From the WTC site, translation mine, sorry! by joes Thank you joes
28 year old Australian Patrick Rafter was awarded the Fair Play Trophy
yesterday evening at the Tennis-Tanz-Theater in Roncallis as twelfth (sp?)
player in fourteen years. Twice US Open winner plays the WTC in the
Dusseldorf Rochus Club for the fourth time and is the first player with back
to back wins of the Trophy.
A president of the ARAG, dr. Paul-Otto Fassbender and Sylvie Goffin of the
Meta Goffin jewelry house handed the valuable piece of art to Rafter, who
was chosen by a journalist jury as well as by the eight team captains. All
teams were present, including all members of the German team. The 500 guests
were enthusiastic about both 40 minutes varieté entertainment performances.
"Perfect Pat the fairest of them all, again" by Leo Schlink in Dusseldorf The Herald Sun, 25/05/2001
Pat Rafter today capped a productive week by becoming the first player in history to win successive fair play awards at the World Team Cup. The amiable Queenslander was chosen as the recipient by a jury of eight team captains and a panel of international journalists. The dual US Open champion narrowly defeated American Pete Sampras and Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean in the poll and was acclaimed for his “honesty, modesty, professionalism and charity work”. Rafter joins Swede Stefan Edberg whose impeccable manners and attaching tennis evoked memories of a more genteel era, as a multiple winner of the award. Edberg triumphed in 1989 and a995. Wimbledon finalist Rafter has gone out of his way again this week to appease sponsor and spectator demands. Having experienced skydiving and bungee jumping during the past year, Rafter was strapped into a body harness and then carried up in the air by a helium balloon. Rafter showed little fear as he floated 20 metres up with the balloon off the Arag building. The Australian said it was “a nice, but different experience”. “It was pretty windy, so we didn’t go too high,” Rafter said. “But it was fun.”
Aussies brush
aside Swedes
From our wire services
24 May 01
News Interactive
DUSSELDORF: Australia and Spain claimed convincing
victories at the World Team Cup hee overnight as Sweden's Magnus Norman
continued his search for the form that took him to the Rome title and French
Open final last year.
Lleyton Hewitt's 6-4 6-2 win over Norman left the Swede
with just four wins in 13 matches.
Pat Rafter clinched victory by beating Thomas Enqvist 6-3 6-3 after
establishing a massive lead in each set.
Norman, who often looked sluggish compared to the lively Australian, failed
to hold his first six service games, and could not even earn a game point on his
serve in the first set.
Hewitt was always in charge despite twice losing his serve to love, and he
claimed satisfaction with the level of his game. The 20-year-old even believes
he could be a contender at the upcoming French Open.
"He (Norman) doesn't have the confidence and self-belief in him at the
moment," said Hewitt.
"But I felt I played a lot better than I have been playing. It was a
good step up for me today. I kept the ball deep right from the word go, and once
I got up a break in each set I felt like I consolidated it well.
"As for the French (Open), I definitely give myself an outside chance. I
believe when I play the matches like I did in Brazil and over the last couple of
weeks, I feel like I can match it with anyone.
"Still, to do it seven matches in a row is going to be tough and you've
still got to look at the guys who have been there and done it, I think."
Rafter led 5-0 in the first set, but was then broken in a marathon seventh
game as he served for the set, failing to convert three set points in the
nine-deuce game.
In the second set he led 4-0, but was broken again as he served for victory
at 5-2.
While some players may be rusty after a break, laugh-a-minute Rafter says it
has done him nothing but good.
"I can't knock anything that I did today," said the former US Open
champion. "I was very relaxed and the result just took care of itself then.
"I've had a good break. I did everything I wanted to do, had some good
training and a lot of laughs and I'm here with the same sort of attitude. I
guess I've found the right state of mind for me right now.
"Usually I'm not playing this well when I come back from a big break.
I'm actually laughing at myself sometimes on the court."
Wayne Arthurs and Scott Draper won the doubles, beating Thomas Enqvist and
Nicklas Kulti 7-5 7-5.
Nicolas Kiefer continued to struggle as Spain beat host nation Germany,
following up his loss to Enqvist on Monday with a 6-4 6-2 defeat by Juan
Balcells.
Just one break in the third game decided the opening set, and Kiefer
double-faulted to go down 3-2 in the second on his way to conceding five
straight games.
Alex Corretja then followed up with a 6-3 6-3 win over Tommy Haas.
Haas teamed with David Prinosil to win the doubles, beating Balcells and Alex
Lopez-Moron 6-3 6-2.
