Rafter's much
more than a pretty face 5 July 2000 by Jon Wertheim, Sports
Illustrated
On an overcast day, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi inched closer to a Must See TV
final on Sunday by beating a game Jan-Michael Gambill and a less game Mark
Philippoussis, respectively. But let's zig where the others zag and discuss
another winning quarterfinalist.
Pat Rafter was hailed by one of the British papers last week as the closest
player men's tennis has to Anna Kournikova: a stop-traffic attractive player who
induces goo-goo eyes and catcalls from fans of the opposite sex. It's true that
when the guy changes his shirt, you get an idea of what it was like to have been
at the first Beatles' concert at Candlestick Park. But once the hormones of the
surrounding female fans settle back down, the comparisons between Rafter and Ms.
Only-The-Balls-Should-Bounce essentially end there.
For one, no one begrudges Rafter his good looks, since, despite them, he is
impossibly down to earth. Last week Rafter was asked about the comportment of
Australian athletes; he explained that they're either laid back or considered
"d---heads." He's decidedly in the former camp. While Kournikova often
regards the public and the good folks in the media much as she would dandruff on
her shoulders, Rafter is a man of the people. He'll sign autographs until his
fingers are callused, he'll pretend to care when fans tell him where they were
when he won his back-to-back U.S. Opens, he'll play the crowd and shoot
straight. At a recent press conference Rafter was grilled about Sampras' recent
string of injuries and about Jelena Dokic's sacking of coach Tony Roche .
Instead of showing his annoyance at the hardball questions, Rafter said
disarmingly, "Man, you guys are hammering me" before giving a
thoughtful, few-holds-barred response. Compare this to Kournikova, who appears
genetically incapable of giving anything other than a disgusted one-word answer
to questions not immediately related to her last match.
What's more, as a tennis player Rafter is no mere pretty face. Aside from having
won two Grand Slams, he has been ranked No.1 and is perhaps the most
accomplished active player after Sampras and Agassi. Rafter's stature made the
start of his year particularly frustrating. After undergoing rotator cuff
surgery on his serving shoulder, he returned to the Tour in the spring with a
game that lacked bite. His serve had lost snap; he still played with soreness;
his confidence wavered. A string of patchy results followed and, loud and clear,
Rafter heard the murmurs that he was through. "I don't think I ever got so
down I thought seriously of packing it up then and there," he told me after
losing in the third round of the French Open. "But there were some low, low
moments."
The ship started to change course last month. Playing on grass, a surface that
complements Rafter's athleticism and his exquisite volleying, he won his first
event of the year at Rosemalen the day before Wimbledon commenced. With a
charitable seeding of 12, he has continued on here. After handling Thomas
Johansson in the fourth round, Rafter made fast work of jittery qualifier
Alexander Popp, 6-3, 6-2, 7-6, in the quarters. After dropping off the map,
Rafter's back to precisely where he was a year ago: a semifinal date with Agassi.
"People probably haven't expected me to do as well because I've showed no
real signs of doing well after the shoulder surgery," he says. "So
it's very satisfying."
Rafter seems to be getting his mojo back. Even Agassi has taken note that his
next opponent has suddenly elevated his game back to where it once belonged.
"No question [Rafter's] game has picked up lately," says the second
seed. The trend will have to continue for Rafter to have a good chance against
Agassi on Friday. Sure, Rafter has played some tremendous serve-and-volley
tennis lately. But he has yet to face the kind of opponent who can short-hop 130
mph serves -- as Agassi did Wednesday against Philippoussis -- and tattoo the
lines with passing shots. "You hope Andre has one of his bad days,"
says Rafter. No one's counting on it. But then again, no one counted on Rafter
being back in tennis' rarefied air either.
END
Rafter
sitting pretty as Popp fizzles out 6th July 2000 by Sue Mott
Alexander Popp, the Wolverhampton wanderer, went back to his roots yesterday.
