Rafter ready to shoulder the burden 3 September 2000 by Leo Schlink The Sunday Telegraph

PAT Rafter has returned to Australia for treatment on his right shoulder in a bid to be in peak condition for the Olympic Games.
The Queenslander flew into Sydney before travelling yesterday to Melbourne, where he was treated by physiotherapist Lyn Watson.The former world No 1 has endured no negative side effects from his harrowing five set first round US Open loss to Spanish baseliner Galo Blanco last week.
While disappointed with the defeat, the dual US Open champion was relieved there was no serious soreness in his shoulder following an extended match.
Rafter and Blanco played for more than three hours with the contest finally being decided by a tiebreak.
Rafter has tremendous faith in Watson, who has worked with a string of high-profile sportsmen, including the champion cricket leg-spinner Shane Warne.
Rafter will return to Sydney next week for a training camp under Davis Cup coach Tony Roche.
The outstanding serve-volleyer will be eventually joined there by Olympic team-mates, including Lleyton Hewitt, Andrew llie, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge.
Rafter is desperate to acquit himself strongly at Homebush Bay, where the Australians will bid to dethrone world No 1 Andre Agassi as Olympic champion. Rafter missed the 1996 Atlanta Games and this season has boosted his ranking back inside the top 50 - he is currently at No 20 - to claim one of four singles places.
One of only two Australian men to claim the world No 1 computer ranking, Rafter will carry the Olympic torch from the Opera House to Circular Quay.
He is confident of a bold Olympic showing armed with a week of intensive training under Roche.
"What I need is matches," Rafter said. "But we'll have good practice with Rochey and hopefully I'll be right to go. END

Rafter: Scud, call me 8 September 2000 the Daily Telegraph

PAT RAFTER said today he's ready to call a truce with Australian Davis Cup tennis team-mate Mark Philippoussis.
Rafter and Philippoussis have been waging a war of words since Philippoussis withdrew in controversial circumstances from Australia's Davis Cup semi-final against Brazil in June.
But Rafter now wants to bury the hatchet.The two-time US Open champion says both players have said things they might have regretted and it's time to sit down and resolve their problems so they can focus their energy on winning medals for Australia at the Sydney Olympics.
"I'm very, very happy to call it quits, just clean (it up) totally," Rafter said at the announcement that Sydney will host the rich season-ending ATP Masters Cup next year.
"If I see him, I'll be very happy to go up and say 'g'day'. 
I said g'day to him at the US Open and he said hello so ... I don't want to make it uncomfortable for him and we don't want to be uncomfortable there and I'm very happy to sit down and talk and just try and be in a really good team atmosphere."
The ball is now in Philippoussis' court, with the hard-hitting Victorian last week saying he didn't want an opportunity to clear the air.
"I'm just worried about myself and playing my matches," Philippoussis said after losing his second-round match to American Jan-Michael Gambill at the US Open.
"There were a couple of guys and the (Davis Cup) captain that said things. I've lost respect for them and I'll say hello and that's it."
But Rafter is willing to forgive and forget.
"It was one of those things that was said in the heat of the moment," the two-time US Open champion said.
"He'd just lost his match. I think he was a little bit upset by the way he performed and then you get onto one question and it sort of escalates from there.
"We've both said things I guess we regret saying and I don't see Mark any different from (a result of) that."
Rafter is prepared to share a room with Philippoussis in the Olympic village when the Australian team goes into camp next week.
"If that's (the case), then we've got to sit down and talk about it and work it out because if we're rooming together we've really got to clean it then," he said.
"It's a tricky one, but I think over time I think it can work itself out.

"Rafter hopes for Olympics rebound" 12 September 2000

SYDNEY, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Double U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter 
 arrived at the Olympic Village on Tuesday with something to prove in the Games
 tennis tournament starting next week.
Rafter aims to rebound from his first-round disaster at the just finished U.S. Open. 
He  was bounced out of the season's last major in five sets by unheralded Galo 
Blanco of Spain.
He has struggled to keep fit since shoulder surgery almost a year
ago, but said his shoulder was not troubling him as he prepared for his first
Olympics.
``I'm used to playing for Australia and used to playing in the Davis Cup,''
he said. ``This (Olympics) takes in the individualism of the sport, while the
Davis Cup is purely a team thing.
``You don't feel any individual pride (in Davis Cup) and at the Olympics, if
you get a gold I think you're going to feel that it's an individual
achievement.'' END

Australian tennis stars test their venue
13 September 2000 (Official Olympic Site)

