Australian headlines
Lots of interesting headlines in tennis, relative to guys that have been here. Mark Philippoussis has quite a few of them:

-In continuing his commitment to get back into the top 50, Mark had joined the team that used to work for Andre Agassi. He moved to Las Vegas in the Fall of '06 to team up with Andre's trainer and coach, Darren Cahill and Gil Reyes, to continue to work on his game and fitness. "I have no doubt that my best tennis is ahead of me", said Philippoussis referring to his work benefitting his outlook.

-Philippoussis was indeed doing well, had wins over Henman and Tursunov (#20 in the world at the time) in the last month, but then suffered a knee injury at the Australian tune up, the Hopman Cup. He had surgery on his right knee, which was the 1st on that knee and the 4th total. Certainly there were doubts on his return. "This is another minor setback and something I will deal with. It is the only thing I can do, it is the only thing I want to do. It's as simple as that," said Philippoussis before his surgery. He hopes to be back in the spring.

In the Australian Open...
- It is the typical good showing for many of the guys who've been in Binghamton. Qualifying standouts include Zack Fleishman, Bobby Reynolds, Lukas Lacko (finalist '06), Brian Wilson, and Alex Kutznetsov. About 22 players in the qualifier that have been to Rec Park.
-In the main draw, noteables include Tipsarevic again almost pulling off a big upset but wilted in the heat; Kuznetsov, Fleishman, and Udomchoke get the 1st round wins; while Andy Murray looks to be a force and his brother Jamie a regular in the doubles now. Andy making headlines in the 'offseason' with his training program... wonder what his top 20, under 20 peers are up to and how that will affect his results.

More news and Notes
-Although totally unrelated to our challenger, is the return of Guga and Sampras. Gustavo Kuerten, the former #1 and 3 time French champ, is making a return to the South American clay season. He was ousted in his 1st appearance in Jan... but managed 2 matches in the nice new round robin format. The round robin fit well in that case, because he is obviously not a top ranked player now... but he is a fan favorite and drew big crowds more than once. Pete Sampras has stated he'll be appearing in the American Seniors events this summer.
-Gambill made a return to the courts, after retiring here 6 months ago... he was a wild card at the Delray Beach ATP event.