Nestor shocks crowd by defeating Rafter 
21 September 2000 (Official Olympics Site)

Daniel NESTOR (CAN) scored a huge win and at the same time dashed the hopes 
of many Australians. The lefthander defeated the 13th seed, Patrick RAFTER 
(AUS), in a late Thursday night match on centre court, 7-5, 7-6, much to the 
disappointment of a boisterous, expectant and increasingly anxious crowd who 
had welcomed the players with a Mexican wave, shouts of "Aussie, Oi" and 
continuous clapping.
RAFTER was in trouble on serve in the opening game, and though he won it from 
0/40 down, it provided a glimpse that NESTOR was going to prove a difficult 
opponent. NESTOR had more break point on RAFTER's service game at 2-2 and 
again at 5-5 when he passed RAFTER down the line and lobbed over his head to 
eventually gain the break and then served out the set to love.
The Canadian, whose ranking has dropped this year and is probably better 
known for his doubles play, took the match right up to RAFTER with some big 
swinging serves, powerful forehand passing shots and some deft touch at the 
net. It seemed that everything he tried worked and even RAFTER's trademark 
athleticism was unable to turn the tide until he was 1-5 down in the second 
set.
RAFTER scrambled back to 5-5, and they went to the tiebreak where a Rafter 
double fault gave NESTOR an early mini-break and the Canadian once again 
served well, winning the tiebreak 7/4. 

END--Olympic news service 

Rafter beaten in big upset
By DARREN WALTON (SMH-The Age)
11:44PM, Sep 21
Patrick Rafter made a surprise exit from the Olympic tennis tournament 
tonight, losing in straight sets to lowly-ranked Canadian Daniel Nestor. 
The two-time US Open champion struggled to find form in the late-night match 
and lost the second round match 7-5 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 29 minutes to 
leave the Centre Court crowd in a state of near-disbelief. 
Rafter, the 13th seed, led 5-4 in the first set before winning just one of 
the next nine games to trail by a set and 5-1 against Nestor, a left-handed 
journeyman ranked a modest 256th in the world. 
He gave his supporters hope of an improbable comeback victory when he broke 
Nestor twice to level at 5-all in the second set before dipping out in the 
tiebreaker. 
The only positive to come out of the match for Australian fans was the 
courtside appearance of Mark Philippoussis in support of teammate Rafter. 
If actions really do speak louder than words, then Philippoussis made a 
significant statement tonight. 
Philippoussis said less than a month ago he had no interest in healing the 
rift with Rafter after the Queenslander had public criticised his 
controversial withdrawal from Australia's Davis Cup semi-final against Brazil 
in July. 
And while both players have repeatedly said this week that they had overcome 
their differences, tonight was the first time at the Olympics that 
Philippoussis had joined his Australian teammates courtside to cheer on a 
compatriot. 
He sat behind Lleyton Hewitt and was seen clapping Rafter's better points and 
sharing the odd joke with the Adelaide teenager, who he hasn't really seen 
eye-to-eye with either of late for similar reasons. 
END--http://olympics.smh.com.au/tennis/

Rafter beaten in big upset
By GARY STOCKS (SMH-The Age)
Sep 21 / UPDATED

Pat Rafter last night drowned in a sea of self-destruction, losing 6-4 7-6 to 
unheralded Canadian Daniel Nestor despite a remarkable second-set revival.
Ranked 256 in the world, Nestor is better known as a doubles player, but did 
all he neded to do to sink Rafter, leaving Mark Philippoussis and Jelena 
Dokic to fly the Australian singles flag over the weekend.
Australia has never won an individual gold medal in tennis and the demise of 
Rafter makes it tough for that situation to be amended at these games.
Just as Lleyton Hewitt had fallen foul of his own mediocrity 24 hours 
earlier, losing to his US Open doubles partner Max Mirnyi, Rafter at no stage 
found any rhythm and an indication of what sort of night he was in for came 
in the first game.
The 13th seed served a couple of double faults, dished up some uncustomary 
unforced errors and dug a hole for himself. While he was able to claw his way 
out of that situation the timing on his serve, volleys and groundstrokes was 
awry. Nestor played a solid, if unspectacular game, but survived on errors 
from his opponent.
Going into this match Nestor held a 2-1 advantage in the head-to-head battle 
and Rafter had difficulty getting a read on the angular left-hander's big 
serve.
While Rafter showed admirable fighting qualities, consistently staving off 
trouble, he was flirting with death and eventually he would pay the price. 
That came in the 11th game of the first set when Nestor finally took a 
half-chance to break the Australian's serve.
The Canadian then calmly finished off the job, failing to drop a point as he 
served it out, taking the initiative after 41 minutes. If Rafter thought that 
would be as bad as it would get, he was horribly mistaken, slipping to a 2-5 
deficit in the second set as his game disintegrated.
He was not yet done with and with the boisterous crowd behind him rallied 
back to force a tie-break, but he had left himself far too much work in the 
quest to revive his OIympic flame. 
END--http://olympics.smh.com.au/tennis/

Aussie singles medal hopes rest with Philippoussis and Dokic after Rafter 
loses to Daniel Nestor of Canada
(09/21/2000; ITF's Tennis Gold Site)

Australia's Patrick Rafter, seeded No. 13 at the Olympic Tennis Event in 
Sydney, fell in Thursday's evening match to Daniel Nestor of Canada 75 76(4). 
Although the mostly Aussie crowd tried desperately to lift their favourite 
son, Rafter looked uncomfortable throughout the match. As early as the 
opening game, Rafter struggled with his serve and, while he was able to get 
himself out of trouble several times, he never looked in control. By 
contrast, throughout most of the match, Nestor played with quiet confidence 
breaking the Australian in the twelfth game to win the first set 75. 
At the eleventh hour, with Nestor serving for the match at 5-2, Rafter 
finally came alive, breaking the Canadian to the delight of the crowd, which 
included many of his Aussie teammates. Rafter held serve, albeit with some 
difficulty, and then it was Nestor's turn for the hot seat, serving again for 
the match, this time at 5-4. 
Rafter took an early lead in the game, winning the first two points before 
Nestor levelled it at 30-30. The Canadian netted a Rafter return to set up a 
break point opportunity for the Aussie. Rafter hit a backhand down the line, 
which Nestor put into the net to level the score at 5-all. 
Rafter's jubilation was short-lived as he dropped to 0-40 on his serve but 
once again fought back to lift the score to 6-5. Still looking composed, 
Nestor held serve to force a tiebreak, winning the set and the match 75 76(4).
"It was a great atmosphere, really enjoyable," said Rafter of the crowd who 
"really help when you are out there."
"But I was behind from the word go, never picked up the pace and my serve was 
under pressure from the beginning."
"I would have loved to do well here but it was not to be. I can't cry over 
it."
Rafter hopes to see a few events now that his Olympic experience is over but 
wants to train as well. "I want to practice and do some gym work. My year is 
far from over. I have another tournament and I have to get ready for Davis 
Cup."
Australia still has four medal chances at the 2000 Olympic Tennis Event. Mark 
Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic are still in the singles. Dokic and Rennae 
Stubbs are in the women's doubles, facing the Indian pair Manisha 
Malhotra/Nirupama Vaidyanathan of India in the opening round while 
Australia's 1996 gold medal pair, Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde, are in 
action tomorrow night against Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, also of 
India.
END--www.tennisgold.com/