juneoztennis

SORRY, MATES Patrick Rafter say's he's leaving the tour at the end of the year. For good? Who knows? But for an entire continent-his beloved Australia-it might as well be the end of the world.
By Cindy Shmerler

THE MONEY IS ON THE TABLE. NOT REAL GREENBACKS, but the kind thrown down in an "I'll pay $10 to hear you cackle like a chicken" moment. Who knew that Patrick Rafter would take the bait?

Suddenly, Rafter unnestles himself from a squishy black leather sofa and sits bolt upright. Then he begins to cluck. "Chickie, chickies, come here," he coos. But before he can go any further, the two-time US Open champion bursts into spasms of laughter.

There's a reason for the imitation, of course, and Rafter isn't shy about sharing. It all has to do with the chores shared by the nine Rafter kids back on the family's 300-acre farm in Eumundi, north of Brisbane, in Queensland. That's where Jim and Jocelyn Rafter moved their brood, from the outback mining town of Mt. Isa., in search of a better, more prosperous life.

"I was probably the laziest of the lot, the one who would always look for an angle to try and do less," says Rafter, who ironically enough, is known as one of the hardest workers in men's tennis. "My job was the 6am chicken run. After a while, the chickens became my friends. I'd call and they'd all come to me. It's funny; I still use that line, but it doesn't seem to work anymore."

Until he gets to the punch line, that is. One day, Jim Rafter absconded with Pat's prized chicken, and that night, it landed on the dinner table. Pat, then 10, refused to eat dinner.

How can you not like a man who cackles, makes fun of himself, and arrives for an appointment precisely when he says he will? Ah, but being a man who's true to his word has a downside: Come the end of the year, the very likeable Rafter, 28, plans to leave the tour. After 10 years of trudging around the globe and battering his body, Rafter feels beat up and burned out. He needs to recharge, both mentally and physically, to take a ski or fishing vacation with his family.

This may well be his last Wimbledon. Then again, it may not.

Rafter has given plenty of notice for his impending sabbatical/retirement. Except to those nearest him. His brother Peter, who travels with Pat, first heard the rumors during an exhibition in Melbourne just before the Australian Open in January. Tony Roche, Rafter's longtime Davis Cup captain and now his personal coach, knew nothing until he opened his hotel room door one fine day, glanced down at the morning paper, and saw the front-page headline. His response to Pat? "Well, we've got to step up the practice sessions because you've only got six months to go. We can't waste any time."

Rafter actually broke the news about his career plans at an impromptu press conference at the Colonial Classic in Melbourne in January. "The reason I said it at that time is because I wanted to tell the Australian public," says Rafter, whose larger-than-life persona graces the sides of everything from buses to phone booths across the entire continent. "I thought it was my duty to tell my home country first, that this might be my last tournament in Australia and their last chance to see me play. I'd love to qualify for the Masters [Cup, to be held in Sydney in November], which I haven't done for the past few years. If I finish there, I'll probably play through to the Aussie Open again. But if I don't make it and my year is cut short after the U.S. Open, then I'd like to take six months to a year off. If I really miss it, I might try to train my ass off again and try to get back into it. But I'll be 30 by then, and you've got to be realistic.

RAFTER IS RUNNING HIS FINGERS THROUGH HIS HAIR, and all he feels is a five o'clock shadow. Never has an athlete's shorn locks created such a commotion as when Rafter decided to crop his shoulder-length tresses early this spring in exchange for a $26,000 donation by the razor company Braun to his Cherish the Children Foundation.

"The truth is, it was something I wanted to do anyway," says Rafter, whose naturally long gray streak-not to mention his penchant for flatulence-led his Aussie mates to nickname him Skunky. "I'd had enough of waking up every morning and having to deal with my hair," he says. "I was sick of sleeping and hair coming across and tickling my face. And then there was this feminine hair-brushing thing-washing it, combing it, brushing the knots out. It was very sad. I'd go into a hairdressing shop to buy ponytail holders and start talking about the best cosmetics for my hair. I knew this wasn't very masculine.

"I was starting to lose my way a little bit," Rafter admits. He laughs aloud. "My mates were starting to worry about me. And I just thought it was probably about time to get back to the old boy that I used to be many years ago."

Here's all you have to know about Rafter as matinee idol. In March, Ivan Lendl took his daughter Marika to visit Roche, Lendl's longtime coach, at the Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, FLA. A few days later, Lendl noticed a small round bald spot above his daughter's forehead. Fessing up, the 10-year-old admitted she'd used the scissors to incise the small hole. She was trying to mimic Rafter's new coif.

