HARD-GRAFTER RAFTER ENJOYS UPTURN IN FORTUNE
(SportCentral) 13 June 2000
HALLE, Germany, June 13 AFP - The career of double US Open champion Patrick
Rafter, which has hung in the balance since the shoulder injury he suffered
last year, looks as though it may be taking a turn for the better.
The arrival in Europe of Australian Davis Cup captain Tony Roche and the
advent of the grass court season helped Rafter to a win and to a new mood of
optimism in the $US975,000 ($A1.65 million) Halle Open ATP event here today.
The Aussie overcame the Dutchman Sjeng Schalken 7-6 7-6 in a tense,
serve-dominated battle and afterwards Rafter, the only leading player to
travel the circuit without a coach, explained the change which the presence
of Roche has created.
"I have done some good hard work with him and am hitting the ball well.
That's because I stayed behind in Paris (after losing in the French Open) and
put in the effort for a week and a half. I feel better for that," Rafter said.
This was a significant change from some of his recent pronouncements, during
which Rafter had said he was "flogging a dead horse" and had given the
impression he might be considering retirement.
But now Rafter held his serve all through the match with something to spare,
and although he found returning serve difficult on the greasy surface he was
the more solid in the tie-breaks.
Schalken, who had served well himself most of the time, delivered a crucial
double fault at 4-5 which cost him the first set tie-break. Two good returns
coupled with successive backhand passes got Rafter the mini-breaks which
decided the second set.
The victory earned him what he described as a "bitch of a draw" against
another Dutchman - former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek.
Rafter Begins
Grass Court Campaign
By Kim Trengove 06-12-00 (Oncourt.com)
Patrick Rafter, one of the best performers on grass in the ATP Tour, return's
to his beloved surface at Halle this week.
Rafter is pleased to be moving on from clay, although his results in Rome,
Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Roland Garros were solid for someone still in
comeback mode after five months off with a shoulder injury. The good news is,
Pat's shoulder is in sound shape coming into the grass court season. He
pulled out of the doubles at Roland Garros with Lleyton Hewitt citing
tendonitis in his right shoulder, but this was more due to Hewitt's heavy
singles schedule in Paris. Also, competing in the cooler conditions in the
first week at Roland Garros may have contributed to more injury, so why risk
a mishap?
Rafter says he is near to his old form leading up to Wimbledon, where he
reached the semi-finals last year after beating Boris Becker and Todd Martin.
He then lost to Andre Agassi and a week later became the first Australian to
be ranked No.1 in the world since John Newcombe in 1974. He also reached the
fourth round at Wimbledon three consecutive years from 1996-98.
Rafter is seeded No.8 at the $1 million event at Halle in Germany. He has
played his first round opponent, Sjeng Schalken of the Netherlands, twice
before and beat him on grass at Hertogenbosch in 1998 6-1, 6-4. Earlier the
same year, Schalken had defeated Rafter on clay in Rome 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4.
To conclude, it won't be easy, but then it rarely is these days on the ATP
Tour. Rafter is playing in Halle for the second time in his career. He
reached the second round last year and lost to Jan Siemerink. He owns three
grass court titles, all taken at Manchester. Schalken is a sixth time entrant
at Halle and got to the quarter-finals in 1999, losing to Carlos Moya. This
year, he has made three quarter-finals: Doha, Auckland and Indian Wells.
END
RAFTER AT THE CROSSROADS
Nyree Epplett
Tuesday, May 30, 2000
Boris Becker had one at age 17. Pete Sampras was just 19 years and 28 days.
Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg were all teenagers when the
fantastic event took place. Patrick Rafter, on the other hand, had to wait
until he hit 25, but oh, how that long and often painful wait was worth it!
