Mark Philippoussis was born November 7, 1976 in Melbourne, Australia to a Greek father and an Italian mother. Philippoussis, who turned professional as a tennis player in 1994, became the youngest player at age 19, to break into the top 50 rankings in 1995. He then went on to burst into the top ten by 1999. He is known to tennis fans as the `Aussie scud’ because of his powerful, lightning-fast serves clocked at an average of 142 mph. He was a finalist at Wimbledon in 2003 but eventually lost to Roger Federer. Philippoussis is an adventurous and outdoorsy kind of guy whose oncourt serves isn’t the only fast things in his life. He likes fast horses, fast motorcycles, fast planes and fast cars. He is currently working to get his pilot’s license and in his spare time, is also an avid surfer and skydiver.
With the frequent traveling he has to do to for his various tournaments throughout the year, Philippoussis barely has time to stay in one place and relax. The hectic schedule of the ATP tour has also left him with little opportunity to find lasting romance. With his new home in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mark tried to find that special someone as the bachelor on the reality show, Age of Love. In the end, he chose one of the younger girls: Amanda Salinas. Since then, he focused on his career and has continued to appear pro tour match, as well as compete in events on the Champions series. He also broke it off with Amanda and reportedly dated the model Siobhan Parekh in 2008. The next year, he became engaged to actress Jennifer Esposito.
(Photo courtesy of NBC)