Australian captain John Newcombe Tuesday moved to isolate his team from the Mark Philippoussis furor, ahead of Friday's Davis Cup tennis semifinals against Brazil.
With his players en route from London, and only three days before the tie on grass at ANZ Stadium, Newcombe did not want to get involved in the row over Philippoussis' late withdrawal from the team.
"I don't really want to comment on that," he told reporters on arrival early Tuesday.
"We've got a match to play. We've been down this route before and you get a team, you get a negative issue surrounding it and you don't concentrate on the job at hand."
Wimbledon finalist Pat Rafter lashed out at Philippoussis' latest withdrawal from the side by calling on him to declare once and for all where he stood on playing Davis Cup matches.
Newcombe had to phone Philippoussis in Melbourne from London on Saturday to confirm reports that he was withdrawing due to inflammation in his left knee and his need to rest.
Philippoussis has yet to respond to Rafter's call other than through a statement from his manager Monday saying he believed Rafter was uninformed, and that Philippoussis was out of the tie because of his knee problem – (AFP)
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