2008 (last match 2015)
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	US$ 6,987,402
Career record	313–204 (60.5%)
Career titles	11
Highest ranking	No. 8 (19 April 1999)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	4R (1996, 1999, 2000, 2004)
French Open	4R (1997, 2000)
Wimbledon	F (2003)
US Open	F (1998)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	Alt (2003)
Grand Slam Cup	SF (1998)
Olympic Games	3R (1996, 2000)
Doubles
Career record	99–73 (57.6%)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 18 (11 August 1997)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1996)
French Open	3R (1996, 1997)
Wimbledon	SF (1996)
US Open	SF (1996)
Mixed doubles
Career record	3–3
Career titles	0
Grand Slam mixed doubles results
French Open	QF (1996)
US Open	2R (1997)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	W (1999, 2003)
Hopman Cup	W (1999)

Mark Anthony Philippoussis (born 7 November 1976) is an Australian tennis coach, commentator, and former professional tennis player. He has Greek and Italian family roots. Mark Philippoussis is famous for winning two Davis Cup titles with Australia. He helped Australia win in 1999 and 2003, winning the final match in both events.

He also reached the finals of two major tournaments: the 1998 US Open and the 2003 Wimbledon singles tournaments. Mark Philippoussis reached his highest singles ranking as world No. 8. He was known for having one of the fastest serves in tennis. He is sometimes called 'the Scud' or 'The Pou'.

Mark Philippoussis: Early Life and Tennis Journey

Mark Philippoussis was born in Melbourne, Australia. His father, Nikolaos ("Nick"), is Greek, and his mother, Rossana, is Italian. He went to Maribyrnong College and Wesley College. He is a Catholic.

Starting Tennis: From Junior to Pro

Mark started playing tennis at six years old, coached by his father. He was part of the Australian Institute of Sport. In 1994, he was ranked third in junior singles. He also won junior doubles championships with Ben Ellwood at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and in Italy. He became a professional player in 1994.

In 1995, at just 19, he was the youngest player in the top 50. In 1996, he reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. He even beat Pete Sampras in the third round. Mark was known for his incredibly fast serves. In 1997, he hit a serve at 229.0 km/h (142.3 mph).

Reaching the Top 10 in Tennis

At the 1998 US Open, Mark Philippoussis played in his first major final. He lost to fellow Australian Patrick Rafter. In January 1999, Mark and Jelena Dokić won the Hopman Cup for Australia. They beat Sweden in the final. This was Australia's first Hopman Cup win until 2016.

On March 14, 1999, Mark Philippoussis won the Indian Wells Masters. He defeated Carlos Moyá in a tough five-set match. On March 29, 1999, he entered the top 10 world rankings for the first time. He stayed in the top 10 for 10 weeks. He reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 1999. He had to stop playing in his match against Sampras due to a knee injury.

Mark had surgery on his left knee. He returned to tennis seven weeks later but did not play much more that year. He finished 1999 ranked No. 19. In 2000, he finished the year at No. 11. He reached the fourth round at the Australian Open and the quarter-finals at Wimbledon. He also played in his second Olympic Games in Sydney.

Representing Australia: Davis Cup Success

Mark Philippoussis always said he was proud to play for Australia in the Davis Cup. In 1999, he helped Australia win their 27th Davis Cup title. This was Australia's first win since 1986. He won his match against Cédric Pioline in Nice, France.

Injuries kept Mark from playing in the Davis Cup for a while. He returned in February 2003. He helped Australia win the Davis Cup final in Melbourne against Spain. Mark beat Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero in a five-set match. He had an injury during the match but still managed to win the final set 6–0.

Comeback and Later Career

Philippoussis in a doubles match with Lleyton Hewitt in 2005.

After three knee operations, Mark worked hard to return to tennis. He played in the Davis Cup regularly and hired a new physical trainer. He reached the 2003 Wimbledon final, where he lost to Roger Federer.

During a Wimbledon match in 2003, he set a new Australian record. He served 46 aces in one match against Andre Agassi. In 2003, he won the Shanghai Open, ending a two-year period without a singles title. At the end of 2003, he received the ATP Comeback Player of the Year award.

