The God of Tennis

This page is about Pat Rafter. The information presented here will be a little more extensive than the following pages because Pat deserves it. He is the best player ever. His record of only 2 Grand Slam (2 US Open 97, 98) titles may not show it but he is. Pat was born in Mt Isa, Queensland, and if you havent read my Australia section then I will tell you that is in Australia, on December 28, 1972. He turned pro in 1991. His current ranking in the ATP Champions Race is 4 but it had potential to be higher. He had a disappointing lose to Ivanisivic in the Wimbledon final, only after defeating Agassi in a 5 set thriller. And lost to Pete Sampras at the US Open. He has had 11 career singles titles including the 2 US Opens and 10 doubles titles including one at the Australian Open with Jonas Bjorkman. His total career earnings surpass 11 million dollars. And with that said, Pat is expected to retire after the end of 2001. I can only hope this is a cruel, cruel rumor because the world of tennis will forever change. The loss of this man will result in the loss of last of a dying breed, the serve and volley players. His art is vanishing quickly and needs to stay around at least one more year so I can go to Cincinnati Tennis Masters-Series and scream "Come on Rafter, Let's Go" Please Pat stay!

Champ, not Chump

Here is a happy Pat Rafter proudly holding his trophy from one of his US Open wins.

Textbook

As Andre is textbook baseline, Pat is textbook serve and volley. Probably the greatest ever from this style of tennis, Pat is said to have the greatest return in the game. Here he is stretching to reach a ball, he may not get points for style but he gets the job done.

Poor Pat

Poor Pat has a problem. He loses more water than he can drink. So he has to do anything to keep from getting sun so he doesnt dehydrate.