The best players are not supposed to leave anything out on the court.  But no matter how many more gut-wrenching, foot-burning, back-breaking escapes he contrives in this Australian Open, you will never be able to say that about Pat
Rafter.

Pat the Puddle would come out of a game of cards in a meat safe glistening.  You could drown a small rodent in the salty lake he left on centre court yesterday after surviving a three-hour, 26 minute juice extraction from American Todd Martin.

"There are a couple of guys who sweat heavily, and I guess I'm one of them", said Rafter, whose beads of sweat are becoming as famous as the beads in the Williams girl's hair.

When he fell to the deck during his four-set, first-round sauna against Jeff Tarango, they had to send in a ballboy in a lifejacket to mop up the court. Yesterday, as the temperature rose to 35 degrees Rafter was doing his best to stay cool and dry.

He wore an industrial-sized sweat band on his racquet hand and the family-sized on his left.  His hair, covered by a cap, was variously tied, untied and smeared across his face.  Once, he dunked his towel in water and wore it Arab-sheik style
during a break.  And, three hours in, he emerged from a change of ends with his nose covered in sunscreen Shane Warne-style.

Naturally, there were also the customary shirt changes, three in all - but no swaps from his white striped model to a darker colour because of the heat - and each one accompnaied by enough screaming to supply background noise in the next five Hanson videos.

Yet, despite these precautions, Rafter again finished the match slumped in his chair, a kilogram lighter with everyone wondering what toll had been taken on his title hopes.  Pool the pools of perspiration Rafter lost yesterday with the first-round match and the question is no longer whether Rafter has got enough game to win the AustralianOpen; it is has he got enough fluids?

The world No. 2 no longer goes back to his hotel in a courtesy car, his brothers carry him home in a bucket.