The year 2004 was difficult for his tennis career. He struggled in matches and his ranking dropped. In 2006, he played at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. He won his first title in almost three years at the Campbell's Hall of Fame Championships. He defeated Justin Gimelstob in the final.

At the 2006 Australian Open

In 2007, Mark had another knee injury that forced him to miss the rest of the season. In 2008, he tried to make another comeback. He had to withdraw from a tournament due to another knee injury requiring surgery.

In 2010, Mark played in a professional tour match for the first time since 2006. He also played in the Champions Series, winning two tournaments. In 2012, he played for the Philadelphia Freedoms in World Team Tennis.

Philippoussis at the 2015 Australian Open

In 2015, Mark Philippoussis played his first ATP World Tour match in nine years. He received a special entry into the qualifying rounds of the 2015 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. He also played doubles in the tournament. He said he was just playing one event and not planning a full comeback. In 2017, he won the RPIA Championships in Toronto.

Mark Philippoussis: Life Outside Tennis

Mark Philippoussis has had a small career in modeling. He also appeared on a reality television dating show called Age of Love in 2007. On the show, he chose Amanda Salinas.

In 2020, Mark Philippoussis appeared on the Australian TV show The Masked Singer Australia. He performed as the 'Echidna' and was the first contestant to be eliminated.

Family Life

Mark Philippoussis married Romanian-born model Silvana Lovin in September 2013. They welcomed their first child, a boy, in 2014. Their second child, a girl, was born in 2018.

Major Finals: Grand Slam and Masters Series

Mark Philippoussis reached two Grand Slam singles finals and two Masters Series singles finals.

Grand Slam Finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1998	US Open	Hard	Patrick Rafter	3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 0–6
Loss	2003	Wimbledon	Grass	Roger Federer	6–7^(5–7), 2–6, 6–7^(3–7)

Masters Series Finals

Singles: 2 (1 title, 1 runner-up)

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1999	Indian Wells	Hard	Carlos Moyá	5–7, 6–4, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Loss	2000	Paris	Hard (i)	Marat Safin	6–3, 6–7^(7–9), 4–6, 6–3, 6–7^(8–10)

Career Finals: Singles and Doubles Titles

Mark Philippoussis played in 22 singles finals, winning 11 titles. He also played in 6 doubles finals, winning 3 titles.

Singles: 22 (11 titles, 11 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–2)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (1–1)
ATP Championship Series (2–1)
ATP International Series (8–7)

Titles by surface
Hard (8–7)
Grass (2–1)
Clay (1–0)
Carpet (0–3)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1.	Mar 1995	Scottsdale, US	Hard	Jim Courier	6–7^(2–7), 4–6
Loss	2.	Oct 1995	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Carpet	Marcelo Ríos	6–7^(6–8), 2–6
Loss	3.	Oct 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Hard (i)	Michael Chang	3–6, 4–6
Win	1.	Oct 1996	Toulouse, France	Hard	Magnus Larsson	6–1, 5–7, 6–4
Win	2.	Mar 1997	Scottsdale, US	Hard	Richey Reneberg	6–4, 7–6^(7–4)
Win	3.	Apr 1997	Munich, Germany	Clay	Àlex Corretja	7–6^(7–3), 1–6, 6–4
Win	4.	Jun 1997	London (Queens), UK	Grass	Goran Ivanišević	7–5, 6–3
Loss	4.	Sep 1997	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Nicolas Kiefer	5–7, 7–5, 4–6
Loss	5.	Oct 1997	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Greg Rusedski	3–6, 6–7^(6–8), 6–7^(3–7)
Win	5.	Feb 1998	Memphis, US	Hard	Michael Chang	6–3, 6–2
Loss	6.	Sep 1998	US Open, New York City, US	Hard	Patrick Rafter	3–6, 6–3, 2–6, 0–6
Win	6.	Feb 1999	San Jose, US	Hard	Cecil Mamiit	6–3, 6–2
Win	7.	Mar 1999	Indian Wells, US	Hard	Carlos Moyá	5–7, 6–4, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
Win	8.	Feb 2000	San Jose, US	Hard	Mikael Tillström	7–5, 4–6, 6–3
Loss	7.	Oct 2000	Hong Kong, China	Hard	Nicolas Kiefer	6–7^(4–7), 6–2, 2–6
Loss	8.	Nov 2000	Paris, France	Carpet	Marat Safin	6–3, 6–7^(7–9), 4–6, 6–3, 6–7^(8–10)
Win	9.	Feb 2001	Memphis, US	Hard	Davide Sanguinetti	6–3, 6–7^(5–7), 6–3
Loss	9.	Jan 2002	Adelaide, Australia	Hard	Tim Henman	4–6, 7–6^(8–6), 3–6
Loss	10.	Mar 2003	Scottsdale, US	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	4–6, 4–6
Loss	11.	Jul 2003	Wimbledon, London, UK	Grass	Roger Federer	6–7^(5–7), 2–6, 6–7^(3–7)
Win	10.	Sep 2003	Shanghai, China	Hard	Jiří Novák	6–2, 6–1
Win	11.	Jul 2006	Newport, US	Grass	Justin Gimelstob	6–3, 7–5

