Australia to face Russia in tennis final  Dusseldorf May 25 2001

Australia was beaten 2-1 by Germany in the final series of round-robin matches at the World Team Cup today, but still advanced to the final against Russia.

Nicolas Kiefer rallied to defeat Pat Rafter 1-6 6-2 6-4 and Tommy Haas then outlasted Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-3 to give Germany a clean sweep of the singles.

But a 6-3 6-2 win by Rafter and Wayne Arthurs over Haas and David Prinosil allowed Australia to top its group.

Spain also had an opportunity to reach the final, but after Alex Corretja had overwhelmed Magnus Norman 6-0 6-4, Thomas Enqvist levelled the tie by edging Juan Balcells 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4.

In the doubles, Corretja and Alex Lopez Moron combined to defeat Jonas Bjorkman and Nicklas Kulti 6-3 6-3 to deny Germany a place in the final.

Kiefer, who had lost his two previous matches this week, made a miserable start against Rafter, losing his serve in the opening game.

The Australian then consolidated his advantage by holding his first two service games with an ace, before breaking Kiefer again for 4-1 and the set.

Kiefer responded by attacking Rafter's serve more effectively in the second set, with two winning returns helping him break to lead 1-0.

He then broke for 3-0 with a backhand volley after stretching Rafter with another fine return, and although he was broken after holding a point for 4-0, a double-fault gave him a 5-2 lead and left him serving for the set.

The final set was decided by a single break of serve in the ninth game, achieved with a spectacular running forehand down the line.

"I wanted to fight today and give everything, and that unbelievable ball for 5-4 in the third set was the icing on the cake," said Kiefer.

"I didn't start well but found my rhythm in the second set, and suddenly I achieved one break after another."

Rafter was disappointed that he was unable to maintain his momentum of the first set, and admitted he had opened the door for his opponent.

"I was hitting the ball well but went walkabout a little bit and let him back into the match," Rafter said. "When you let someone in you give them confidence. When you've got someone down like that, you keep them down. You never want to go to a third set and give someone a good momentum."

The World Team Cup consists of two groups of four teams. The teams in each group play each other on a round-robin basis, with each tie consisting of two singles matches and a doubles. The winning team from each group advanced to Saturday's final to compete for the $US500,000 ($A972,000) first prize.


Germans upset Australia's Rafter, Hewitt at Team Cup
May 25, 2001

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) -- Patrick Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt, Australia's pair of top-10 players, lost Friday as Germany kept alive its hopes of reaching the final at the World Team Cup.

Nicolas Kiefer came back to beat two-time U.S. Open champion Rafter 1-6, 6-2, 6-4, and Tommy Haas outlasted Hewitt 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3 with 8,400 partisan fans roaring on every shot by the Germans.

``If you got someone down, you keep them down, otherwise you just give them confidence,'' Rafter said.

``I'm not sure why I relaxed.''

The Team Cup -- a clay-court tuneup for the French Open, which begins Monday -- has lured 12 of the world's top 15 players, representing their countries.

The singles wins gave a Germany a 2-0 lead against Australia, with the doubles match remaining in the best-of-three encounter. The winner of the doubles would win the Blue Group in the round-robin tournament and advance to Saturday's final against Red Group winner Russia.

Kiefer has now beaten Rafter four times in five meetings.

Rafter admitted he can't harbor high hopes of winning the French Open because the slow red clay doesn't favor power servers such as himself and Pete Sampras.

``I'll go out there and give my best,'' Rafter said, ``but realistically I'm preparing for Wimbledon.''

Spain and Sweden, both already eliminated from reaching the World Team Cup final, split their singles matches Friday.

Spain's Alex Corretja beat 2000 French Open runner-up Magnus Norman 6-0, 6-4, before Sweden's Thomas Enqvist got past Juan Balcells 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

It was the second straight match that

Norman, who admits he lacks confidence after a rocky year, has lost consecutive one-sided matches at the $2.1 million event.

``I'll go into Paris as the underdog this year,'' the Swede said.
END

Rafter critical of log jam
By PATRICK MILES
25may01

PAT RAFTER says he wants to put something back into the game that has rewarded him so richly, and he wants to start by suggesting a solution to the jammed ATP schedule. 