Indeed, Rafter's fans seem to follow his every move, especially at home. "He's huge in Australia. He's 'mega,'" says journalist Craig Gabriel, who has covered tennis in Australia for 17 years. "He's getting up to Greg Norman status. He can't walk down the street without being mobbed. And yet he still manages to keep his identity and his roots."

Such humility hasn't gone unnoticed.

"One of the reasons that Aussies have taken to Pat is that he came along pretty much out the nowhere," says fellow Australian pro Wayne Arthurs. "He wasn't a great junior, and he pushed his way up through hard work. And then he exploded on the scene in '97 when he won the US Open. He was so down-to-earth. He came across as this normal guy who did normal things a normal person can't do. And he doesn't seem to step out of line anywhere. Nothing ever gets to him. He always acts like, 'What's the big deal?'"

Most of Rafter's intimates agree that his humility can be traced to two things. One is his humble beginnings. Campbell's tomato soup, spaghetti bolognese, and lots of bread were stick-to-our-guts staples growing up, and the only dinner-table rules were that the youngest got served first, and that no one had to wait for anyone else to dig in, lest it take a full five minutes before all nine kids had food on their plates. To this day, Rafter comes admirably close to being able to recite the birthdays of all his siblings-38 year old Steve, his business manager; Theresa, 36; Geoff, 34; Marie, 33; Peter, 31; Louise, 29; Michael, 23; and David, 20-even if he's not so good at sending them birthday presents. When he returns home for all-too brief visits, Pat gets no preferential treatment.

"We came from a working-class family," he says, "and my parents struggled to keep us all alive and to put food on the table. We had clothes on our back and a roof over our head and they were the fundamentals we knew. We didn't feel poor. We felt rich as hell."

According to Peter Rafter, the boys' mom made all the family's clothes, including the tennis outfits, which were handed down from child to child. Not long ago, David Rafter happened to ask Roche who his clothing sponsor had been when he played the circuit. Roche said that he'd endorsed Lacoste, the French company with the crocodile logo. Peter noted that the Rafters had worn the same logo-but only because Jocelyn had sewn store bought crocodiles onto the clothes she'd made at home.

"Pat's a very special person," says Roche. "Because of his background, coming from a large family, he has a lot of respect not only for the game, but for line in general. He's been brought up right that way. I think he appreciates what he has a lot more because he had to struggle and because he did not become a great player until quite late by tennis standards. When you put all those things together, you get what you see today."

THE CORNERSTONE OF RAFTER'S GAME IS HIS MOVEMENT, his ability to position himself in just the right spot at just the right time. His ground strokes have never won him major titles, though they've improved measurably, especially after practicing for weeks and weeks on red clay in Barcelona to prepare for Australia's final-round Davis Cup tie last December.

"It was always evident that Pat was going to be a good player, given his work ethic," says Jason Stoltenberg, who played doubles with Rafter on the Challenger circuit nearly a decade ago. "He had great athletic ability, a good coach in Bob Carmichael, and he just really wanted it. He was always keen to improve. It wasn't as if he was happy just being this good."

Rafter won his first tournament on grass in Manchester, England in 1994. But it wasn't until '97, when he reached six finals, including the U.S. Open warm-ups in New Haven and Long Island, that the tennis establishment took notice of him.

When he beat Greg Rusedski to win Flushing Meadows-rushing from No.14 in the world to No.3-a star was born.

There were, of course, some nasayers. Chief among them were John McEnroe, who proclaimed Rafter a "one-Slam wonder," and Pete Sampras, who, when asked in August 1998 what the difference between himself and Rafter was, blurted out, "10 Grand Slams." The latter comment hurt Rafter deeply and led to a war of words in the press.

If the U.S. Open provides Rafter's sweetest memories, including a five-set defeat of Sampras in the semi-finals on his way to a second straight title in 1998, it tugs at his soul as well. For it was there, in 1999, that he was forced to retire in the fifth set of his first-round match against Cedric Pioline. Rafter's right shoulder, so integral to his trademark serve-and-volley game, had finally given out. Two months later, he underwent surgery to repair a tear in his rotator cuff and ease the inflammation. He wouldn't return until the end of February 2000.

The blessing for Rafter, and the bane for his legions of fans, is that he really didn't miss the tour during his recuperation. He spent valuable hours at home with his family, friends, and girlfriend Lara Feltham, an Australian swimwear model whom he has dated for the last three years and will likely marry (but not before he's sure his tennis career is over). The most valuable lesson Rafter has learned? Life does indeed exist beyond the white lines.

