Melbourne, Nov 19: Former world number one Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis began preparations for Australia's Davis Cup final against Spain with their first practice session in Melbourne yesterday.
Hewitt, 22, and Philippoussis, 27, practised on the grass courts at Kooyong. The final is to be played on a specially-laid grass court at Rod Laver arena, the venue for the Australian Open.
World number 17 Hewitt, who has not played since defeating Roger Federer in five sets in the semi-final against Switzerland, has been supplanted by Philippoussis as the top singles player for the hosts for the November 28-30 tie.
Philippoussis, who has been dogged by knee injuries and a tempestuous relationship with tennis Australia over his past Davis Cup availability, is ranked ninth in the world.

He and Hewitt have been ever-present this year for Australia in their Davis Cup wins against Britain, Sweden and Switzerland. Wayne Arthurs and doubles specialist Todd Woodbridge, who have also played all three ties, make up the team for the final.



A sweat-drenched Hewitt looked strong in the humid conditions on Tuesday, emphasising last week's statement by Australian captain John Fitzgerald, who said he felt Hewitt's lay-off from competition would only help the home team against Spain.



Australia lost to France in the 2001 final on grass. A visibly-exhausted Hewitt, who had won the US Open, the Masters Cup and taken the number one ranking, lost the opening rubber in five sets to Nicolas Escude.



''Two years ago...In the final he actually lost his first match and maybe he was just a little bit exhausted,'' said Fitzgerald.



''It's a tough game tennis, it's a worldwide game, they're jet-lagged a lot, they don't have an off-season. There's a fine line between getting the right number of matches and the right amount of fitness and hitting enough balls and working on the things that you need to work on.''



The Spanish, who are renowned for their clay-court prowess and have French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero and 1998 Roland Garros winner Carlos Moya in their team, laid a grass court near Barcelona to prepare for the tie.


Bureau Report