WIMBLEDON

July 2, 2001

Patrick Rafter

MODERATOR: Questions, please.

PATRICK RAFTER: Yeah, it was. Came out on fire. It's a very different pace court, as well, that one. Took me a little bit to get used to and find what worked for me. But I still thought I played all right in the first set, and just got killed. I thought I was going home, I really did.

PATRICK RAFTER: Yeah, too good. Sort of started accepting defeat there for a while.

PATRICK RAFTER: Well, when I broke him in the second, I thought, "Okay, we got a chance now." Up until then, I wasn't on his service games at all. He was playing the first two points on each game of his serves very well, putting me under a lot of pressure on my service game every time. After that, I just found a way to break him down and started holding my serve a lot more comfortably, took my chances pretty well in that set anyway.

PATRICK RAFTER: I found it very hot today. Just muggy and sort of difficult to breathe, more than anything. I guess I struggled with it a little bit today. Just such a change of weather. It's been generally dry in Europe, so the humidity sort of got to me a bit today.

PATRICK RAFTER: Miami was very hot, as well, and humid. Brazil was hot.

PATRICK RAFTER: I think I'm doing really well to figure out the matches at this stage. When you find yourself in trouble is when you're trying to figure out matches and you can't do it. That's the time to really panic. Today I took a few chances, and they worked well. My game plan started to come into play really well in the second set. If he was able to counteract that, then I was in trouble. What happens is you generally find -- sometimes when you play a guy like Agassi, you'll change the game, he'll be there ready for it, as well. Against the top guys, it's tough to do it against. But I feel my game is pretty close. I'm getting better and better with each match. Today I was very happy with the outcome.

PATRICK RAFTER: Yeah, take it one match at a time. But I do feel, you know, reasonably comfortable out there. I definitely give myself a 50/50 chance against whoever I'm playing. Yeah, I guess I'm quietly confident. But, you know, the guys are good. You've got to be careful.

PATRICK RAFTER: In my section, either Lleyton or Andre, one of those two guys I think in my half are the two toughest. It will be interesting to see who comes through there in that section.

PATRICK RAFTER: Oh, it's a 50/50. It really is.

PATRICK RAFTER: I find Lleyton and Andre play pretty similar. They have different types of serves, but they return as well as each other, they pass as well as each other, they move well, they read the play well, they're both smart guys. Apart from their serving, I think they're very similar.

PATRICK RAFTER: I think he's won two there now. Yeah -- probably he hasn't been hitting the ball as well, but I expect him to start hitting the ball well. He's too good a player. He's a tough little bugger. He knows how to rise for the occasion. I'm looking for him to start playing better and better throughout this week.

PATRICK RAFTER: You'll have to ask him that question.

PATRICK RAFTER: I can't answer that question for him. I don't know how he's feeling about it. I think it's probably fairer if he answers it.

PATRICK RAFTER: It would be the semifinals if he plays him.

PATRICK RAFTER: Is that right?

PATRICK RAFTER: That's right, a tough little quarter. Excuse me. Well, yeah, he's got to make that breakthrough sooner or later. He's giving himself opportunities. He's getting into semifinals consistently of big tournaments. He's got to make the breakthrough, and eventually he will. You know, I wouldn't panic. He's only 20 years old and he's already made half a dozen semifinals on big occasions. If he continues to do that, he'll have his breakthrough.

PATRICK RAFTER: Of the tour?

PATRICK RAFTER: Well, I think it's the success, knowing that you put in the work and you've taken a gamble with your life and your career, and it's paid off. To me, to win a Grand Slam, I've tucked one away, I've tucked two away. It's really satisfying. It's a life goal.

PATRICK RAFTER: Well, there's different ways of looking at it as to how to make it as a touring pro, whether being Top 50 is satisfactory, Top 20, Top 10, or winning Grand Slams. I guess I just ticked them off as I went. Top 50, great. Top 50, beauty. Top 20, great. Top 10. It was just all -- you know, it was just really exciting for me. Then a Grand Slam. To me, that was the pinnacle of it.

PATRICK RAFTER: The traveling would be the number one, easily. Constant traveling, on the road, different countries all the time, different hotel rooms, different cultures, different languages, all that rolled into one makes it very difficult.

PATRICK RAFTER: Just keep doing what I've got to do. There's not too many secrets, grass court tennis. I don't know how he's been playing, if he's been serve-volleying or staying back. But Thomas has a very good first serve, and I think quite a good second serve, as well. He's very aggressive with it. Probably Thomas' biggest weakness is his movement, he's a big man, big, strong fellow. Grass is a difficult surface at the best of times to move on. We all find it tough to move on grass, and Thomas does, as well. That's probably his biggest weakness. But a guy that hits it that hard, sometimes you can't make him run. And I've just got to go out there, assess the situation as it goes, hopefully get off to a good start and keep it going from there.

PATRICK RAFTER: Probably Lleyton has been one who plays very well when he actually doesn't play a helluva lot of tennis. I'm probably the opposite. I love playing all those sort of matches, so it would be good if the roles were reversed in the situation. I still don't see a downside from playing too much tennis. This is a Grand Slam. If you're not up for a Grand Slam, then you'll never be up. Doesn't matter how you feel. And he's in the second week now, day on, day off. Don't think there's been a helluva lot of tennis. When you have that day off, it's just not bad at all. He's got himself in the second week, in a position where he's going to give it all he's got for this week, and I'm sure he'll handle it well.

PATRICK RAFTER: I like answering questions about Lleyton. He answered a lot of questions about me, retiring me, coming back to this place. I don't mind. Generally there's nothing bad, you know, it's good.

PATRICK RAFTER: Yeah, Davis Cup.

PATRICK RAFTER: I'm just so glad he's on my side in Davis Cup. You wouldn't want to play him in a Davis Cup match. He just doesn't give anything away. Continually puts out and fights. He's team spirit is great. In Davis Cup, he impresses me more than anywhere else.

PATRICK RAFTER: He was too good and too strong. Simple as that.

PATRICK RAFTER: He shut them up quick, yeah. It was a tough job.

PATRICK RAFTER: He started off very well. Figuring out matches? My second serve, I was hitting pretty well, but the court was so much slower that it wasn't doing what it was doing on Centre Court and Court 1. I just wasn't getting the reaction off the court. Just decided I've got to hit the crap out of it. You don't have to be Einstein to work that out, I guess. Just tried to come in a lot on his second serve, put his first serve under a bit more pressure, take a few more chances like that because at that stage he was really dominating.

PATRICK RAFTER: You've got to get his serve back. He just serves so bloody hard. It's a very, very difficult thing to do. It's not only hard, it's very heavy. You know, he backs it up with a good volley. He moves well. He plays the right shot at the right time when he needs it. His strength is definitely his serve on this surface.

PATRICK RAFTER: When you serve to him, I don't know, some shots are on, some shots are off on certain days. You've got to try and find it.