21 May, 2001 , DUSSELDORF ,
HEWITT AND CORRETJA FEUD CONTINUES
It seems that memories do last. Irrespective of what Alex Corretja may say,
there is still a fair amount of ill feeling between the Spaniard and Lleyton
Hewitt and it surfaced once more on the tennis court during the deciding doubles
match of the Arag World Team Championship tie between Australia and Spain.
The last time Australia and Spain met in a tennis team competition it was the
Davis Cup final last December and Spain scored its first ever Davis Cup
championship. The same team members returned in Dusseldorf and this time
Australia came away with the victory, 2-1.
Corretja gave Spain the first point when he defeated Lleyton Hewitt 3-6, 6-2,
6-3, then Pat Rafter levelled the tie with a 6-3, 6-2 result over Juan Balcells,
but in the deciding doubles Rafter and Hewitt teamed to beat Corretja and
Balcells 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. But the incident in the doubles overshadowed the tie.
Corretja showed more than his usual amount of emotion after the result but made
the point that it had nothing to do with the feud which has come between himself
and Hewitt, something that started at the Australian Open last year and
continued very visibly at the Tennis Masters Cup in Lisbon and then at the Davis
Cup final in Barcelona.
Corretja explained that while he and Hewitt are not going out to dinner, they
have buried the hatchet although neither player made a move to calm the waters.
Corretja said: "There is nothing between us. We have to see each other
every day and it is not necessary to create a bad atmosphere about it, everybody
has his own personality and we have to respect all.
"We just let it go, time will heel and maybe at sometime we will be normal
again," said Corretja. "We are not close friends but we have nothing
against each other and that's the most important thing."
But in the doubles match words were exchanged when Corretja returned a ball that
was aimed directly at Hewitt who was at the net. The Spaniard's aim was accurate
enough because it hit the Australian on the forehead and knocked him flat on his
back.
"It was a good shot, he went for me deliberately and got me, it was too
good. Pretty lucky he didn't get me in the eye, it could have been a lot
worse," said Hewitt who did not see the ball coming at him.
Rafter jumped to Hewitt's defence and after the match had words with Corretja:
"It's been no secret about Lleyton and Alex having their problems and I
just thought it was time to really finish it. Lleyton was just being Lleyton on
the court. I just said 'he was doing fine and you didn't need to go out and do
that'. I thought it was a little bit rough and if he can't take someone getting
pumped up then just don't come on the court.
"He agreed with me and I know he was feeling bad. He did mean to hit him,
he admits that, but not quite in that fashion. I told him it wasn't the right
way to go about it."
In the other tie that was played, home side Germany beat Sweden 2-1. Tommy Haas
rallied back to beat Magnus Norman, who continues to struggle with his form,
6-7, 7-6, 6-4, then Thomas Enqvist beat Nicolas Kiefer 6-2, 6-3 and then Haas
and David Prinosil defeated Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti 6-4, 6-3.
Earlier, Juan Carlos Ferrero explained that his chances of competing in next
week's French Open have been thrown in doubt. The 21 year old strained a groin
muscle during his quarterfinal match against Thomas Johansson in Hamburg last
week but did not want to pull out of the event and went on to reach the final.
In hindsight the decision could have cost him the French Open.
"I have trouble to walk, there is pain and if Roland Garros was this week I
would not be playing," said Ferrero who was to lead Spain at the Arag World
Team Championship. "I don't know yet for Roland Garros, I have to have
therapy. It is difficult to do everything now. It has to be 80% improved from
now to be able to play in Paris. I will do everything to play."
Rafter takes Corretja to task
By LEO SCHLINK in Dusseldorf
23may01
PAT Rafter shamed Alex Corretja into apologising after the Spaniard deliberately
felled Lleyton Hewitt with a fierce drive at the World Team Cup yesterday.
With Australia leading 3-1 in the final set of the doubles rubber, Hewitt was
struck in the head at close range by Corretja, prompting Rafter to upbraid him.
"He went for me deliberately. I didn't see it and he got me a beauty,"
said Hewitt, who sported a rising welt over his right eye after Australia
partially avenged Davis Cup defeat to the Spaniards with a 2-1 win at the
Rochusclub.
With a stunned Hewitt flat on his back mid-court, an unimpressed Rafter walked
to the net and berated Corretja.
"It's been no secret about Lleyton and Alex having had their
problems," Rafter said, referring to Corretja's criticism of the South
Australian before and during last year's Davis Cup final in Barcelona.
"I just thought it was time to really finish it. Lleyton was just being
Lleyton out there and he was doing fine and I told him, (Corretja) `I don't
think you need to go out and do that'. If he can't take Lleyton getting a little
bit pumped up, I said he shouldn't go on court.
