HERE COME THE GLADIATORS Australian Tennis Magazine online October 2000

Move over Russell Crowe, the real gladiators of men’s tennis have arrived.
KIM TRENGOVE surveys an ever-expanding line-up of tennis hunks. (PS: Kim is a female). 

CLOSE your eyes and imagine the ultimate men’s tennis final. You could be watching for up to five hours, so the contestants had better be worth the effort. Sure, we can all appreciate the technical skill with which shots are executed: that elegant ball toss and smooth service action, the perfectly judged laser backhand down the line followed by a low-angled, cross-court slice forehand volley. Ah, another topspin and he scrambles to reach an impossible overhead smash...

But what does he look like? What is under that big, baggy shirt, and when is he going to get hot enough to remove it? Can we please get another close-up of that warrior-rugged, squared-jawed, perfectly-angled, olive-skinned face. He just smashed another racquet into the court, mangling it beyond recognition. Animal!
Men’s tennis has never been in better hands, or should I say legs, faces...torsos. For so long, the passionate tennis spectator has had to suffer the passionless maneuoverings of top players who had about as much charisma as a supermarket chain.

It seems cruel to name names, but as he didn’t turn up for the Wimbledon Parade of Champions last July, Ivan Lendl heads the list of past charisma-bypass champions. Jim Courier remains a fascinating personality in retirement, but he never made spectators salivate. Ditto Michael Stich, Petr Korda, Thomas Muster, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Kevin Curren, Michael Chang and the Big Man himself, Pete Sampras. Only Boris Becker truly possessed what the movie star moguls call Factor X: a mix of talent, sex appeal, intrigue, angst, pride, glamor, and chutzpah.

Then Pat Rafter emerged. A contemporary of Sampras’, nobody much appreciated the Queenslander’s mass appeal until he won the US Open for the first time in 1997. In women’s tennis, you don’t have to win titles to get on the cover of magazines so long as you are blonde, extremely well-proportioned and feel comfortable making bra ads. But male players can’t get by on model looks alone.

“I definitely wouldn’t say I was good looking,” Rafter told Britain’s Ace Tennis Magazine this year. “I’m just normal. The sex symbol thing all comes along with succeeding. I don’t think it matters what you look like. It’s success that is the attractive thing. It’s because of what I’ve done and because of my personality that the girls love me, I suppose. You see a lot of good-looking women with ordinary people like me and you wonder why. Then you realise he’s done this or that, and that’s what attracts people.”

Hicham Arazi is a sassy, crowd-loving and talented player from Morocco ranked 41 in the world (on the old entry points system). Imagine if he’d won 10 Grand Slam titles instead of his lone ATP Tour championship in Casablanca? The man would be flashing his brilliant, let’s-party smile on every glossy from here to Monte Carlo.
Instead, we’ve had to pretend that Andre Agassi is sort of sexy on account of his six Grand Slams, up and down career, quick-step schoolboy walk, and love match with the sort of sexy women’s Grand Slammer, Steffi Graf. Agassi is a fascinating personality, no doubt about it, and he gives the best interviews. But sexy?
Behind the scenes at the ATP HQ they know what sexy is and have decided to push the envelope, inspired by the marketing success of women celebrity players, Venus, Serena, Anna and Mary. We call them by their surnames when we talk tennis, but when we think “lust or disgust”, only a Christian name will suffice.

The curiously titled “New Balls Please” campaign has thrust a new cast of talented, hungry, mostly good-looking tennis pros of between 18 and 23 into the glare of the prurient tennis fan. Here come the gladiators, staring with a certain super model aloofness in black and white photographs on posters, billboards and advertisements around the globe. They are destined to re-vitalise tennis in time for the imminent retirement of those “Old Balls” Agassi, Sampras and Rafter.

Lleyton, Marat, Gustavo, Juan Carlos, Roger, Tommy, Jan-Michael, Scud, Nicolas, Magnus are the tennis rock stars of the future and, by all accounts, most of them are eager to whip up a bit of Beatle-mania in the autograph queues. “It’s fantastic to be put in such a group of elite players,” said Hewitt after his Wimbledon photo-shoot with Kuerten. “You’ve got the Kuertens, the Philippoussises, the Safins, the Ferreros, who obviously are the future of tennis as well. But you’ve still got to prove it. You have the high guys up there, the Rafters, the Agassis, the Samprases, and then the newer guys 23 and under sort of coming up biting at their heels.”
ATP Tour spokesman Matt Rapp says the “New Balls Please” campaign is about increasing awareness of the next generation of top players. “The campaign is about attitude,” he says. “The theme is New Blood – New Attitude. The guys with the guts and games to take on the established order.”