"I love tennis, don't get me wrong. But I think there's more to life than that," says Rafter, who talks to self-taught brother Geoff about everything from Buddhism to Hinduism to acupuncture. "When you look at the big picture, tennis, and any sport for that matter, is insignificant to life in general. It's important for every sports person to learn that."

Rafter's sentiments have been fueled by some tough moments. One came at Wimbledon 2000, where he played spectacularly to knock out Andre Agassi in a riveting five-set semifinal, only to fall apart against Sampras in the final, despite winning the first set in a tiebreaker and leading 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker.

"I got really tight, not doubt about it," says Rafter. "I could see a win and I wasn't expecting a win. I didn't believe I could win this tournament, and that held me back."

"Wimbledon hurt," admits brother Peter. "But he holds everything inside, so no one knows what he's feeling. What really killed him, though, was the Davis Cup.

ONE OF RAFTER’S PRIMARY GOALS IN tennis, and in life, is to bring glory to Australia. For that reason, he’s always answered the call to play Davis Cup. He’s played 16 ties overall, and in 1999 he led the Aussies into the final against France, then was forced to sit on the sidelines with his ailing shoulder while Mark Philippoussis, Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Woodforde, and Todd Woodbridge brought home the Cup for the first time since 1986.

Rafter had designs on the Cup once again in 2000 and, though he missed the first tie against Switzerland because his shoulder wasn’t sufficiently healed and was limited to doubles duty against Germany in the second round, Rafter’s win over Gustavo Kuerten in the semifinal tie against Brazil helped put Australia in the final against Spain, which was seeking its first-ever Cup title.

With Spain having home-court advantage and choosing a red-clay surface indoors in Barcelona, Rafter dedicated the final four weeks of his season to securing the win for Australia. After Hewitt had gutted out a five-set victory over Albert Costa in the opening match, Rafter, fighting through deafening din of more than 14,000 loud Spanish fans, took the court against Juan Carlos Ferrero. They split the first two sets, both of which went to tiebreakers, before Rafter’s body betrayed him. Wage in a dire battle against cramping, he was forced to retire in the fourth set. Spain went on to win the title, and Rafter took the loss hard. Real hard.

“It wasn’t the fact that we lost it, but how we lost it,” says Peter Rafter. “He [Pat] held himself responsible, especially since he was hitting the ball so well.”

When Rafter cramped again two months later-this time after leading Agassi tow sets to one in the semis of the Australian Open, his best-ever showing in Melbourne-he underwent a battery of tests to find out why. It turns out that Rafter sweats more than twice as much as the average athlete, and he needs to continually rehydrate himself. But according to Peter, the cramping in Barcelona was a different type of cramping than in Melbourne.

“In Barcelona, Pat got himself all worked up watching Hewitt play a four-hour match,” Peter says. “His emotional level was so high, he had a tear in his eye when Lleyton won. So he was tense when he went onto the court, and the result was that his body just cramped up.

“In Australia, it was a very humid night and, through sweating, Pat lost something like 10 liters of fluid in a three-hour match. It’s simply not possible to replace that much fluid. But you can’t believe the hundreds of e-mails we’ve gotten, all giving Pat advice on how to stop cramping.”

Rafter insists he isn’t obsessed with bringing the Cup home in 2001, but it would certainly be a fitting end to a first-class career. He’s already helped usher his team into the semis (though an elbow injury forced him to retire in the fourth set of his match against Kuerten during Australia’s quarterfinal victory in April), for which it’ll host Sweden in September. “Pat’s a great leader and he has the respect of all the players,” says John Fitzgerald, who took over as captain in January. “He’s a team person, and he loves the comaraderie. In all facets, he’s invaluable.”

FOR ALL HIS ON-COURT SUCCESS, IT’S OFF THE COURT that Rafter has truly distinguished himself. His generosity has been manifested in everything from assorted ventures into the stock market (Rafter will purchase say, $20,000 in stocks, then disperse the dividends to his parents, brothers, and sisters) to his willingness to open up his flat in Bermuda and let friends-some dating back to his Satellite days-sleep on couches or the floor during tournament stopovers. And his charitable largesse is well-documented, from the $425,000 he has given the Brisbane Mater Hospital to his own Cherish the Children Foundation, founded in 1999 and run by his mother and sister Louise out of an office in the family home.

