PAT RAFTER UNCENSORED
What's going on with you? What do you want me to say?
Whatever is true. These past few months haven't been great for me. I guess I'm on a bit of a down. Since The Lipton, things started going down from there. And Davis Cup was really disappointing for us as well.
Are you happy? Yeah, I am. I try to put everything in the big picture. I'm just playing a game, so I try to make sure things stay in perspective.
Is happiness for your right now determined by how well you're doing on the court? It is to an extent, yeah, definitely. I think if you're happy in your work, I think you're happy in your life. But if you put it in the big picture, I'm still very happy.
Tell me about your childhood. What's the best memory you have from that period in your life? We were brought up in a desert and the first seven or eight years of my life, but I always remember when we moved to a town that was very close to this pretty beach in Australia. I remember going and running on the beach in mornings and it was so exciting for all of us because we had never seen the ocean before. I remember walking up to school with my mom and my dad and my brothers on that pretty beach. Yeah, that's a good memory.
And what's the most painful memory of that period? I remember around 15 or 16 going through a really tough time because everyone around me grew faster than I did and I was losing a lot. That was the time I was seriously thinking of giving up on tennis.
What would you be doing if tennis hadn't worked out? I think I would have stayed involved in tennis somehow because that was my life even at 17 and 18.
What's your biggest fear? Being confined to a wheelchair. As someone who has pursued athletics his whole life, I think it would be a real tough transition for me.
When, precisley, did you realize you were handsome?
What happens after a while is you start to hear what some girls are saying and you think, well, maybe...But you know, it happened too late for me, not until I was around 23 or so. Are you shy? Very shy, yeah.
Are you shy with women now or do you flirt? No, I mean, I have a girlfriend now.
What's her name? Lara
Is she Australian? Yes, she is. She's actually in London at the moment.
We knew about your ex(Dutch model), Edith. Yeah, we broke up but we still keep in contact, and we're good friends.
Is Lara a model too? Yeah, she is.
Does she travel with you? A little bit.
I assume you guys don't sit around at night playing Monopoly.
No...every now and then...But you know there are a lot of times when I'm ver tired as well. And it's a bit different for me than it is for her. She's sort of waiting around and she doesn't like to hang around too much. If she were here she would go into Amstedam for the day and meet me here later. Is she tough on you? No, she's great. She's very supportive. She understands my tennis life and she understands that there are times when I'm going to go out with my mates.
So you go out and blow off steam with your friends? Yeah, but I've done that enough. But there are still times when I feel like doing that all day.
You scared about the U.S. Open? Just about anything can happen there, no? Anything can happen at any Grand Slam. That's the great thing about tennis.
Venus Williams could win the men's draw.
She probably thinks she can. Do you find that right now in your career you are at a crossroads? I mean, you can either become another great Australian-born multiple Grand Slam champion or you can just fall back in the pack. You're in that rare position to control your destiny. Yeah, I'd like to think that I'm in that position. Obviously I'd like to be in the situation where I could win another Grand Slam. But to win two Grand Slams is just a very difficult thing to do. You know, to win one Slam is a big achievement, but two would be...great.
Who are your heroes? Are they tennis stars? No.
But I assume taht those Aussie tennis legends are heroes to you. Yeah, I mean, but that was out of my era. I guess I related more to Australian rugby stars and certain musicians.
But do you have anyone in mind that you actually looked up to when you were a kid? You know, someone that you thought "his life must be great; I want to have his kind of life." I suppose it would be (Australian tennis star) Pat Cash. I was often compared to him.
It's so obvious-the serve and volley thing, the hair thing and the good-looking thing. I guess.
I have money on you and Jonas Bjorkman to win the doubles title at Wimbledon
Oh, really? Well, yeah, we have played great together. There's a great chemistry with Jonas. You realize that you're both in the same cycle in singles. How do you mean?