Grand Slam titles. Rafter, a likeable bloke born and bred in sunny Mount Isa,
a dusty mining town in Queensland, Australia, has two of them now - the 1997
and 1998 US Opens. After the 1998 victory, where he defeated Sampras in the
semifinals and countryman Mark Philippoussis in the final, Rafter looked
certain to be on the road to further Grand Slam glory. That year he posted 60
match wins and captured a career-best six titles in as many finals. The
following year, at 26 years of age, he assumed the No. 1 world ranking,
albeit fleetingly, after Wimbledon.
The finest tennis pundits were busily penciling his name and vital
statistics into their notebooks as a late bloomer and a surefire threat to
the game's current greats.
A fit, athletic player with a punishing serve-volley game, a wicked kick
serve and the ability to mix it up from the back court, Rafter had matured
into a bankable threat on all three Grand Slam surfaces - grass, clay and
hardcourts. Three fourth round and one semi final appearance at Wimbledon,
and a semifinal finish at '97 Roland Garros were testament to that fact.
What's more, Rafter was equipped with that magical mix of rugged good looks,
a slapstick sense of humor (being the third youngest of nine children tends
to do that to you) and a big dose of sex appeal. In short, he was a
marketer's dream - on and off the court. Crocodile Dundee meets Brad Pitt if
you like.
A spokesman for the environmental group 'Coastcare' and the recipient of the
'Diploma of Honor' from the International Committee for Fair Play (for a
gesture of fair play that may have cost him the match), the beauty of Rafter
was that he appealed as much to your grandmother as he did to your
15-year-old sister.
Then came the injuries. More injuries. Since turning professional in 1991,
Rafter had had more than his fair share of injury time-outs. In 1995 he
underwent right wrist surgery to repair torn cartilage. The next year he took
three months off the Tour because of wrist and ankle problems.
"I think it is going to make me a stronger person. I've had a lot of time
to
reflect on everything and I've felt like I can only come back stronger than
what I have. As a person it's going to make me hungrier. At this stage of my
career and life, I think it's a blessing in disguise," said the 23-year-old
Rafter at the time.
He had two relatively injury-free years in '97 and '98 (and subsequently won
two Grand Slams), before a left knee injury forced him to withdraw from the
'98 year-end ATP World Championships.
It is however his last ailment, which saw him undergo arthroscopic rotator
cuff surgery on his right shoulder late last year, which now threatens to
tragically short-circuit his pro tennis career. Rafter had struggled with the
debilitating condition since August last year, when he withdrew from two
tournaments in the lead-up to the US Open, and then retired in the fifth set
of his first round US Open match against Cedric Pioline.
Sidelined for close to six months, Rafter's progress since his comeback two
months ago has been less than inspiring. Lacking the intensely probing
kick-serve that helped propel him into the upper echelons of professional
men's tennis, the talented Aussie has had to refute a string of recent
reports that say he is on the verge of quitting.
He comes into this year's Roland Garros dangerously shy of match practice and
with only a handful of singles victories since February. An early round loser
in the myriad of claycourt lead-in events to Roland Garros, Rafter says that
he will see the season out before making a decision on his career.
"Then I will work out whether I am beating a dead horse or not," said
the
Aussie, who meets Italian Gianluca Pozzi in the first round at Roland Garros.
Against Pozzi, a 34-year-old veteran whose record at Roland Garros leaves a
lot to be desired (he's won two matches in five attempts), Rafter should have
little worries, although a second round encounter with the sixth-seeded
Frenchman Pioline, a big crowd favorite at Roland Garros, might be a tall
order for the boy from Down Under.
END
"Rafter Leads the Aussie Assault" Alan Trengrove Australian Tennis Magazine June 2000
Although Sampras and Agassi are clear favorites, the Australian presence in the men's singles is stronger
than for 30 years.
For the first time in more than 30 years, any one of three Australian men could win Wimbledon this year, with Pat Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt forming a three-pronged attack that may well seethe game's most coveted trophy return to this country.
Not since the 1960s, the era of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe and other great champions, has there been such depth in the Australian line-up. In those days, as Newcombe says, Australia's best players believed it their birthright to win all the major prizes. It was simply a matter of whose turn was next.