Sounds like a movie script, which should suit Gambill and Philippoussis. Following Kournikova’s lead, Jan-Michael is grooming himself for a career in film. “I met with a casting director of Star Trek Voyager over the Christmas break,” he revealed during the men’s tournament in LA last July. “I think I have a fairly good shot at getting a small part in the upcoming year. It’s just a matter of getting a part for me – timing.” Philippoussis may look a little stiff in some of his interviews, but who knows what he is capable of, given a little direction and some meaty dialogue?

“A couple of years ago, Anthony Quinn saw me at the US Open, and then called my agent and said he liked my looks and would like me to play the part of his son in a movie,” Philippoussis said. “I said sure to playing the part of Anthony Quinn’s son, of course. I was going to do it, but they changed the scheduling of the movie.”
Now, if I was a Hollywood director, objectively, coldly casting my eye over the ATP Tour Media Guide for my Top 10 list of bankable leading men to star in GLADIATOR 2, the following players would be given a screen test (in order of priority).

1. Marat Safin
Simply the best-looking male player on the planet, possibly the best-looking male as well. A true gladiator, a perfectly proportioned being and a tennis equivalent to Leo Tolstoy if only he could get that temper under control. Still, great champions should possess a healthy dose of madness and Marat needs to smash racquets the way some people need to crack their knuckles.
He is also extremely dry-witted and gives entertaining interviews. At the Tennis Masters Series in Toronto (which he won), he explained his addiction to racquet smashing. “Sometimes, you need this. And I think the people, they understand this. Because we are human beings and we need to try to break it because it’s only a racquet, it’s nothing else. But I know it’s not very nice on the court. It doesn’t look very, I would say, very educated.”
Some of Safin’s shots look like they might make holes in the court. In a few years time, when he has collected a number of Grand Slam titles, he will be shattering many women’s hearts as well.

2. Patrick Rafter
I’m sorry Pat, you were a good sort before you won those US Opens and you will continue to light up the court whenever that dodgy shoulder enables you to play at, or even below, your peak. Any match is worth watching if Rafter is involved, hence the incredible ratings lift on British TV when he played the Wimbledon final against Sampras. (Over 8.8 million people - 38 percent of the viewing audience - tuned in to BBC1, the best figures since 1992.)
Rafter has evolved into a warrior on court with a dashing serve-volley game; he’s smart, instinctive, courageous, versatile and incredibly down to earth. He’s had one girlfriend for a long time, comes from a big, happy family, gives time and money to children’s charities, and would cross over hot coals to play Davis Cup for his country. No wonder some fans call him Saint Pat – the man epitomises Rudyard Kipling’s “If” poem. Other players want to be like Rafter, hence Roger Federer’s and Lleyton Hewitt’s copycat ponytail. Don’t they know? Superstars start their own fashion trends.
3. Gustavo Kuerten
Forget the movies, if there is anyone you would choose to go out to dinner with, Guga would have to top the list. This Brazilian has maracas in his joints. He has a wide smile, a lateral sense of humor, is generous to his fans, and often looks like Don Quixote on the tennis court, soldiering on when his bones appear to be crumbling beneath him.
He is nice to his grandmother and helps look after his mentally handicapped younger brother, Guilherme, giving him all his trophies. The only trouble with Guga is, if you ran your fingers through his hair they might not come out again.

4. Lleyton Hewitt
This New Ball is the very essence of adolescence, with his cocky cap turned backwards as he rolls into the Land of the Giants. When Hewitt hits the zone, the effect is electrifying and every spectator in the house gets a charge. He’d make a great Mercutio to Pat Rafter’s Romeo – ready to commit insane acts of bravery, just oozing intensity and desire.