Perhaps thanks to his English mother's genes he played a match of rampant nerves
and defeatism in the Wimbledon quarter-finals against the 12th seed (and Mills
and Boon hero) Patrick Rafter of Australia. "Come on, Popp," urged the
patriotic crowd at crucial moments, just like cajoling nurses in a geriatric
home. But it was no good. The German was determined to lose, which he did
6/3-6/2-7/6.
Let that be the end of all this nonsense about him playing Davis Cup for
Britain. (Our players need to be much worse than that.)
Meanwhile, Rafter has stolen through to a semi-final against Andre Agassi with
the stealth of a panther. Sorry about that, but the pony-tailed, Bermuda-based
right-hander does rather lend himself to Barbara Cartland-style description.
Stick him in a doublet, swap his racket for a rapier and every wench in the 17th
century would have swooned at his feet.
He understands this handsomely. At the end of the second set, when he had barely
broken sweat in resolutely miserable conditions, he stripped off his shirt to
appreciative whistles from the crowd and a particularly raucous "Oi-oi"
from one forward young lady. (I'm saying nothing.) And that was about it for
entertainment.
He admitted as much afterwards. "It was not exactly very pretty, he said.
Alex was just struggling with everything. I could feel he was tight and nervous,
being his first time on a show court. I thought I'd just get the ball back and
let him make the errors." Not very gallant of the hero, but good enough to
win.
The key to the match probably lay in the second game of the first set, when the
enormity of his exposure seemed to dawn on the inexperienced Popp, playing in
his first Grand Slam event. Why, his innocence is so complete he has owned up to
the nickname Poppy and that his favourite country is Iceland. The weather should
have suited him then, but he took it too literally and froze. In that second
game he served five double faults and allowed Rafter the break from which no
seed should look back.
Did your second serve worry you, Popp was asked after the match. "About as
much as my first serve. It was horrible," he replied, in a fabulous exposé
of his English irony.
So the whole match that followed was a long case of death throes. Rafter,
however, is a warming character. "Sorry, mate," he would say when his
toss went awry and he had to abord his service motion midway through. This is
jollier than the stony stare and mutual malevolence that players normally beam
back and forth across the net.
Rafter is consoling proof that you do not have to exude the personality of a
concrete block in order to become an accomplished sportsman. He won the US Open
two years in succession and still retains a casual freshness at odds with the
neurotic obsessives all around him. He has a certain bohemian air, although it
would be dangerous to go overboard and suggest he lives out of the back of a
gipsy caravan, weaving hemp and growing his own avocados. He has won about $10
million for a start.
Wether he can now graduate from looker to winner against Andre Agassi in their
second successive Wimbledon semi-final remains to be seen. He accepts the step
up needs to be made. Popp's art was limited. Agassi is practically Picasso and
the blue period looks very definitely over.
"You have to be on the top of your game when you play him. The number one
thing you have to do is serve well and you have to do it all day," said
Rafter, who has dropped only one set all tournament and has therefore had little
opportunity to hone his serve or his return under pressure. This could be bad
news. In the confrontation last year against Agassi, he had two break points all
match and this year he could be struggling after a long lay-off for shoulder
surgery. (Bet the nursing station was overcrowded that day.)
But this last match was no guide. "Come on Popp," they shouted.
"Come on Pat," came the echo. And that was about the level of
competition, some toddler nasty on daytime television. Only those making the
gurgling sounds and drooling uncontrollably were the women, not the children.
The giveaway was the fact that female heads were not swivelling in pursuit of
the ball. They were riveted one way. Husbands were nudging their spouses and
saying: "Pass the one with the pickle in it," entirely in vain.
But Rafter's next match will be no fantasy on Bondi and he is keeping the lid on
his excitement. He has fetched up on this unexpected beach -in fact, he has been
nowhere near the Centre Court until now- and he must raise his game appreciably
to win. "I've always believed that if you've done the work, you can slip
through very quickly and quietly. I've learned to keep my emotions under
wraps."
Damn and blast, muttered someone.