"Alex agreed with me and he didn't mean to hit him, not quite in that
fashion. He admits that."
Corretja had earlier declared the silent war between he and Hewitt was over
after he had downed the Adelaide baseliner in singles, but problems clearly
still exist.
The Australian camp was still irate with Corretja hours after the match given
the number of options the former world No. 2 had available. In essence, he could
have put the ball anywhere, but chose to rifle it at Hewitt ¨C who was so
confident the ball would be struck to another part of the court, he had turned
away.
If the ball had hit him in the nose, it would have broken it.
Aside from his victories yesterday, Rafter was relaxed and growing in confidence
ahead of the French Open in Paris on Monday.
He was seeded eighth when rankings for the tournament were released yesterday.
Hewitt is sixth seed.
A finalist at the All-England Club last year, Rafter concedes his chances of
succeeding at the toughest claycourt tournament in the world are slim at best
after missing the past six weeks to rest while recovering from chronic
tendinitis in his right wrist.
He resumed with a strong 6-3 6-2 win in singles over Spanish substitute Juan
Balcells before joining with Hewitt to cement the win by snaring the doubles
rubber in controversial circumstances against Balcells and Corretja.
Dreading the workload for the rest of the season, Rafter again called on the ATP
to shorten the season as he continues to nurse a deteriorating body, conceding
he is unlikely to shake off the wrist problem.
Rafter piloted Australia to a meeting with host nation Germany tomorrow by
defeating substitute Balcells in the second singles match after Hewitt plunged
to a 3-6 6-2 6-3 singles loss to Corretja.
The Queenslander then helped Hewitt post a 6-4 0-6 6-3 success over Balcells and
Corretja in the decisive doubles match, easing some of the depression
surrounding the 3-1 Davis Cup loss.
Spaniards
poised to test Rafter
By LEO SCHLINK
21may01
PAT Rafter will return from injury at the Arag World Team Cup today to confront
the double-headed demon of Spain's claycourt excellence and nagging questions
over his form.
Rafter, 28, has not played since partnering Lleyton Hewitt to doubles victory in
the epic Davis Cup win over Brazil six weeks ago and remains uncertain of what
to expect this week.
The dual US Open champion will not have to wait long to learn where he stands
after resting to treat chronic tendinitis in his right wrist as a formidable
array of competitors is eager to exploit the Australian's lack of matchplay.
French Open favourite Juan Carlos Ferrero, in the most devastating form of his
career, and Alex Corretja are poised to test Rafter's game in the first meeting
between the nations since the odious Davis Cup final six months ago.
Rafter plans to shun Spain's captain Javier Duarte, declaring "it's better
to ignore people like that", while attempting to conjure support for
Lleyton Hewitt, whose promising run at the Hamburg Masters ended yesterday in
the semi-finals at the hands of Spanish qualifier Albert Portas.
"I've had a good break and I started training 2 1/2 weeks ago," Rafter
said after arriving from Bermuda to join coach Tony Roche and chiropractor and
kinesiologist Andreas Bisaz.
"I had a mate come over to Bermuda from Adelaide, Matty MacMahon, and we've
been hitting for the past two weeks.
"I'm off the anti-inflammatories for the wrist, but that doesn't mean it
will stay that way. I'm going to have to watch it. It's part of the reason I've
got Andreas here.
"It will be good if I can get some confidence this week. I know I'm going
to get the matches, but I need to get some wins with the French Open coming up.
"I've got to get some results on the board. Spain is going to be a very
tough way to start, and I'm sure there will be tough matches after that,
too."
Australia's team of Rafter, Hewitt and Wayne Arthurs has drawn the tough
collective of Spain, Sweden and Germany in the blue group, leaving the United
States, Russia, Argentina and France to jostle for semi-final berths in the red
group.
Under competition regulations, each nation is guaranteed at least three matches
with the two best-performed countries from each group qualifying for Friday's
semi-final phase.
The final is decided on Saturday, leaving a day's rest before the French Open
starts on Monday.
Rafter toiled long and hard with Roche and his brother, Peter, during practice
at the Rochusclub yesterday as Ferrero moved closer to snaring a remarkable
fifth title of the season in Hamburg.
Former world No. 1 Rafter said he had no problem with Corretja after the French
Open finalist had apologised in February for his conduct in the Davis Cup final
last year.
"I'm fine with the guys, the players," Rafter said. "I can't say
the same about their captain (Duarte). It's better to ignore people like
that."
Australia has twice won the former Nations Cup. The first victory came in 1979
through John Alexander, Phil Dent and Kim Warwick and the latest through Rafter,
Mark Philippoussis, Sandon Stolle and Pat Cash two years ago.
END
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