5. Andre Agassi
The saga of Agassi, now that he’s 30, is so involved and dramatic it would make a far better movie than a Coliseum flick. The bald-headed Las Vegan has been around the block many times, yet still we do not tire of his presence, particularly with the addition to his entourage of the intense fraulein Steffi Graf. Agassi speaks his mind, he toils hard, his groundstrokes are superlative, and the shiny bald pate lends him the aura of an advanced being, a Yoda in the making with a few more galaxies to traverse. You need one in every block-buster.

6. Mark Philippoussis
When the Scud beat Sjeng Schalken in five sets at Wimbledon this year, the next morning’s papers featured large photographs of him with one exhausted fist raised against a glary background. It was surreal, heroic, awesomely Greek God-like, as if Philippoussis had single-handedly beaten back a tribe of marauding barbarians.
A week later, the “matured” Mark 2 was again the anti-hero of Australian tennis after he withdrew from the Davis Cup. Such contradiction makes for frustrating, compelling, push-me/pull-you viewing. Besides, his dark, unhappy looks and mighty 193cm frame are the most photogenic around.

7. Jan-Michael Gambill
Oh, how beauty can be a curse. This 23-year-old American is working hard to prove he’s not just a pretty face, and worth more professional respect than being honored in People Magazine’s “Most Beautiful People of the Year” list.
Objectively, he’s a knockout: tall, perfectly proportioned and tight-muscled with straight white teeth, drippy deep-set blue eyes, tipped hair etc. Now that he’s starting to win a few more matches we may, in turn, see a bit more character leak out.
8. Juan Carlos Ferrero
The crown prince of men’s tennis – on clay, anyway. Again, the 20-year-old, light-boned Juan has not had a great deal of exposure, but his self-assured ascent to the semi-finals of this year’s French Open revealed a young man full of poise, tranquillity and astonishing ability. His fine features and inner strength will appeal to those who worshipped Mats Wilander.
9. Alex Corretja /
Carlos Moya
A tie. Two Spaniards for the more mature spectator, although Corretja is only 26 and Moya 24. Corretja is a thoroughly nice, courteous, clean-looking crooner of a player, while Moya has everything a bloke needs to top this list except a strong back – the reason he has not been playing well for 12 months.

10. Pete Sampras
You can’t exclude the best player of all time. Some, such as his actress fiancée, Bridgette Wilson, may find the hirsute Grand Slammer sexy, but behind that whopping great game, Sampras stores a great deal of emotion and every now and then it floods out, breaking the hearts of all those who understand how much he has gone through to dominate tennis for the past decade.

"IF" by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
  Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
  But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
  Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
  And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
 
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
  If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
  And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
  Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
  And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
 
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
  And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
  And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
  To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
  Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
 
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
  Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
  If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
  With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
  And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!

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Rafter falls 29 August 2000 by Steve Wilstein  The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - Midnight madness struck again at the U.S. Open. 

As Tuesday turned into Wednesday, two-time champion Patrick Rafter succumbed 
in five sets to the inspired and uncanny brilliance of Galo Blanco, a 
5-foot-8 Spaniard who had lost in the first round of every other Grand Slam 
event this year. 

With several thousand wildly cheering fans still in Arthur Ashe Stadium, 
Blanco rallied back from a minibreak in the final tiebreaker, winning five of 
the last six points, to beat Rafter 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (5). The 
3-hour, 2-minute match ended at 12:07 a.m. 

``We both fought very hard out there,'' Rafter said. ``I'm happy with the way 
I fought, and I tried to win. Some days it just doesn't go your way. Tonight 
was one of those. He put in a good performance there. Just too good on the 
night.'' 

Rafter, the runner-up to Pete Sampras at Wimbledon last month, came into the 
U.S. Open unseeded because he had been out most of the year while recovering 
from shoulder surgery. 

But the 27-year-old Australian, the U.S. Open champion in 1997 and 1998, had 
no problems with his shoulder lately and was considered the most dangerous 
floater in the men's draw, a player who was nearly as much of a favorite to 
win the title as Sampras or Andre Agassi. 

Blanco was the exact opposite, a 23-year-old ranked No. 114 who had lost in 
the first round of 13 of his 16 previous Grand Slam tournaments since 1996. 
His best performance in a major came at the 1997 French Open, where he 
reached the quarterfinals before losing to Rafter in straight sets in their 
only other meeting. 

``That was my most important match in my life,'' Blanco said. ``So I beat him 
here in this tournament, and he beat me there in my tournament. That's 
life.'' 

