Pat's mum offers advice

By JOHN THIRSK

12dec01

Daily Telegraph

PATRICK Rafter's mother yesterday admitted new world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt had such a strong personality that he needed someone like his parents as a guiding influence. 
Jocelyn Rafter, mother of six boys and three girls, said that her former world No.1 son Patrick and Lleyton were totally different characters in their needs. 

"Watching tournaments, it seems to me that Lleyton really needs his parents," she told The Daily Telegraph from her Brisbane home. 

"Patrick liked us to be there, but in the background. To be in his face all the time would have been very wrong. 

"Jim and I have never dominated any of our children because we have given them credit for having commonsense. 

"Lleyton will be fine. Mentally he is a very strong lad and I wouldn't be one bit concerned about him." 

Hewitt and his support team have been under the spotlight since last Friday's announcement that long-time coach Darren Cahill had been replaced by Jason Stoltenberg. 

Cahill, who in four years turned an Adelaide teenager into the world's best player, is believed to have fallen out of favour with Glynn Hewitt, Lleyton's father. 

While Mrs Rafter agreed a strong family base was something the two US Open champions shared, they were different people and consequently demanded different kinds of support. 

"Obviously everything his parents have done (in my opinion) has been right for him. Lleyton is not a silly boy. He would have his parents with him because he knows he needs them. 

"His parents are totally different to us. They are right for him because look what he has achieved. 

"I don't think they are going to do things which are detrimental to their son's career." 

Mrs Rafter added that Patrick always liked his own company and didn't like the "in-your-face" attitude of an entourage being around him on the tour. "That's one of the reasons why my husband Jim and I rarely went on tour -- besides I was so nervous at matches," she said. 

"When Patrick was 18 I went with him for a short time, but since then one of his brothers, Geoff, went on the circuit and now Peter is his travelling manager. 

"Everything to do with Patrick's tournament scheduling was done through (coach) Tony Roche, Peter and his other brother Steve. 

"Peter would be on the road and Steve manages all Patrick's other deals (endorsements, media) back home along with his sister Louise, who takes care of his charity work. 

"It's a real family unit and that's the way it's been since we brought the children up in Mount Isa." 



Rafter Glow

by Matt Price
Channel 7 site

THIS week will find the most notorious right arm in Australian tennis swinging golf clubs on the Sunshine Coast. This is day one of Pat Rafter's "break from the game" - the permanence of which has been the subject of endless speculation since Rafter mooted the break at the start of this year. 

In a few months the universally acknowledged "Nicest Man In Tennis" may wake up with a renewed hunger for the sport, but equally, he may wake up, look around his home in Bermuda, and order another cocktail. 

Rafter steps out of tennis nursing the broken-down arm and shoulder that have already abbreviated his career by a total of about six months. This is the worst of a series of physical complaints that have punctuated his journey from Mount Isa to the mountaintop. 

He first went under the knife as a 22-year-old in 1995, having torn a cartilage in his wrist. He climbed to the top of the ATP rankings in July 1999, becoming the first Australian world No1 since John Newcombe. But three months later he was back on the operating table, and by year's end his ranking had slipped to No16. 

This year - in which Rafter made the Wimbledon final, the last four at the Australian Open, and lost only to Pete Sampras at Flushing Meadows - has arguably been his finest, but it has also been like watching a Ferrari with a wonky radiator. Each time Rafter has pressed the pedal to the floor he's done so knowing that he only has a short time before things begin to get damaged. 

At this weekend's Davis Cup final the engine appeared to finally pack it in. Rafter's insertion into the doubles rubber was an admission that he did not feel his arm could survive another singles match. It also robbed him of his chance for a famous farewell. He sat on the sidelines while Wayne Arthurs succumbed to Nicolas Escude, and did not even front for the post-match press conference. 

Perhaps ironically, Rafter's breakdown (and Arthurs' failure) may prove the catalyst for his return. A Davis Cup win, or a Wimbledon triumph in June, would have allowed him to enjoy the kind of regret-free retirement more usually celebrated with a pipe and slippers. But as things stand - thanks to France and Goran Ivanisevic - Rafter has, as good old "Newk" phrased it, "unfinished business". 

His career exploded in 1997, when he scythed his ranking from No62 to No2 and won the first of his two grand slams at Flushing Meadows. He posted 65 wins in that calendar year, reached seven finals, and won $5.7 million. His second US Open came a year later, when he denied countryman Mark Philippoussis in the final. Rafter has won nine other titles and banked more than $21 million in prize money. But his two greatest disappointments came in back-to-back Wimbledon finals. Last year, he downed Andre Agassi in an epic semi-final and went a set up against Sampras before capitulating in the final. This year's loss was even more heartbreaking, coming at the hands of a wildcard - Ivanisevic - and in five fiercely fought sets. 