“I’ve always thought that if I did well, I’d like to give money back,” says Rafter, who also purchased an apartment in Noose, north of Brisbane, about a year ago. He’s still longing for his first car, which he suspects till be a Mercedes E55. It isn’t as showy as a Porsche, which, according to Rafter, would be scratched or spat on if he sped through the streets of his hometown. Aussies, you see, don’t take too kindly to flamboyance.

Rafter says his father instilled in him the importance of charity. “He had no money, but one thing you always noticed with my dad was he always put money in the [church] box. That made an impression.”

As did the tennis greats who came before him. Rafter was taught by the old Aussie school (Roche, Newcombe, and Laver, among others) to sit on your head to make sure it didn’t swell out of control.

Clearly, that’s a class neither Hewitt nor Philippoussis ever attended. When the 20-year-old Hewitt was benignly approached to speak about Rafter, his flip response was, “Talk to my people.” As for Philippoussis, he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge Rafter’s contributions to Aussie tennis, or his iconic status back home. “Great players retire all the time,” he says. “It’s part of sport. I’m sure people will miss him, but I’m going to keep playing.” When pressed for what he himself will miss most about Rafter, Scud finally allows, “his athleticism.”

“All you can do is go out and set an example. You can’t change the way a guy thinks,” says Rafter about Hewitt. “Lleyton is a stubborn little bastard, and that’s what makes him so great. He’s his own little person. He’ll listen to certain things, but if he doesn’t want to, he won’t take it on board.

“But I think he can be very good for the game in Australia,” he adds. “You love him or you hate him.” As for Philippoussis, Rafter simply shrugs his shoulders.

So while his most accomplished Aussie mates may not appreciate Rafter, praise generally comes from all corners. He’s especially touched, however, by the sentiments of Agassi, who finds it hard to believe that Rafter would leave the game when he still has so much to offer.

“I think he brings a great rawness to tennis,” says Agassi, who watched as Rafter lost to Sampras in a memorable three-set quarterfinal in Indian Wells in March. “He’s a true competitor, true champion, true grit, always punches in the clock, always professional on the court, always a first-class person off the court. And you want a person like that on the tour. You want a person like that working for you. You want a person like that related to you. You want a person like that around. That game will miss him when he goes.”

Is this goodbye?

Tony Roche has been providing Pat Rafter with vital behind the scenes support throughout his career. He spoke to Paul Malone about his protege's passions and whether 2001 would possibly be Rafter's last year on the circuit.

By Paul Malone

He works without a contract, leaves his charges to negotiate life on the circuit without him and has offers in the pipeline from top players when Pat Rafter leaves him temporarily unemployed.

Tony Roche puts his chips on Wimbledon's roulette wheel again this month with what may be his last attempt to win the world's greatest title with the Australian who describes the Sydney coach as "the making of me as a player".

While some players rely on their coach so heavily they would be even-money chance to cross the street successfully without one, Rafter will have Roche with him for no more than 20 weeks this year.

The dual US Open champion, born and raised in country Queensland, has forged a firm friendship and trust over the six years he has worked with the self-effacing son of a NSW central coast butcher who won the French men's single title 35 years ago.

"Pat's pretty calm. He's a lot like I am in that. We keep a lot inside and don't say a lot," said Roche, who turned 56 last month and is no longer so affected by the hip soreness which threatened to take him off the circuit for a while last year.

"I've had some pretty good offers. I just felt that I want to spend the year with Pat and see what happens. If this is to be his last year, let's make it a good one. I never had a contract with Pat or Ivan(Lendl)."

It's eight long years since the first tie of Australia's Davis Cup leadership team of captain John Newcombe and Roche saw them blood Rafter and Jamie Morgan, fated to not deliver on his potential due to injury, for a tie in Russia.

"Pat didn't play particularly well, but the experience was important. Over the years, the boys got to know the tradition and history of Australian tennis and enjoy their time together in the team. They learned a lot about themselves."

Roche had four weeks with Rafter in the United States in March and early April and returned to tour in May for the European claycourt season.

An elbow injury forced Rafter to retreat to his Bermuda base following Australia's Davis Cup win in Brazil. By the time, he was placed fifth in the ATP Champions Race with encouraging American hardcourt from bringing a semi-final finish in the Ericsson Cup, plus quarter-finals at Delray Beach and Indian Wells.

"Ever since he has been back(in early 2000 from shoulder surgery), his body has been holding up well. It's been hard for him to have a proper schedule and Pat plays best when he has a lot of tournaments in him," Roche said.