The 28-year-old, a dual US Open champion and last year's runner-up at Wimbledon, is critical of the system that demands a player must compete in the four grand slams and the nine Tennis Masters Series events or be penalised. 

As it stands, a player's absence from one of the top-tier events will harm his chances in the year-long Champions Race, which automatically includes the results from the top 13 events on the calendar. 

Rafter, who plans to take an extended break from tennis at the end of this season, or even retire completely, believes that this compulsory participation scheme needs to be examined thoroughly and that some alternative is in order to prevent total burn-out. 

"I would like to try to get away from tennis a little bit but I still think it is an issue that needs to be addressed and I would be in a good position at that stage to offer some advice," Rafter said after Australia beat Sweden at the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf yesterday. "The game's been great to me and I need to put (something) back into the game as well. I'm sure there'll be some input by me into the game." 

There are presently 10 active competitors on the ATP Player Council and three player representatives on the board of directors, including Australia's Davis Cup captain, John Fitzgerald. 

The players on the ATP Tour meet periodically, usually at the four grand slams, to discuss in an open forum the issues affecting their employment. 

"I quite like the concept, but it has failed," Rafter said of the Tennis Masters Series and the new Champions Race. 

"It needs a lot more time spent on it, and I am guilty of really not putting my piece in either, I suppose. 

"But it's hard, when you've got 300 guys sitting in a room, to get your voice across. The schedule is still not right and it needs to be changed. The players and everyone need to get down and have a good look at it. 

"What we've got right now is only going to cause more harm for the players ¨C the amount of tennis without the breaks. You're going to get burned out mentally as much as physically. 

"Something needs to be done. Guys need a break." 

In the meantime, Rafter intends to approach his work in a much more relaxed fashion. "I'm trying to enjoy it right now while it lasts," he said. 

Rafter and his Davis Cup team-mate, Lleyton Hewitt, who have chosen vastly different paths to Paris and the second grand slam of the season ¨C won their singles matches easily on the fourth day of the World Team Cup. 

They left Wayne Arthurs and Scott Draper, who will both be playing at Roland Garros, to complete the tie in the doubles by defeating Thomas Enqvist and Nicklas Kulti 7-5 7-5. 

Hewitt, who reached the semi-finals in Hamburg last week before losing to the eventual champion, Spain's Albert Portas, beat Magnus Norman 6-1 6-2 to break a 2-2 deadlock in previous results between them. 

Norman, who was the runner-up at Roland Garros last year, is struggling to regain his best form and said he was hoping for a good draw when the French Open began on Monday. 

He believed it was a question of confidence. "I have to deal with it myself," he said. "I am not a big fan of psychiatrists and things like that." 

The Swede sees Hewitt as one of the favourites for the French Open. "He has improved a lot, and he is young and still learning," Norman said. 

Hewitt, never short of assurance himself, identified the problem with his opponent. "Obviously, Magnus has been struggling a little bit with his confidence," Hewitt said. 

"Last year, he made the final of the French and won Rome ¨C he's a good clay-court player. But he doesn't have that confidence and self-belief at the moment. You can see that when you're playing him. 

"He was red-hot this time last year. But it happens ¨C that's sport. You have your highs and you have your lows. How things can change in a year, though. 

"I've only been on the tour for a few years, so it's probably a lot easier for me. But I'm sure those times will come. Every great athlete has them." 

Rafter, who has just completed a six-week break from the tour, increased his advantage over Enqvist to five victories against two defeats, and there were encouraging signs from the serve-and-volley master as he overcame the Swede, 6-3 6-3. 

"It was very good. I was very, very happy with the way I played," Rafter said. "I can't knock anything that I did. I was really happy, I was very relaxed and the result took care of itself." 

Rafter, who spent much of his time off at home in Bermuda, said his holiday had rejuvenated him. 

"I've had a good break; I did everything that I wanted to do," he said. "I really enjoyed myself, had a good friend come in from Australia. We had some good training, had a lot of laughs, some good times and I came here with the same sort of attitude. If you look at someone like Norman out there at the moment, he's struggling a little bit. 

