London, July 07: Mark Philippoussis of Australia, a whole chapter of knee operations behind him, knows all about being bloodied.
But the 26-year-old from Melbourne will never be unbowed - not even after losing yesterday's Wimbledon final in straight sets to Roger Federer of Switzerland.
Federer was magnificent on the day as he gave up zero break points on his serve while capturing twice the usually quasi-unreturnable serve of his opponent to win the title 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 7-6 (7/3).

Philippoussis, once linked with Russian glamour girl Anna Kournikova, said after all his trials and tribulations, which included more than two months in a wheelchair two seasons ago while his father Nick has had to battle cancer, that losing a grand slam final would not get him down.
No sooner had he come off court than he was insisting he would not only be back - he would hold aloft the trophy himself.



"It's been a great tournament for me. Unfortunately, I fell one short - but I'll be back," said the man known as Scud whose serve brought 14 more aces yesterday to take his tournament haul to 178.


Bureau Report