Mark Philippoussis has not played tennis since his knee injury at the Hopman Cup back in January but has seemingly found love in a seven-episode reality series called Age of Love.  For a brief period, he became the center of attention of the show where women in their 20s, as well as women in their 40s, compete for his affection.  But now that the 30-year-old Australian tennis player has chosen his ideal girl in the form of 25-year-old Age of Love contestant, Amanda Salinas, he soon has to make his professional tennis comeback and face the challenges that lie ahead on the court.

InsideOut Sports & Entertainment has just announced yesterday that the Age of Love star will be facing Hall of Famer Mats Wilander in the opening match at the Stanford Championships on Thursday, October 18 at 2pm at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter in Dallas.  This event, which will be the sixth of seven events on the 2007 Outback Champions Series, a collection of tennis events around the world featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30, marks Philippoussis' official return to competitive tennis.

Philippoussis is the first current ATP player to compete in the 30 and over Outback Champions Series.  The Melbourne native has accomplished a career-high ranking of number 8 and currently owns 11 ATP singles titles, including the title in Newport last summer.

While that's brewing, here's some good news for fans of the tennis player turned reality TV star. Philippoussis is reportedly considering another reality series that will showcase his return in tennis.

"I've been approached by a couple of people from American TV," he told the Melbourne Herald Sun. "They want to do a reality documentary on me about my comeback in tennis.  I don't know if that's going to happen, but that's something that they want to do."


-Kris De Leon, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Melbourne Herald Sun, InsideOut Sports & Entertainment
(Image courtesy of MSN)