While circumstances are much different today - there's far stiffer competition, for one thing - it may take but one breakthrough for that feeling of supreme confidence, almost to the point of arrogance, to return. After all, the most important ingredient in any recipe for Grand Slam success is a player's unshakable self-belief that he can beat all-comers and win the title. He then knows that, barring bad luck, he can do it again.
Pete Sampras has won Wimbledon six times, a magnificent record that entitles him to clear favoritism. Even when he has been playing indifferently in the early part of the year, his game picks up dramatically once he steps on English turf, especially the turf in a leafy south-west corner of London. Since 1993, only a hot Richard Krajicek, in 1996, has interrupted his supremacy there.
Before Sampras opened his reign, Andre Agassi caused a major surprise by snatching the title in 1992. Sampras and Agassi are the only former winners in this year's field. They fought out the final in 1999, and most people expect them to do so again, although Sampras' increasing proneness to injury makes him a day-to-day proposition.
But Rafter, Philippoussis and Hewitt are credible threats to deny them that rendezvous. In fact, Rafter looks just the type to win Wimbledon, as did Pat Cash, our last champion, in 1987. Rafter serves and volleys as well as Cash, is at least as fast and athletic, and perhaps a little more flexible. He has better groundstrokes than Cash, and can fight as hard.
What he has usually lacked is Cash's instinctive attachment to grass courts. Cash grew up when grasscourt tennis was still a major facet of the game in Victoria; he knew the Kooyong centre court like the back of his hand. Rafter is more a product of hardcourt tennis; although his style is perfectly suited to grasscourt play - he picks up low volleys, for instance, like a Cash or Hoad - he has lacked the long experience on the surface that breeds complete confidence.
From 1996 to 1998 Rafter didn't advance beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon. Last year, when he was seeded seventh, his stature in the game had grown following back-to-back US Open triumphs in 1997-98. He enjoyed a string of good wins - over Bjorkman, Enqvist, Becker and Todd Martin - before losing to a brilliant Agassi in the semi-finals.
A few weeks earlier, Rafter had played three tough serve-and-volley matches at the French Open, followed by another five in winning a grasscourt tournament in Holland. Perhaps the shoulder injury that was to sideline him at the US Open a couple of months later had already occurred.
In retrospect, the Rafter family believes the mishap and the six months' layoff it caused may have been a blessing in disguise. "He took up surfing and spent a lot of time back home with the family," says Peter Rafter, one of Pat's brothers. "He was getting stale before and burning out mentally."
Now, Rafter seems revitalised. The quest for the Davis Cup has aroused his enthusiasm, and he has been given a clean bill of health, although his shoulder is still capable of causing a little worry from time to time. John Newcombe believes he has at least another two Grand Slam singles titles in him before retirement. "In some ways," says Pete Rafter, "Pat's better than he was before." Possibly, he is stronger both physically and mentally.
What he needs to win Wimbledon, apart from the luck that no contender can do without, is good weather. Rafter seeks firm courts on which his slice serves and kickers will be at their most effective, and on which he can move with his customary speed and agility. Cool, damp weather will detract from his technique and perhaps create small doubts about his shoulder, despite his confidence in the doctors' work.
Philippoussis will also be hoping for fine conditions. Big men - and he's as big as they come - are always at a disadvantage on damp grass. What's more, Philippoussis may still be experiencing some trauma from the injury to his left knee that put him out of Wimbledon last year, and the calf strain that troubled him in April. Fully fit, he poses a considerable threat.
Last year, when superbly prepared by Gavin Hopper and Pat Cash, Philippoussis was giving Sampras a hard time in their quarter-final when he damaged a cartilage and couldn't continue. He had won the first set and looked like getting on top in the second. Earlier, he'd eliminated British hope Greg Rusedski.
Philippoussis showed his potential on grass when he won the Queen's title in 1997. If he serves at his most powerful, but sensibly, he won't often concede his service. Under Cash's tutelage, his net attack has improved enormously.