Last year you both were playing out of your minds great at the same time. This year it's a whole different story for both of you. What's that about? Don't you find that funny? I don't know what that's about. Maybe it's something in the moon; I don't know. But Jonas is a good man, and, you know, we enjoy each other's company and he's a great player.`
What do you dream about? I'm someone who dreams about fighting. I literally dream about hand-to-hand combat. It's weird.
Like you're fighting Jean-Claude Van Damme? Yeah, something like that.
Do you think that means you have a lot of pent-up hostility? I don't read too much into it because I'm not a violent person at all.
What's up with Mark Phillippoussis? What's up with Mark?
Do you know? I guess he's going though a tough time is the way I see it.
Are you fed up with him? Yeah, I am. He's got to sort himself out.
Was there any one event that broke you guys up as a doubles team? I guess the Davis Cup in September is when things started slipping away a little bit.
But did Mark sit down with youi and say "I'm not having this" or "I'm not happy here?" No, no, no, no. I sat him down and I said, "what's going on?" and I tried to talk him down and I thought it was going alright but we never really got that close again, so I just let nim do his own thing.
Do you think he resents you because he was supposed to be the great Aussie hope and you-even though you're older-catapulted over him and grabbed the world's attention first? Well, that did happen; it did, but I'm not quite sure if that's the reason for his behavior. I think Mark's got a lot of soul-searching to do and I don't think he's allowing himself to do it. And when he's ready, he will do it.
Your door's still open? I give everyone a lot of chances. It's not like we've had a big falling out or anything. I mean, it's not some sort of hate relationship. I just see it as a growing up thing.
Are you funny?
No. You ought to know. What's your take on Anna Kournikova? Don't know her at all.
How about Venus Williams? We're with Reebok, so I see her a bit.
She always has a big smile on her face. Women's tennis is very exciting for them now. They have so many good young players over there. Would you rather lose to a fellow Aussie? Yeah, I would. In a way it's tougher to lose to a countryman. But when you really think about it, whom do you really want to see do better?
Are you still hungry? I think I'm getting hungrier.
At the French, during the match you would eventually lose to fellow Aussie Jason Stoltenberg, I saw you for the first time kind of unraveled. You were really getting on yourself. Did you think about that afterwards? Yeah, definitely. I was just anxious for the win, you know. I really want to win now and I just started pressing a bit.
Do players "play up" when they play you? Do they play better than their ranking? Yep.
So, where are you in 10 years? I'd really like to be involved in some sort of business.
Any tennis? I think I would like to give a little bit back to tennis, but tennis is definitely not going to be my life.
Are you business minded? I think I'm conservative.
As a person or politically? As a person. I don't really have any political views yet. I really don't know.
That's probably the best answer to give nowadays. No, it's actually true. I don't know who or what I'll want to defend in the future.
Any notions of opening a chain of restaurants or hair salons? I might get involved in opening a bar here or there. I wouldn't mind doing that at all.
A sports bar? Yeah.
Describe for me a perfect day.
Hmmm... I'll start. It's a warm, sunny day in early July in London. You're serving to open the finals at Wimbledon...
OK...Actually, I was thinking of the beach. In Bermuda? Surfing the waves in Australia.
Even on that beach, can you turn tennis off completely? Mostly, but tennis is always there in the back of my mind. But to a certain degree, I can turn it off. I have an attitude of "you don't have that much time off, so you better well enjoy it while you can."
Do you feel trapped by your fame? A little bit.
To me this is where the irony is so thick. You work so hard to achieve a certain level of success and when you get it, you're a prisoner of your own creation. And the worst part is to maintain it. It's like a drug. Isn't this a lot to handle when you're all of 24 or 25? Yeah. When you haven't got it, you want it; when you have it, you really don't want it.
Are you much older this year than you were last year? More mature? Calmer? Even a bit sadder, maybe? I don't think so. But I do have certain impressions this year that weren't there last year. I've got to learn to sort them out and see through them.