Rafter drilled 24 aces past him and kept charging the net as always, but 
Blanco stood his ground on the baseline and pummeled Rafter with passing 
shots. Blanco's particular splendor on this cool and breezy night was his 
ability to limit his unforced errors, committing only two in the first set 
and 38 overall, while the more aggressive Rafter made 52. 

Most surprisingly, perhaps, Blanco managed to ace Rafter 17 times, seven of 
those in the final set. 

Rafter said his shoulder was fine and he had no excuses. 

``When the match gets tight, I generally am pretty solid,'' Rafter said. 
``Tonight, just far too many errors. I just wasn't hitting the ball well. My 
chip-charging wasn't working, my groundstrokes trying to get into play 
weren't really working. I just missed a lot of the fundamentals, a lot of 
high volleys. My game was off. 

``It's going to be hard to sleep tonight. It is disappointing.'' 

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Rafter an ambassador par excellence 30 August 2000 by Bruce Matthews the Daily Telegraph

Clutching an instamatic camera, the Young girl tentatively approached her Idol Pat Rafter. His 
instinctive "Hi" had the effect of making the shy nine-year-old go mute and Mum had to step in 
with the request. "My daughter has waited all day. Could I please take a photo of her with you?"
"Sure", said Rafter, beckoning the bespectacled fan to his side and throwing a protective big 
brother arm around her, while mother struggled to control shaking hands long enough to fire off 
a couple of frames. The American and her daughter attended the traditional Arthur Ashe Kids Day 
on Saturday prior to the US Open and most spectators had long ago headed home when the pair event
ually tracked down Rafter as he practised in the deserted main stadium. In an economic 10 minutes
at the end of a 90-minute workout, Rafter gave a brief interview for a Channel Nine camera crew, 
answered a fistful of questions from three Australian sportswriters... and made two more American
female friends for life. It's why the dual US Open titleholder categorically deserves the 
champion tag that is so often loosely tossed around in sport. He gives people the impression he 
actually cares and it's an attitude that the marketing companies would love to bottle. That 
handsome ponytailed head stares down from billboards alongside Martina Hingis all over this town,
extolling the virtues of a particular credit card. And the locals will be riding with their 
Aussie boy today when he faces Spain's Galo Blanco to start his open campaign. Rafter will be 
apprehensive for more reasons than the obvious first round nerves. It's the first time he has 
been back In the main stadium to woo the New Yorkers, some who misguidedly booed him when the 
right shoulder ailment forced him to quit early In the fifth set against Frenchman Cedric 
Pioline In the corresponding round 12 months ago. While therepaired rotator cuff remains a 
tournament-to- tournament proposition the Queenslander's appeal is undiminished and,frankly, on 
a par with the best-loved American players. Most appreciate that Rafter is real, accessible to 
the buyer. Not ushered by a couple of no-neck security guards to stare at fans through the 
tinted window of a tournament courtesy car. Rafter moves around the Flushing Meadow site like a 
Pied Piper. No-one flanks him except adoring fans clambering for the autographs he scribbles 
while in full stride. The only danger would be if he should stop. It's much like a golf gallery
rushing to grab the best vantage points for the next shot. In fact, when that right shoulder 
inevitably cries "no more", he should contemplate making the switch to golf, that other ball-
sport passion. Rafter would blend into the pro golf tour where good manners are expected rather 
than an optional attachment. Tennis Australia should pass a rule that all young players at their
first major championship should be compelled to spend a day observing the way Pat Rafter goes 
about his business as one of this country's finest sporting ambassadors. Much of what he does is
considered, but not never contrived. It's simply class and an inherited family trait called 
respect.

