Age of Love

After his controversial stint on Age of Love, Mark Philippoussis was more than eager to get back in the court to engage in some hardcore tennis action.  His efforts to get back in shape after his knee injury back in January proved to be successful as he made a victorious return to tennis when he beat former Australian Open champion Petr Korda at the Stanford Champion Series tournament in Dallas, Texas yesterday.

As reported previously, Philippoussis was supposed to take on Mats Wilander at the Stanford Championships.  But due to Wilander's lingering lower back injury, he was forced to withdraw from the event and was consequently replaced by Korda of the Czech Republic.

The Stanford Championship event marked the Age of Love star's first match in almost 10 months. The 31-year-old Australian professional tennis player needed a deciding tie-breaker to beat 39-year-old Korda after they split the first two sets 4-6 6-4.  Philippoussis took the Champions tiebreaker 10-2 as he became the first current ATP Tour player to appear on the Champions Series for stars aged 30 and over.

This is a big boost for Philippoussis, whose career has been even more meticulously under the watch of the public ever since his exposure on the reality dating show, Age of Love, where he chose 25-year-old Amanda Salinas.

"I've missed the game,” Philippoussis said prior to his tournament yesterday.  “I love the game.  I would love to get back out there and enjoy myself.  What I'd love to do is start playing a couple of small events at the end of the year, get match fit and concentrate on getting back next year - hopefully at the Australian Open."

Today, the Age of Love star is set to take on Wayne Ferreira at the Stanford's night session game starting at 7pm.


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: News.com.au
(Image courtesy of tribuneindia.com)