Doubles: 6 (3 titles, 3 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam (0–0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0–0)
ATP Masters Series (0–2)
ATP Championship Series (0–0)
ATP International Series (3–1)

Titles by surface
Hard (1–3)
Grass (1–0)
Clay (0–0)
Carpet (1–0)

Result	W/L	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	Apr 1995	Hong Kong, China	Hard	Tommy Ho	John Fitzgerald Anders Järryd	6–1, 6–7^(2–7), 7–6^(7–3)
Win	2.	Oct 1995	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	Carpet	Patrick McEnroe	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	7–5, 6–4
Loss	1.	Mar 1997	Indian Wells, US	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Mark Knowles Daniel Nestor	7–5, 6–4
Win	3.	Jun 1997	London (Queens), UK	Grass	Patrick Rafter	Sandon Stolle Cyril Suk	6–2, 4–6, 7–5
Loss	2.	Aug 1997	Cincinnati, US	Hard	Patrick Rafter	Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	6–4, 6–2
Loss	3.	Mar 2003	Scottsdale, US	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	James Blake Mark Merklein	6–4, 6–7^(2–7), 7–6^(7–5)

Team Competition: 3 (3 titles)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1.	Jan 1999	Hopman Cup, Perth, Western Australia	Hard (i)	Jelena Dokić	Åsa Carlsson Jonas Björkman	2–1
Win	2.	Dec 1999	Davis Cup, Nice, France	Clay (i)	Lleyton Hewitt Todd Woodbridge Mark Woodforde	Sébastien Grosjean Fabrice Santoro Cédric Pioline Olivier Delaître	3–2
Win	3.	Nov 2003	Davis Cup, Melbourne, Australia	Grass	Lleyton Hewitt Wayne Arthurs Todd Woodbridge	Juan Carlos Ferrero Carlos Moyá Àlex Corretja Feliciano López	3–1

Performance Timeline: Singles Career Overview

This table shows Mark Philippoussis's performance in major tennis tournaments throughout his career.