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Shoulder intact, Rafter eyes Open 28 August 2000 New York SportsToday

His shoulder is strong and his temper is short. Things are looking good for
Pat Rafter as the United States Open begins today.
Rafter will attempt to win his third Open in four years as the most dangerous
unseeded player at Flushing Meadows since 1994 champion Andre Agassi.
The Australian is buoyed not only by an absence of pain but also by the fast
pace of the courts, the resilience of the balls and his sheer love of the
place.
The fact that brother and manager Peter Rafter can barely stand to be around
him is another positive sign of Rafter's determination to win again.
It's hard to imagine an irascible Rafter, but the former world No.1 admitted:
``I'm starting to get a little bit more intense, and what I say generally
goes.
``That's the way I like to work it, and when it's over, my brothers and my
girlfriend can say what they want to me.''
Peter Rafter knows his brother is keyed for a big performance. ``He's fired
up. I know that because his mood changes, big time. Last week, he was so
relaxed, nothing was upsetting him. All of a sudden he loses and we come here
next night, and he's real stroppy. Little things upset him.
``I stay out of his hair. I don't want to be around him. It's a good sign. It
means he's focused.''
Rafter is drawn to play Spain's Galo Blanco in the first round and could meet
his sometime Davis Cup teammate Mark Philippoussis in the third.
His lead-up to the Open has not been ideal, forced to take a break to rest
his sore serving shoulder after losing at Cincinnati two and a half weeks
ago. Fortunately, it was not a recurrence of the rotator cuff injury that
wrecked his 1999 US Open and required surgery and five months off.
``Once I get into a tournament it seems to hold itself throughout the
tournament and not cave in halfway through, so I'm pretty confident of it
holding up through here,'' said Rafter, who returned at the low-key Hamlet
Cup event last week and has practised at Flushing Meadows since.

``I'm feeling pretty good. The court's doing most of the work out there. You
don't have to hit your serves that hard.''
The Rafter camp has also noticed, pleasingly, that the balls in use here
don't fluff up and slow down as much as others, suiting the player who relies
more on control and spin than brute force.
Philippoussis, the 15th seed who lost the final to Rafter in 1998, has
reported no recurrence of the knee injury cited in his withdrawal from the
Davis Cup semi-final against Brazil, which soured relations with Rafter and
the rest of the Australian team.
He will play Spaniard Albert Portas in the first round and should then have
in-form American Jan-Michael Gambill to overcome.
Seven Australian men will contest the Open, after Wayne Arthurs made it
through qualifying.
Jelena Dokic, Nicole Pratt and another qualifier, Rachel McQuillan, will fly
the flag in the women's draw.
Dokic starts against Anna Smashnova of Israel.
END 

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Resilient Chang upsets Rafter in New York 24 August 2000
American Michael Chang has upset Australia's Patrick Rafter 6-4, 6-4 in 89
minutes to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP event in New York.
The 28-year-old ousted Byron Black of Zimbabwe 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 in a tough match
in sweltering mid-day heat. Then he came back to dispose of seventh seed
Rafter for the seventh time in their last 11 meetings.
"It's been a long and tough day," said Chang, who began suffering from cramps
after his second match. "I'm pretty pleased to get through."
Rafter, who won here in 1998 and saved three match points in beating
Austria's Stefan Koubek, blasted four straight aces. He opened a 3-0 lead and
had two break points in the fourth game to go up 4-0.
"I was just cruising through that stage and I was playing very relaxed,"
Rafter said.
But Chang, who captured his 34th career title this past July by winning in
Los Angeles, rallied back with a forehand and topspin volley winner.
"It was just important for me to get on the board," Chang said. "Pat came out
smoking. He started off really well."
Chang, the 1993 Hamlet Cup runner-up, clearly started to play with hardcourt
poise and grabbed the momentum breaking Rafter in the ninth game to serve out
the set.
"My serve let me down," Rafter said. "I let him get back into the match and
didn't find any rhythm for the rest of the match while Michael played very
well and was consistent from there on."
The second set was almost identical to the first with Rafter breaking in the
opening game to go up 2-0. But Chang, ranked 30th on the ATP Champions Race,
stormed back to even it at 2-2.
He broke Rafter's serve for the last time in the 9th game on a series of
remarkable return winners to earn the match.
"It would have been nice to have at least a couple of more matched to keep
the confidence growing before the Open," said Rafter who reached the finals
at Wimbledon this year.
"But if I serve well there, I feel I have a chance."
The 27-year-old Australian star says he had trouble focusing on his game this
week with important events looming on his agenda like the US Open, the summer
Olympics and the Davis Cup final between Australia and Spain in December.
"So much is going on that it's hard to focus," Rafter said. "That's what
happened this week. There's one event after the other and you don't have time
to rest."