Rafter through as Alexander Popps out
5 July 2000 by Clare Lovell Wimbledon
LONDON, July 5 (Reuters) - Australian Pat Rafter reached the Wimbledon
semifinals for the second successive year on Wednesday with a solid 6-3 6-2
7-6 win over 114th-ranked German Alexander Popp.
The victory set up a meeting against second seed Andre Agassi, the man who
beat him at the same stage last year.
Rafter played well within himself to overcome 23-year-old Popp whose jangling
nerves caused him to make numerous errors including five doubles faults in
his first service game.
Wimbledon organisers had seeded Rafter, twice U.S. Open champion, 12th
despite his being ranked 21st in the world because of his good record at the
championships and strong grasscourt game.
Against Popp he played classic serve and volley, charging the net at every
opportunity and wrong-footing his inexperienced opponent who was playing in
only his second Grand Slam event.
Rafter produced 21 volley winners against only seven for Popp who could have
made more of his two-metre height and long reach had he chosen to attack.
Popp, who beat current and former French Open champions Gustavo Kuerten and
Michael Chang in earlier rounds, did show flashes of brilliance particularly
on the backhand and he broke Rafter's serve to force the third set tiebreak.
But by then he was fighting a rearguard action, having surrendered his first
service games in the previous two sets and dropped serve again in the fifth
game of the second and the seventh of the third.
A shivering crowd warmed to the lofty German, who has been touted at the
championships as a home favourite because of his English mother, as he tried
to fight back.
But he showed his inexperience in the face of Rafter's fine touch during the
tie-break where his serve again failed and he was overwhelmed 7-1.
END
Rafter powers into the quarter-finals 3 July 2000 by Jane Barrett Wimbledon
LONDON, July 3 (Reuters) - Twelfth seed Patrick Rafter booked his place in
the quarter-finals at Wimbledon on Monday and said his confidence was at its
highest for a year.
Rafter, a semifinalist here last year, eased his way past Sweden's Thomas
Johansson 6-3 6-4 6-7 6-1 in the fourth round and will now meet Alexander
Popp.
``He's big,'' Rafter said of the 2.01 metre-tall German who has climbed his
way to his best Grand Slam result past former French Open champions Michael
Chang and Gustavo Kuerten.
``He served pretty well and today he passed well and returned well. If I can
serve as well as I am, I'm sure there'll be opportunities on his serve,'' the
Australian said.
Rafter, out for five months after shoulder surgery late last year, looked by
far the more competent player against Johansson who stormed up and down the
baseline muttering to himself every time he hit a ball out of court.
The pony-tailed Australian lost his rhythm slightly in the first set after a
rain delay, allowing Johansson to claw his way up from 5-0 but then rained
down aces to take the set 6-3.
Both men played stunning tennis in the second set, wrong-footing each other
and chasing down every single ball. But Rafter proved his athletic prowess,
out-hitting the Swede and rushing towards a quick win.
Johansson rallied in the third set, defending six break points and taking the
tie break 7-4 with a stinging backhand return.
But the Swede's luck ran out there as Rafter powered his way through the
final set serving one unreturnable serve after another and dominating rallies
from the baseline and at the net.
``I am gaining confidence and believing that I can win again,'' said Rafter
who was out of action for five months with a shoulder injury after last
year's U.S. Open.
Popp, 23, relished the prospect of playing the two-times U.S. Open champion.
``It will be fun playing him. I mean, for me it's just great this tournament.
I just know these guys from television more or less' he said.
END
Rafter Sails Into Fourth Round
1 July 2000 by Leo Schlink Wimbledon
PAT Rafter last night continued an ominously smooth passage towards the Wimbledon title with a swashbuckling win over German Rainer
Schuttler.
The dual US Open champion and former world No. 1 registered his eighth consecutive grasscourt triumph in posting an almost flawless 6-2, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 success over Schuttler.
In control from the outset, 12th seed Rafter advanced to a fourth-round clash with either of Swedish pair Magnus Gustafsson or Thomas Johansson with another irresistible serve-volleying exhibition.