SYDNEY — Wimbledon finalist Patrick Rafter and Andrew Ilie are the first
Australian players to practice at the NSW Tennis Centre in preparation for
the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. 
Rafter looked relaxed as he hit with Ilie, the fourth-ranked singles player
for Australia.
The other Australian players in the men's team are US Open semi-finalist
Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis. Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde are
the doubles team.
Earlier this year, Ilie won the tournament in Atlanta, United States of
America, collecting the second title of his career. Rafter won his tenth
career title at Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, the week before Wimbledon. He was
the first Australian singles finalist at Wimbledon since Pat Cash in 1987.
Joining Rafter and Ilie on the practice court were physiotherapist Andreas
Bizas and trainer Mark "Muddy" Waters.
Before moving into the Olympic Village, Rafter was working out at the home of
Australian tennis Olympic Games team captain and Davis Cup coach Tony Roche,
from Australia.END

Rafter loving Games life
By Winsor Dobbin

SYDNEY, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Australian tennis star Pat Rafter is like a kid
in a toy shop at his first Olympic Games.
Rafter will carry the Olympic torch on Thursday, collecting it from singer
Olivia Newton-John and the twice U.S. Open champions admits he's as proud as
punch.
``I'll be buying a camcorder to tape it and annoying everyone in the village
by showing it to them over the next two weeks,'' Rafter told a press
conference on Wednesday.
Unlike many big-name sports stars, Rafter is happy to stay in the Olympic
Games village with its shared bedrooms and bathrooms.
``The village is great - I love it,'' Rafter said, who was also delighted
that the Australian team had received a message of encouragement from former
cricket great Sir Don Bradman. He called it ``a real morale boost.''
The former world number one is also pleased with the status of the shoulder
injury that has caused him much pain over the past 12 months.
``It feels superb and it will hold up,'' he said. ``I give myself a 100
percent chance of being 100 percent.''
Rafter believes the windy conditions that have plagued the Sydney Olympic
venues in the days leading up to Friday's opening ceremony could help the
Australian hunt for tennis gold medals.
``If it blows it will make it difficult and if it really blows they may have
to stop play,'' he said. ``It will be an advantage for Australians, though,
because we are used to playing outdoors.''
Rafter also said he was looking forward to playing on the same team as Mark
Philippoussis, whose dedication to Australian teams he has questioned several
times in the past.
He said the atmosphere of the Games village could help mend the relationship
between the pair.
``We're in very, very close living quarters and I think it's going to be
good,'' Rafter said. ``I think we're going to have a lot of fun together.''
END

Scud tension eases
14 September 2000 Daily Telegraph
LEO SCHLINK

THE rift between Pat Rafter and Mark Philippousssis yesterday moved closer to resolution with Rafter predicting the Olympic atmosphere in the athletes' village would lead to a closely-bound Australian unit.
"We're in very, very close living quarters and I think that's going to be good," said the former world No.1 and dual US Open champion. "We're all going to eat together, we're all going to spend a lot of time together.
"I know we'll all bond well."
Philippoussis is due to arrive in the village tonight from Melbourne. It is understood he will be sharing a room with Andrew Ilie despite rumors yesterday he would room with an official because of feared tension with other team members.
An official yesterday refused to give details on the accommodation arrangements.
Rafter is adamant there will be no renewal of the recent troubles between the pair.
"It's great, I love it," Rafter said of the Olympic atmosphere before heading off to buy a mini-cam to videotape all he can of the experience.
"It's a great feeling being here, very privileged, I'm just really happy."
Rafter and Philippoussis have been estranged since the eve of the Wimbledon final, when Philippoussis withdrew from the Davis Cup semi-final because of a sore knee as Rafter prepared for the match of his life.
Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt criticised Philippoussis for pulling out of Davis Cup and were later backed by Australian captain John Newcombe, who said he wanted to retain the semi-final team for the final against Spain in Barcelona in December.
Philippoussis responded by making himself unavailable for the final and during the US Open declared he did not want to discuss the issue with Rafter or Hewitt.
Rafter last week indicated he wanted to solve the matter with Philippoussis.
Australia's squad of tennis millionaires, led by Rafter, Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge, is thriving in the Olympic environment, although there are still doubts over Jelena Dokic's housing during the Games.
Australian team spokesman Peter Montgomery said yesterday he "was not sure if Jelena will be staying in the village or not".
Rafter will today carry the torch today before resuming preparations for what he expects will be a windy, fulfilling Olympic experience.
The Queenslander predicted Games officials might have to consider the highly unusual, though legal, measure of stopping matches if the wind blows too hard.
Of his troublesome right shoulder, Rafter said: "Right now it feels great, it felt superb during practice. I give myself 100 percent chance of being 100 percent." END