I've always believed players don't need a coach for every tournament. It's the system I had with Ivan. At tournaments, it's important that Pat has a normal life."

Rafter, who does a lot of stretching and other daily exercises to address the wear-and-tear on the shoulder, and Roche know the main check points they need to have addressed if he is to win Wimbledon before he takes an indefinite, and possibly permanent, break scheduled for the end of 2001.

"It's hard work," Roche said, almost apologetic that it was nothing more profound. "As long as he can put in the hard work and get some good matches, you know you have done everything possible.

"To win two US Open was an unbelievable effort. I know he has the talent to win more Grand Slams, but I also know how tough they are to win.

"He has been a late developer in many ways, but now he is pretty much the complete package."

Reputedly, the same can be said of Roche as a coach fully 15 years after he guided Lendl to seven of his eight Grand Slam titles, as well as stints with 1983 Wimbledon runner-up Chris Lewis and American Tracy Austin.

It was Roche all over when he agreed to coach Jelena Dokic on a flexible, part-time basis in 1999 when friends warned him he was on a hiding to nothing by working with her volatile father Damir Dokic.

Peter Smylie, who manages Roche's career and has known Roche since he was given the time of day as a nine-year-old tennis hopeful in Sydney, was one who warned him it could only end with sack, as it did.

"That was Tony all over. He tries to help every kid, whether they are top players or battlers, and Tennis Australia asked if he could do it, as well as his Davis Cup responsibilities," Smylie said.

"And the thing is if Tony could turn the clock back, he would coach her again.

"I know deep down it probably still hurts Tony that Lendl didn't win Wimbledon, so if Pat could go one better it would be a great moment for him, as winning Davis Cup was."

The mark of Roche's standing among most australian players came in their response to Mark Philippoussis's criticism of Roche for sitting in the seats reserved for Rafter's entourage at the all-Australian US Open final of 1998.

"To me, it wasn't showing Rochey any respect and, if that's the case, I've got a real problem." Rafter said at the time.

One particular incident, involving a member of the Philippoussis camp seen to flash a finger gesture to Roche as the crowd began to disperse after Rafter's win, deepened the resentment of the other Australian players.

At a Manhattan bar later that night, Rafter and friends hoisted Roche onto their shoulder at quarter-to-drunk and gave him a lap of honour around the bar.

Required to make a victory speech for his merry friends, Rafter said:" I've only got six words to say - I dedicate this match to Rochey."

By mid-2000, Rafter, Lleyton Hewitt and Mark woodforde decided they would rather lose the Davis Cup final in Spain with Sandon Stolle in the team, as they would do, than win it with Philippoussis for company. To keep extending the olive branch to Philippoussis had amounted to disloyalty to Roche and Newcombe.

On paper, Australia is through the worst of its first Cup campaign under John Fitzgerald and Wally Masur as they can play the last two ties of 2001 at home.

"The Davis Cup meant a lot to Pat and I'd love to see him get there after the disappointment in Spain (when Rafter cramped and had to default to Juan Carlos Ferrero)," Roche said.

"He handled it pretty well in terms of showing it. He tends to hold it inside. That's the way he is. One of the his strengths is he is able to forget about what has gone before and just think about the next match."

Roche was as perplexed as the rest of Australia by Rafter's episodes of leg cramping in the Davis Cup final and in the last two sets of his semi-final loss to Andre Agassi at the Australian Open.

In February, Rafter consulted the University of Melbourne's department of physiology to develop a strategy to prevent the loss of electrolytes from costing him another crack at a third Grand Slam title when matches were drawn to fourth and five sets.

After the Melbourne Park setback, Agassi's coach Brad Gilbert told me Rafter would have to overcome doubts in his mind the next time that stamina became an issue in a match.

"He just needs to relax. If you start thinking you have a problem, you probably will have one." said Gilbert, a former top five player.

Sampras's coach Paul Annacone said he had suffered from cramping in a career as an aggressive serve-volleyer, describing himself as "a bad Pat Rafter". He said a change of diet and supplements solved his own deficiency in electrolytes.

"Pat would be one of the top three picks for this year's Wimbledon in my book, with Pete and Andre." said Annacone, pointing out London's summer rarely stresses players.

Roche said:"Pat's record over best of five sets is as good as anybody's. It's important that he remembers that.

"With the Agassi match, it's an unbelievable humid night. The most encourageing thing for me about the last 12 months was that he was within a whisker of winning Wimbledon and very close to winning the Australian Open. One point cost him the final against Sampras."