Distracted momentarily in the closing stages of the third set by the netcord machine, Rafter did not drop serve for the match to protect a striking record of having lost only a set in his past eight matches.
The winner of the Heineken Trophy on grass in Holland a week ago, Rafter push for the All-England Club crown continues to build with every match.
Showing no sign of the right shoulder soreness which led to surgery last October, Rafter was dominant on serve and just as lethal on the return.
He surged through first set in 22 frenetic minutes, picking off Schuttler's serve almost at will.
The Queenslander broke serve twice, the first time in the fourth game with outstanding returning, capped by an incredible forehand pass.
The Brisbane serve-volleyer then survived two break points in the seventh game with brilliant serving under pressure before turning up the heat on Schuttler for a confidence-boosting service break for the set.
Serving with astonishing accuracy in a display reminiscent of his charge to the 1997-98 US Open crowns, Rafter tormented Schuttler with crisp volleying and, best of all, aggressive returning.
The German tested Rafter's composure in the ninth game by drawing a break point opportunity with a volley winner. But Rafter refused to concede and scrambled free after a long rally.
Taken to a tiebreak as the match intensified, Rafter raised his levels beyond those of Schuttler to dictate terms in magnificent fashion.
Again untouchable on serve, Rafter plundered Schuttler's short deliveries and delighted in running around his backhand to smash a forehand return down the line off a tentative second serve to lead 5-1.
Schuttler's wild forehand return to lose the set carried the symbolic resignation of a player out of his depth.
But it took until the seventh game of the third set until Schuttler eventually succumbed to the subtlety of the Rafter game.
Schuttler sprinted to save a Rafter dropshot only to pop up the easiest of putaway volleys for the Australian, who turned to his coach Tony Roche in elation on winning the point.
Schuttler saved two match points two games later, but perished with a backhand into the net after a 123-minute battle.
END
Pat chalks up another three set victory and moves into fourth round
1 July 2000
by Kim Trengove Oncourt.com
Playing with the confidence that saw him take out two US Opens, Patrick
Rafter today dominated Rainer Schuttler for a place in the fourth round at
Wimbledon.
Rafter beat the German 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-3 - his third straight set victory in
the Championships. With Gustavo Kuerten's shock loss to Alexander Popp, the
pony-tailed Australian is well positioned to reach the semi-finals. His next
opponent is one of two Swedes: Thomas Johansson or Magnus Gustafsson, neither
of whom have passed the fourth round at Wimbledon. If he builds on his form
against Schuttler, Rafter would be favoured to beat either player and then
would face possibly Popp or Tommy Haas in the quarter-finals.
Rafter's fast court skills gave him a far greater edge over the slightly
built Schuttler from Bad Homburg, who didn't start playing tennis until he
was 10. Rafter's first service percentage for the first two sets was around
the 70% mark. He controlled the points at the net, covering the court
superbly and at times matched Schuttler on the baseline.
Schuttler closed the gap after the first set and applied more pressure on
Rafter's serve, but neither player could break and Rafter resolved the second
set with a near perfect tiebreaker. The third set was also close, but Rafter
finally cracked the German's serve in the seventh game with his blanket net
coverage. He consolidated the break with a love service game and closed on
his third match point when Schalken dumped a backhand into the net.
Rafter has made it clear that he intends to win Wimbledon this year. With his
shoulder clearly withstanding the rigors of intense practise and match play,
the Australian has clicked into a higher gear and his biggest threat is
likely to be No.10 seed Mark Philippoussis if they both get to the
semi-finals. The 28-year-old Rafter said he feels "very competitive" even if
he has always found grass a challenging surface.
While he had been told by some medical experts after his shoulder surgery in
October that he only had so many serves left in his arm, Rafter said he
couldn't let such a prognosis interfere with his preparation and that he
would go for broke whenever he played. "I made the conscious decision, 'I'm
going to have to do it in practice and matches. If it doesn't last that long,
it doesn't last very long. That's it," he said.
END