"It's just all a state of mind ¨C that's what it comes down to. I guess I've found the right state of mind for me right now." 

The Australians face Nicolas Kiefer and Tommy Haas, of Germany, late tonight (AEST) in their last round-robin tie, and are the favourites to advance to tomorrow's final against the winner of the red group. 

Germany lost to Spain in the blue group when Juan Balcells scored a 6-4 6-2 upset over Kiefer and Alex Corretja beat Haas 6-3 6-3. 

Rafter wants blue skies
By LEO SCHLINK in Dusseldorf
24may01

PAT Rafter's faint French Open title hopes will ultimately be decided as much by the notoriously fickle Roland Garros weather as his own form.

Rafter, 28, has played only two matches since the victorious Davis Cup quarter-final against Brazil in Florianopolis in early April and concedes he does not have the claycourt grounding to seriously challenge for the Musketeer's Cup over the next fortnight. 

But the Queenslander, seeded eighth in Paris, could pose a threat to the many high-class claycourters if the weather remains, as forecast, hot and dry. 

His finest results on the red dirt have come in blistering European heat; he advanced to the French semis in 1997 and the Italian Open two years ago when warm conditions allowed him to attack the net, reducing sapping baseline exchanges to a minimum. 

The weather in Germany for the World Team Cup this week has been conducive to Rafter's serve-volleying and, with a quicker ball in play than that used on the ATP tour, Rafter is not without a chance in Paris. 

But if the cloud moves in and the conditions become heavier, the sting will ebb from Rafter's game. 

"I'm going to go out there to Paris and have a good time, to be happy," Rafter said. "The weather is going to be a factor on the clay again. 

"My best form has been when it's been hot and you never know over here. 

"There will be days throughout the tournament when it's going to be cooler. 

"Wimbledon has got to be a realistic goal for me. That's what I'm aiming for." 

Rafter resumed with a clinical straight-sets win over Spanish substitute Juan Balcells on Monday before joining with Lleyton Hewitt in doubles to notch an overall 2-1 success. 

The Brisbane serve-volleyer used a six-week break to treat his right wrist for chronic tendinitis as he battles to meet the mandatory commitments demanded by the tour. 

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 was unlikely to shake off the wrist problem. 

Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov guided Russia to a victory over the US yesterday, leaving Pete Sampras again to ponder his claycourt riddle ahead of the French Open. 

Safin sealed Russia's triumph with a 7-6 (7-0) 7-5 success against Sampras in a rematch of the US Open final last year to gain vital confidence in preparation for Paris. 

Desperate to redeem himself after flirting with default against Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean on Sunday, Safin cut a more composed figure yesterday, leaving Sampras to contend with a frayed temper as he struggled in long backcourt rallies in draining heat. 

"I feel like I'm hitting the ball fine, but there are certain times when I just need to raise my game," Sampras said. 

"I got a little frustrated there in the second set. I was setting up the points, but I wasn't finishing them off. You can't afford to have a 10-minute lapse on clay or you end up digging yourself into a hole. 

"Basically, I'm playing the style I want to play, but it's still disappointing to walk away with a loss. I don't think I'm that far away, I just need to execute a little better." 

Sampras experimented at length for the first time in an outstanding career with drop shots, a tactic he has largely resisted. 

"It's an effective shot for me on this surface because my opponents fear my forehand and when they see me wind up, they tend to be on their heels," Sampras said. 

"This is the only surface I would try it on and it's something that will be useful for me in Paris." 

Kafelnikov outlasted Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4 5-7 6-2 before declaring his prospects of claiming a second French crown were virtually non-existent considering his generally woeful form. 

"I'll take any win right now against anybody," Kafelnikov said. "It's a small step for me in the right direction and I've still got six days to go to get ready. 

"It's very easy to play bad if you don't have the right preparation for this surface. You need to have a lot of time to prepare, a lot of time to practise. And the older you get, it's tougher to compete, especially on this surface." 

Argentina also recorded a win on the third day, leaving Australia to play Sweden overnight while Germany faced Spain.