Singles

Tournament	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	Career SR	Career W-L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	Q1	1R	1R	4R	A	2R	4R	4R	A	2R	3R	4R	A	1R	0 / 10	16–10
French Open	A	A	A	2R	4R	2R	1R	4R	A	2R	2R	1R	A	A	0 / 8	10–8
Wimbledon	A	Q3	A	2R	1R	QF	QF	QF	A	4R	F	4R	2R	2R	0 / 10	27–10
US Open	A	Q2	3R	4R	3R	F	A	2R	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 10	16–10
Grand Slam SR	0 / 0	0 / 1	0 / 2	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 3	0 / 4	0 / 0	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 2	0 / 3	0 / 38	N/A
Grand Slam win–loss	0–0	0–1	2–2	8–4	5–3	12–4	7–3	11–4	0–0	5–4	11–4	6–4	1–2	1–3	N/A	69–38
Year-end championships
Grand Slam Cup	Did not qualify					SF	WNI	Not Held							0 / 1	1–1
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells	A	A	A	2R	QF	1R	W	SF	1R	A	2R	2R	1R	1R	1 / 10	15–9
Miami	A	A	3R	2R	4R	2R	3R	4R	3R	2R	4R	2R	2R	2R	0 / 12	14–11
Monte Carlo	A	A	A	2R	3R	3R	QF	1R	A	1R	A	A	A	A	0 / 6	7–6
Hamburg	A	A	A	A	A	A	A	1R	A	1R	QF	1R	A	A	0 / 4	3–4
Rome	A	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R	2R	A	2R	1R	1R	A	A	0 / 9	4–9
Canada	A	A	2R	QF	QF	3R	A	1R	A	A	A	A	A	A	0 / 5	8–5
Cincinnati	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	A	3R	A	2R	1R	A	A	A	0 / 6	4–6
Madrid¹	A	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	2R	3R	2R	A	2R	A	A	A	0 / 8	4–8
Paris	A	A	A	2R	A	QF	QF	F	2R	A	2R	A	A	A	0 / 6	12–6
Win–loss	0–0	0–0	3–4	8–8	9–7	9–8	13–5	14–9	3–4	3–5	7–7	0–4	1–1	1–2	1 / 66	71–64
Year-end ranking	437	274	38	30	18	15	19	11	104	80	9	109	171	114	N/A

¹This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.

Top 10 Wins: Beating the Best

Mark Philippoussis had 24 wins against players ranked in the top 10 during his career.

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Rd	Score
1996
1.	Pete Sampras	1	Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia	Hard	3R	6–4, 7–6^(11–9), 7–6^(7–3)
2.	Jim Courier	9	New Haven, United States	Hard	3R	7–6^(7–5), 7–6^(7–3)
1997
3.	Carlos Moyá	9	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	3R	6–4, 6–3
4.	Wayne Ferreira	10	Miami, United States	Hard	3R	6–3, 6–3
5.	Pete Sampras	1	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	4–6, 6–4, 0–1, ret.
6.	Goran Ivanišević	4	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–1, 6–2
7.	Goran Ivanišević	3	Queen's Club, London, United Kingdom	Grass	F	7–5, 6–3
8.	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	4	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet (i)	QF	6–3, 6–7^(5–7), 6–2
1998
9.	Marcelo Ríos	7	Memphis, United States	Hard (i)	SF	6–4, 7–6^(7–5)
10.	Michael Chang	5	Memphis, United States	Hard (i)	F	6–3, 6–2
11.	Jonas Björkman	7	World Team Cup, Düsseldorf, Germany	Clay	RR	6–3, 6–4
12.	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	7	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	1R	6–7^(5–7), 7–6^(7–1), 6–4, 6–2
13.	Carlos Moyá	10	US Open, New York, United States	Hard	SF	6–1, 6–4, 5–7, 6–4
14.	Karol Kučera	7	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	3R	6–4, 4–6, 7–5
1999
15.	Àlex Corretja	3	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	2R	4–6, 7–5, 6–2
16.	Carlos Moyá	4	Indian Wells, United States	Hard	F	5–7, 6–4, 6–4, 4–6, 6–2
17.	Tim Henman	10	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	3R	6–1, 3–6, 6–3
2000
18.	Pete Sampras	2	French Open, Paris, France	Clay	1R	4–6, 7–5, 7–6^(7–4), 4–6, 8–6
19.	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	5	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	3R	6–4, 6–2
20.	Gustavo Kuerten	3	Paris, France	Carpet (i)	SF	7–6^(7–5), 7–6^(13–11)
2003
21.	David Nalbandian	10	Scottsdale, United States	Hard	QF	0–6, 6–3, 6–4
22.	Roger Federer	5	Hamburg, Germany	Clay	3R	6–3, 2–6, 6–3
23.	Andre Agassi	1	Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom	Grass	4R	6–3, 2–6, 6–7^(4–7), 6–3, 6–4
24.	Juan Carlos Ferrero	3	Davis Cup, Melbourne, Australia	Grass	RR	7–5, 6–3, 1–6, 2–6, 6–0