Across The Net: Mark Philippoussis - 2003: Wimbledon Runner-up 2007: Starring in NBC’s Age of Love
Posted by Dan Martin on 07.15.2007
As promised, this week’s Across the Net includes a review of this week’s tennis action plus some thoughts on Mark Philippoussis’ tenure as the star of a reality dating show.
Players of the Week:
Pete Sampras and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario were each inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame this week. Sanchez Vicario won the French Open three times including wins over Steffi Graf in 1989 and Monica Seles in 1998. She also posted the best year of any pro in 1994 winning the French and U.S. Open titles along with finishing as a runner-up at the Australian Open. Sampras' accomplishments are too numerous to recount here, but it is telling that he cited a loss in the 1992 U.S. Open final as what taught him to be dominant. He is a true champion in every sense of the word who never embraced the success he achieved and remained hungry for a solid decade. Seeing Santoro win the event in Newport has to make Pete think he could have at least entered this event and maybe won it while being inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Fabrice Santoro the 34 year old Frenchman won his fifth career singles title at the Hall of Fame Classic in Newport, RI. He defeated fellow Frenchman Nicholas Mahut in the final who was also runner-up at Queen's Club in June. Mahut was outside of the top 100 when the grass court season began, but two runner-up finishes have his ranking on the move.
Paul Henri-Mathieu and David Ferrer each won clay court titles this week. It is hard to salute playing clay court tennis the week after Wimbledon, but it is easy to honor tournament titles.
The Federation Cup final will be contested between Russia and Italy Federation Cup has never done much for me, but the U.S.-Russia collision was decided by a 7-5,7-6 doubles win for Russia.
Age of Love
Mark Philippoussis is first of all a tennis player who played at the highest levels of the sport. He took a set off of Pete Sampras during the 1995 U.S. Open, beat Pete Sampras 6-4, 7-6, 6-4 in the 3rd round of the 1996 Australian Open, reached the 1998 U.S. Open final, won Masters Series Indian Wells in 1999, reached several Wimbledon quarterfinals, and eventually reached the Wimbledon final in 2003 losing to Roger Federer 7-6, 6-2, 7-6. Injuries have hampered his career, but the 30 year old Australian has been ranked as high as #8 in the world and won the Hall of Fame Classic on grass in 2006.
So, 30 year old Mark Philippoussis is not a third string NFL quarterback. Why he is on the Age of Love on NBC is beyond me. Still, I have to admit it has not been bad television. In one sense, it is bad television because the very concept was hidden from Mark and half of the contestants and because the idea of pitting women against each other by dangling the hopes of finding love in front of them is not good. Watching eliminated women breakdown makes one think if this sort of emotional moment really is the business of a national television audience. Of course, the women chose to be on the show, but should NBC help people develop psychiatric issues?
Age of Love is good television in the sense that it is entertaining. Maybe it is only entertaining in the train wreck sort of way. Certainly, it is hard to look away as the meltdowns described above occur. If a redeeming quality to Age of Love does exist, it is the fact that so many of the women in their 40's have come across as interesting people (The interesting question of why they are on the show to begin with has not escaped me either). Philippoussis has also proven to be a bit more unpredictable than what little I saw of the other men on similar shows. He eliminated one young woman due to a passionless kiss and another for talking about her friend/competition on their date.
The formula of the show is certainly voyeuristic as the audience is given insight into why Mark makes the eliminations he does, a first hand account of the scheming of the participants and of course a look at the crying. Last week, a young woman named Mary cried somewhere between 5 and 8 times on the air depending on how one counts seeing the same outburst 3 times. The promo for this week's episode mentions she has a breakdown. Maybe Mary will set a single episode record for crying on a reality television show. Mary is already in sole possession for the record of the most tears shed in a reality series. I have to believe the producers are telling Mark not to eliminate Mary until he has no other obvious eliminations because she makes for train wreck television.
Predictions and a Final Thought
I think Mary's utility to the show will run out this week. Mark appears to like 26 year old Amanda the best at this point. After Amanda, Mark seems to like all of the women in their 40's more than the remaining younger women. I am not sure leading at the midpoint of a reality dating show is a good thing. Amanda may run the table, but others have the chance to grow on Mark while she can at best maintain her status. In short, Amanda may be up a set, but she still needs to hold serve to just force tie breakers the rest of the way. 42 year old photographer Maria seems to have a strong enough personality to put Mark in his place. Maybe that will be enough for her to play through assuming she does not quit the show. 48 year old Jennifer seems to intrigue Mark, and 39 year old Jayanna appeals to Mark's sense of fun. 24 year old Mary will not win this series, but she may get invited to be on Dr. Phil when this all ends. 21 year old Meghan is likely too young to really make a serious run at #1 because Mark already had an engagement fall apart with a woman near Meghan's age. My mind says Amanda runs wire to wire to a victory. My gut says if Maria wants to win she will find a way to win by playing up the role of the strong willed woman who is not fazed by the ridiculousness of the entire show. Regardless of who wins the resulting relationship will be lucky to last 4 months.
In the final analysis, Age of Love is a show I would not be watching if I were not writing a tennis column. It does seem newsworthy in the lull between Wimbledon and Masters Series Canada. I have found the show to be more entertaining than I would have expected, but I still feel like I need to shower after watching each episode. If you like tennis and seeing people develop deep self-doubt before your very eyes, check out the remaining episodes.