Hewitt, superficially, lacks the grasscourt weapons of his older compatriots, but his footwork, intensity and punishing returns must put him in the running. He gave Sampras a torrid three-set match in the Queen's semi-finals last year, but was a bit overwhelmed by his first Wimbledon Centre Court appearance against such a living legend as Boris Becker, losing in the third round.
Hewitt draws encouragement from Agassi's success at Wimbledon. "My game is very similar to Agassi's. I pick up the ball very quickly," he said recently. "Obviously, everyone talks about the service being a big thing on grass. If you've got a big serve, you're halfway home. But if you watch Andre's matches, he takes away the serve. He beats Krajicek, Sampras; he can beat a lot of those guys on grass by just stepping in and taking away the serve and putting a lot of pressure on them with the returns. I think there's definitely an opportunity there for me."
The fourth Aussie contender to be watched very closely is Wayne Arthurs, who leaped to fame - and effectively into the Davis Cup team - by his phenomenal left-handed serves at the 1999 Championships. Left-handers can be especially menacing on Wimbledon grass - witness the exploits of Norman Brookes, Neale Fraser and John McEnroe, to mention a few. Newcombe gives Arthurs an outside chance of winning the title, but at 29 his trophy cupboard is so bare that it's difficult to see him scoring his first major triumph against such a star-packed field.
Of the other Australians, we shouldn't overlook Jason Stoltenberg and Todd Woodbridge, both semi-finalists in recent years, and both capable of doing a lot of damage again. If I were a bookmaker, I'd pitch the odds in the following sequence: 1, Sampras; 2, Agassi; 3, Rafter; 4, Krajicek; 5, Philippoussis; 6, Henman; 7, Hewitt; 8,
Rusedski.
Copyright © Australian Tennis Magazine 2000.
Patrick Rafter, Back
From Down Under TENNIS MATCH JUNE 2000
Rehabing his injured shoulder, Australia’s great hope serves up his thoughts on life and love on and off the court.
by Andrea Leand
His charismatic smile was in place, his strut still confident and cocky, although his serve was still shaky after an eight month, injury-induced sabbatical from the tour. Patrick Rafter rubbed his right should–the damaged joint that required surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff–and dropped his head. He then returned to the baseline for his second serve against American Paul Goldstein, in the quarter finals of the Citrix Championships in Delray Beach, Florida, this part March.
The two-time US Open champion rocked back and forth a bit to build up momentum for his second serve as one young girl cheered, "You can do it Pat. Serve the big one." But on this today, after months of rehabilitation, it was not to be. Rafter proceeded to double fault and eventually fall to his lower-ranked opponent. But in typical Rafter style, the affable Australian looked at the loss as part of the
process, not a setback.
"It’s going to take time for me to get back to 100%", he said. "I didn’t expect to come out here serving my best because I have to build the shoulder up with matches and more playing. I’m definitely vulnerable. It’s still a day to day thing. I’m another really good month away from being strong again. Then it’s a matter of if I can deal with everything mentally."
Rafter’s strong will and determination helped him overcome hurdles in the past. Injuries were bound do happen with Rafter’s style of play. Without any overpowering weapon, he always three his body into every shot. He dove for the balls whether at the baseline or net and relied on scrappy tactics and tenacity to outlast physically stronger opponents.
During his nine year career, which required years of seasoning on the satellite circuit, Rafter’s body absorbed the grueling punishment of a relentless tournament schedule. Injuries have taken their toll. In 1995 surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right wrist prevented Rafter from competing for six months. Ankle injuries stymied his progress in 1996. Persistence and patience paid off in 1997, when the serve and volley specialist reached his peak and became the first Australian since John Newcombe in 1973 to capture the US Open title.. His triumph and consequent rise to No. 2 in the rankings squelched doubt about his future and affirmed his potential to be No. 1. Rafter proved that point last summer when he snagged the top spot for a couple weeks just prior to his shoulder mishap in Cincinnati. His tenure at the top was short lived. His shoulder, which he originally injured at the French Open, forced him to default in the first round at Flushing Meadows. Unable to defend his US Open crown, Rafter dropped in the rankings and missed taking part in Australia’s Davis Cup victory over France in the final. When months of treatment offered little relief, Rafter opted for surgery.