END

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Shouldering Rafter   23rd August 2000   by Romain Lefebvre  L'Equipe

Two times US Open winner (in 1997 and 1998) and finalist at Wimbledon this year, the Australian has now to compromise with a fragile shoulder. His last relapse has just sidelined him from the circuit for one month.

When we saw him practising with Fabrice Santoro, Monday afternoon, on a court of the Hamlet Golf and Country Club of Long Island, Patrick Rafter didn't seem to be a convalescent. Sharpened as for his best days, his wings always as fully spread at the net, the Australian radiated energy and health. His infectious good mood gave the image of a child in the paradise of toys. The not so far time when, dying, he mentioned the probability to shortly put an end to his career, seems to be really past.

It was last spring, on the occasion of a delicate relaunching. His right shoulder having been operated on the 24th October 1999 at Melbourne, Rafter took to the road of courts again this year only in late February, at Delray Beach. Dismayed by the bad results he got afterwards, he gradually sank into depression. Until the end of a claycourt season ended by a defeat facing Pioline in the second round at Roland-Garros, the two times US Open winner (1997 and 1998) never gave the impression that he could regain one day the entire strength of his arm, and therefore of his tennis.

A little bit to everyone's surprise, though, Rafter made the most sceptic people lie in three weeks. Holding at first his title on the grasscourt of s'Hertogenbosch, then reaching the Wimbledon finale (lost facing Sampras), the soul of the Australian champion turned from the black of depression to the green of hope. Two clear and impeccable wins against Kuerten and Meligeni in the Davis Cup semifinall, confirmed this sudden recovery. But Rafter didn't come out of this chain of successes unscathed. "The two weeks of rest he gave him between the Davis Cup and Toronto weren't enough to recover from all his consecutive efforts, explains Tony Roche, his coach. When he arrived in Canada, Pat still was tired, mentally and physically. His shoulder was painful again. It can't stand as much « requests » as before. It must be spared." And so, after a three sets defeat in the quarter-final facing Jiri Novak, Rafter disconnected once more from the circuit. A bit dejected he didn't know yet the date of his return, and the rest of the American Tour that he cherishs so much unfolded without him.

Retired in his condo in Bermuda, Rafter allowed himself a few days of holidays before meticulously preparing his comeback. Following a scheme concocted by his physical trainer Mark Wauters, he centered his work on an aim that he'll have to keep in his mind until the last match of his career: the muscular strengthening of his shoulder, the fundamental segment of the tennis player's mechanism. "From s'Hertogenbosch to the Davis Cup, that is to say for four weeks, it was the first time since the surgery that Patrick's shoulder took such an amount of work, sums up Wauters. We didn't know how it was going to react. It's turned out that the pain felt at Toronto was different and localized in an other place than the one which made him suffer before the arthroscopic surgery. He felt pain when he served and when he hit a forehand. So the fifteen last days were devoted to a precise treatment aiming at strengthening the tissue of his shoulder."

If that's the way it is, what are his chances of becoming again the « boss » of the Arthur Ashe Stadium at Flushing Meadow? Unbeaten since the inauguration of the new stadium in 1997 (he has only one defeat against him, he had to withdraw facing Pioline in the first round last year), Rafter considers himself in a position to get the keys back from the holder, Andre Agassi. "Even if he likes to play a lot of match before a Grand Slam, Pat stays confident, insists Roche. He loves this tourney, and this stadium, and he has more experience now than he had when he took his two titles. For the practice, he made a very good impression on me, even if there's nothing like matches."

The test of last night, against Stefan Koubek of Austria, should partly reveal the truth about the ambitions he can cherish. But whatever happens this week, Rafter won't have the same landmarks than in 1997 and 1998.

Besides confidence, the Australian's form seems however to be recovered. "He looks rather good, commented Santoro after having faced him. Physically, he's always a monster. He doesn't serve at 100%, but he varies a lot. In any case, for practices, those guys never give their best on serve." And Roche adds: "Pat spent 1 hour and three quarters on the court without grimacing. I didn't see him since the Davis Cup and I find he’s in very sharp form. As he can't play as much as before, he has to well target his goals: his three priorities before the end of the season are the US Open, the Olympic Games and the Davis Cup. He prepares himself appropriately."

Facing the usual tiredness felt by his rivals at this time of the year, Rafter can put forward a mental and physical freshness, which can be decisive. Provided the shoulder holds out.

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