Are you capable of being completely, totally, nothing-else-matters-in-this world in love with another person? I don't know.
Right now, are you capable of that? Right now? No. I think I am as committed as I can be right now.
Are you faithful to Lara? Yeah, I am. I see a lot of her and I respect her a lot.
So seeing a lot of her is key? Yes. At this stage of my life she knows what my priorities are and my priorities are tennis.
What attracts you to certain women? Obviously beauty is key. It is the first thing you look at.
How old is Lara? She's 27.
An older woman! Lara's the first older woman I've ever dated.
Is Lara taller than you are? No.
So you're not ready for marriage now? I'm definitely not ready for marriage now.
Tell me something that nobody knows about you. I'm not as open as most people assume I am. I tend to keep my feelings inside. The funny this is that on the court I'm aggressive, in control. But off the court it's a different story. I mean we're sitting here talking, but when you really get to know me, my feelings are not something that I share easily-even with some of my closest friends.
So, who really knows you then? My family. We're ver, very close. I also have a very close friend in Bermuda. He's a bit older and he probably knows me as well as anybody. In fact, someof my best friends are a little older.
Is the kind of life you've lead something you would want your child to experience, not forgetting the endless training, traveling and inevitable lonliness? Yes, absolutely. Being on the road for seven years now has been the best education I could have ever had.
What turns you on? In which way?
In any way. It could be physical, it could be emotional... What makes me really like a person is humor-a relaxed humor that is attached to someone who is loyal.
Sounds like a cocker spaniel to me.
Yeah, like a dog. A funny-looking dog. Are you vain?
Not really. You know, it's 1998-it's OK for men to admit to some vanity. Yeah, I think everyone has a bit of vanity and I do try to present myself well. But in terms of the way I dress, I dress very simply: Jean, T-shirts and sneaks. But, no, I'm not particularly vain at all.
What's your epitaph going to read? You mean when I die? That's something that goes on the gravestone, isn't it?
It can be. It reminds me of a story my friend told me about this old lady's tombstone that read, "I told you I was sick."
I don't know...It would be something that would let my loved ones know that I achieved everything I set out to do and that I died a happy man with no regrets to speak of. When do you lie? Well, I'll use my girlfriend in this example. If a girl calls me up, let's say, ans she comes up to see me and she want's something and we're having a drink or two and she sort of gets friendly and I don't want any part of it, I tell her that I have a girlfriend. But, you see, my girlfriend doesn't need to know that this other girl was with me in my room. The last thing you want is to get a dirty fax from some lady you don't even know. I wouldn't want my girlfriend to get the wrong idea, so I just don't mention it.
What's the biggest misconception about you? I think it's definitely that I am out every night like some sort of sex maniac. It's something that doesn't really upset me that much, but the people around me get sort of upset.
Have you ever had a fling with a tennis player? No. Well, maybe in the juniors or something.
Let's talk about American women. What's the best thing about them, if anything? I've never had much luck at all with American women.
Really? Yeah. You know that there are attractive women all over the world.
Is Pamela Anderson one of them? If I had something to say to her, I would tell her to dress more like the European women do. In Europe, the women have a great sense of style and so many places in America don't.
What are your thoughts heading toward New York City to defend your U.S. Open title? Will you be ready by then? I think by then I would have learned to deal with the whole thing better. I think it's about trying to get on top of my preparation and not thinking too far into the future.
Can you deal with the many distractions in New York City? There are a lot of distractions at the U.S. Open. Everything has to be going your way to win a Grand Slam. There's not doubt about it. But when someone like Pete (Sampras) can do it because he's simply a better player than everybody else. But someone like me, I need things to be going my way like they were last year.
If you tank at the U.S. Open, can you get motivated again? Yeah, definitely. No doubt about it.
So, you're not done? No-God, no! I'll just come back better and stronger next year.
Cool.
It will be. I promise you. Back to Articles