Such a career threatening situation may have sealed the fate for many veterans in the denouement of their career, but Rafter never fathomed retirement. Visions of Davis Cup Glory–the team title missing from his resume–motivated his return and made the difficult road back a little easier. "Thinking about Davis Cup kept me going," Rafter said. "I love playing Davis Cup and my goals are to be fit for it this year. I’m working very hard toward that goal. If we can keep winning Davis Cup, I’ll continue to make other goals. Otherwise, I didn’t really miss anything about the tour. All I know is that when I retire, it won’t be too hard.
"Hanging out in the locker room and catching up with my mates the first few tournaments back has been great," he said with a smile, "but the grind and the travel is the part that I haven’t missed."
So what occupied his time during his enforced sabbatical? Rafter spend time with longtime girlfriend Lara Feltham, although there seems no mention of marriage. Otherwise the restless Aussie hip-hopped between Melbourne, Sydney and the Queensland beaches each week for a combination of training, coaching from Tony Roche and a little fun in the ocean. The perennial cover boy, voted "World’s Sexiest Athlete" by People magazine a few years ago, shied away from the media and spotlight to cavort with his buddies.
"I enjoyed my time off," Rafter said. "I wasn’t missing tennis at all. I didn’t really reflect much. I just though, What in the hell am I going to do if this thing doesn’t get better? I didn’t want to get too worried about it, so I didn’t spend all the time down in Melbourne. I’d fly up to Queensland for three or four days, Sydney for three to four days, back down to Melbourne. I was traveling twice a week, which is more that what I do on the road."
Returning to the tour ranked outside the top 10 for the first time in two years presented the 28 year old with a fervent challenge. Certainly, the men’s new ranking system, which favors competitors entered in all master series and major events, compelled Rafter to sign up for a rather lengthy tournament schedule.
"I wanted to start doing very well in the Grand Slams and Masters Series this year," Rafter said. "It’s great how everyone is playing them because is makes it feel like a Grand Slam00every match is very competitive and very tough. These evens and Davis Cup are sort of driving me."
When Rafter strut back on court at the Citrix Championships and later at the Masters Series in Indian Wells and Ericsson Open, his game face was back. Naturally, his sexy smile and wavy, long hair sent females of all ages into frenzies once again and his popular appeal injected the men’s tour with a needed dose of star quality. Girls on spring break or playing hooky from school clamored for his autograph and tournament officials relished assigning him to prime courts. And the Rafter they got back, seemed to be
the same Rafter of the past.
Beneath his Tom Cruise grin and chiseled frame, Rafter emerged every bit the gritty competitor. Although his strokes evoke a classic style, his game plan still resonates from his cagey competitiveness. There is little flash and flair when he constructs points; instead, Rafter prefers to gnaw at opponents from the baseline and pounce on the net when they are out of position. Fatigue factored into his losses during hi first few tournaments back, but otherwise, Rafter is an in your face type of competitor. He gives nothing and fights for everything. His deceptively feisty competitiveness makes his plan gel; that little extra drive to a ground stroke dive to a volley or push to a return of serve on the big points, often prove the difference in his victories.
"By Wimbledon, Pat will be diving again; he’ll have it all back because he won’t settle for anything less," Pete Sampras said. "That’s the type of competitor that he is; he leaves everything on the court that he has. He’s been there [at the top] and knows what it takes–which always makes him a threat. Like the rest of us who’ve had injuries, it takes time to work your way back in there. But it’s all there in Pat. By Wimbledon, everyone will be picking him for the title and his injury and any doubts will be long forgotten."
END