In France, Sunday, Mark Philippousis clinched the Davis Cup final for Australia by defeating France's Cedric Pioline in four sets. This gave Australia three matches, the best of five it needed. In Davis Cup, each meeting between teams is called a "tie," which consists of two singles matches, then one doubles, then each of the singles players trading opponents. Plillipoussis had also won his previous singles match against Sebastien Grosjean. Australia's third win, in doubles, came from their great team of Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge. Accounting for 2/3 of Australia's victory, Philippousis emerges from the Davis Cup and a newly inspired player. Melbourne plans a victory parade.

One of France's two victories came after Australia had already clinched, when Sebastien Grosjean defeated Lleyton Hewitt. Earlier, Pioline had also defeated Hewitt.

This was Australia's 27th Davis Cup in the 100-year history of the competition. On its way to the final, Australia had defeated Zimbabwe, then the United States in the quarterfinals and Russia in the semifinals.

Over 120 nations participate in Davis Cup competition. All but 16 nations first compete in Zone (regional) competitions. The Zone winners get a chance to challenge one of the World Group nations for a spot in the World Group competition, which is the final three rounds for the cup. The World Group consists of the top 16 nations from the previous year. The first-round winners from the previous year are guaranteed a spot, but the other eight teams have to play a qualifying round against the winners of the Zone competitions.

A couple of months after the U.S. team lost to Australia in the second World Group round, the U.S. Davis Cup captain, Tom Gullickson, was replaced by John McEnroe. McEnroe was a fierce and dedicated Davis Cup player through most of his career, and his captaincy drew favorable reactions from most of the players. With Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi expressing interest in joining the team, inspired by the heroic efforts of Jim Courier and Todd Martin this year, the U.S. team's prospects look good.

Australia will be missing one key asset next year, as their great Woodies doubles team is unlikely to play again. If Patrick Rafter remains injury-free, though, he will help to fill that gap, and young Lleyton Hewitt is improving quickly.

Many of the strongest tennis nations have promising young players who, like Australia's Hewitt, should only be better a year from now. France's Grosjean, Germany's Nicolas Kiefer and Tommy Haas, and Russia's Marat Safin are all young and highly talented. Great Britain, with Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, nearly defeated the U.S. this year, and they should be strong again in 2000. Spain has a long list of excellent players, including Carlos Moya and Alex Corretja. One of the best attractions of Davis Cup competition is the fact that a number of nations are likely to be serious contenders. We'll see how it shakes out.

Do you have a dark horse prediction for making next year's Davis Cup final? Stop by the forum to let us know.

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