If his separation from the sport does become permanent, Rafter may be remembered more for his "nice guy" charm than his feats with a racquet. He famously reversed a crucial line call in a 1997 match against Andrei Cherkasov, virtually handing Cherkasov the match but earning Rafter two sportsmanship awards. He was the ATP's Humanitarian Of The Year in 1997 and remains a high-profile supporter of children's charities. His greatest contribution to sporting folklore remains the phrase "sorry, mate" (habitually addressed to an opponent after an aborted serve, but now used by Australian tennis fans and armchair mimics the world over). 

No-one, least of all Rafter, seems sure of his future. If the reincarnations of Michael Jordan, Gary Ablett and others are anything to go by, he will be sorely tempted to return. Life as an elite sportsperson is tough; bowing out is tougher. But Rafter has indicated that there is more to his life than tennis. The state of his arm - and the memory of the debilitating cramps he has only recently shaken off - may yet be enough to convince him to pack his golf clubs and stroll into the Bermudan sunset

Richest sports stars not just winners 

Thursday 13 December 2001


Winners weren't the only grinners in Australian sport this year judging by a list of the top 50 earners released yesterday.

Certainly, on-field success was no prerequisite for this year's Business Review Weekly leading earners, with semi-retired golfer Greg Norman topping the list again after just holding off broken-down basketballer Luc Longley.

Norman kept his No.1 ranking with estimated 2001 gross earnings of $48.25 million ahead of Longley ($44.5 million), who ended his National Basketball Association career in the United States this year due to an ankle injury. 

Norman led the top-50 list last year by more than $35 million thanks to his sponsorship, endorsement and business dealings. Just five per cent of his earnings come from golf. But former Boomers centre Longley reeled in the deficit this year after $31.5 million of his NBA contract with New York was paid out following the three-time Olympian's injury-enforced retirement in September.

Soccer stars Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka both easily kept their top-10 spots. 

Kewell was third with a tidy sum of $20 million, while Viduka - his Socceroo and Leeds teammate in the English Premier League - was sixth with $7 million.

According to the BRW list, Kewell's annual earnings made up almost half of the $42 million combined income of the ill-fated 2001 Socceroos World Cup qualifying team in Uruguay.

Discarded Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Bosnich, who is struggling to find a Premier League berth with Chelsea, was ranked ninth with $5 million. 

The top five was completed by Lleyton Hewitt and Patrick Rafter, who were part of Australia's failed Davis Cup tennis final campaign against France this month.

It was a sour end to an otherwise glittering year for fourth-ranked Hewitt, who took out the US Open on the way to securing the world No.1 ranking - and $16.53 million.

Fifth-placed Rafter, who lost his second Wimbledon final this year, began a hiatus from tennis after the Davis Cup decider armed with $8.86 million earned this year. 

Maintaining seventh spot was Graeme Lloyd ($5.98 million), who pitches for Major League Baseball team the Montreal Expos.

Robert Allenby's success on the US PGA Tour this year stitched up eighth spot with $5.39 million, while fellow golfer Karrie Webb was the only woman in the top bracket, ranked 10th with $4.77 million.

There were only three other women in the top 50 - golfer Rachel Teske (29th, $1.6million), tennis doubles specialist Rennae Stubbs (45th, $1.32 million) and 400 metres gold medallist Cathy Freeman (48th, $1.2 million). 

High-profile sports such as rugby league, cricket and AFL didn't fare so well.

Despite leading the world's best cricket team, Australian captain Steve Waugh was ranked equal 23rd with $1.8 million, ahead of teammates Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath (equal 31st, $1.5 million) and speedster Brett Lee (46th, $1.3 million).

In AFL, the Kangaroos' Wayne Carey was equal 31st with Warne and McGrath, while Essendon captain James Hird was 48th with $1.2 million. 

There were no rugby league players in the top 50.

Last year's third-highest-earning sportsman, Dave Nilsson, wasn't ranked this year after he failed to play Major League Baseball for Boston due to injury. 

The BRW top 50 sports earners is based on estimated gross earnings including prizemoney, endorsements, sponsorships, appearance fees and other income from sport-related business. 



(last year's ranking in brackets, all in Australian dollars): 



1. (1) Greg Norman (golf) $48,255,000
2. (2) Luc Longley (basketball) $44,500,000
3. (4) Harry Kewell (soccer) $20,000,000
4. (11) Lleyton Hewitt (tennis) $16,530,000
5. (5) Patrick Rafter (tennis) $8,865,000
6. (6) Mark Viduka (soccer) $7,000,000
7. (7) Graeme Lloyd (baseball) $5,980,000
8. (10) Robert Allenby (golf) $5,390,000
9. (9) Mark Bosnich (soccer) $5,000,000
10.(8) Karrie Webb (golf) $4,770,000

- AAP