Four years ago, a tennis player with an injured ankle and a world ranking on the slide sat on a chair, punching volleys on a back court at Brisbane's Milton centre. He had tennis balls fired at him by his coach for four hours a day for almost two weeks, until he was able to begin moving awkwardly about the court again.

It is an enduring image for Brisbane tennis coach Gary Stickler as he considers the rise of the small, ambitious Pat Rafter. Stickler worked with Rafter since he was 16 - and on Monday he will be crowned the world's top ranked player.

Rafter, who will celebrate the achievement in his Caribbean tax-haven base, Bermuda, where he retreated after his five set Davis Cup win over American Todd Martin in Boston on Monday, now has a stash of multimillion dollar endorsement deals reflecting his international status as a dual winner of the US Open title.

An assault on the corporate US market will change gear next month (!!) when he appears on the cover of the American GQ magazine, the world's biggest-selling magazine for men. A feature for American Vogue has also been completed.

On the home front, he was found to be Australia's most recognisable and most popular sporting star in a survey by Melbourne-based Sweeney Research.

"Pat has never been happy with what he has done, he always wanted to do better tomorrow, and that's the willingness to work hard which will help him keep improving now he is No 1," Stickler said.

He coached Rafter on a daily basis until he was 19 and now arranges practice when he returns to Brisbane every summer. "I remember when he had his difficult times in 1995 and 1996 and the wrist and ankle injuries Pat had, which meant his ranking was down in the 60s (from a then career best of 20 in August, 1994). "He took this swivel chair out of the office at Milton and sat there while I fed balls to him, six days a week, so he could work on his volleying. He was always a fighter and a learner."

Rafter becomes the 17th player to get to No. 1 since the rankings system was introduced in 1973 and the first Australian since John Newcombe - one of the great influences on the Queenslander's resurgence -- in 1974.

Of the 3673 rankings points that have Rafter 79 points clear of No 2 Pete Sampras in the next list, the Queenslander has to "defend" 1012 points at the US Open, 520 at Cincinnati and 486 at the Canadian Open before mid-September.

"I think it's fantastic," Newcombe said of Rafter's rise. "He might find it hard to keep for the next few weeks because he has plenty of points to defend. But I have said for a long time that he will be at his peak in 2000. He will be No 1 next year more often than not. The way he dug deep to win against Todd Martin was a very special effort."

At the same age of 26, Rafter confronts the task that has proved beyond so many driven sportsmen -- staying at the top, especially with the accompanying endorsement rewards to place alongside his nearly $13 million in career prize money.

"His motivation isn't money," said George Mimis, his Sydney-based manager of commercial affairs. Mimis arranges the lucrative endorsements promoting racquets, sportswear, pay-TV, sunglasses, mobile phones and now milk. (now milk??)

"Pat has cut down on the time he spends (on sponsorship commitments) because he wants to put his time towards playing his best tennis," he said, "the Davis Cup is predominant in his mind this year."

"Strategically, there is a prestige involved with the No 1 but his performances and the way he acts on and off the court have given him that already.

"The ranking appeals to corporations that are market leaders or aspiring market leaders.

"There is a genuine quality to Pat which kids relate to and grandmothers relate to -- commercially, he can sell anything from lollipops to luxury cars."

What the casual sports fan especially likes about Rafter is his other attributes, such as the $600,000 he tithed to the Brisbane Children's Hospital and the "Cherish to Children" foundation he began this year.

On court, there was the time, in his first tournament in Adelaide of his resurgent season of 1997, when he gave away a point in a match because of a line call that was unfair to his opponent. No big deal, except it left him down match point at a time when his career was labouring in neutral and the encounter lasted precisely one point more.

"A lot of people have believed in Pat for a long time (amen to that!!!!), that he could be a top-10 player, and that he could do it being himself, with his game," Stickler said.

"Now he does. Until the last two years, he didn't believe. For a while after he won the (1997) US Open he was amazed he was among them."

Put that humility down to his upbringing.

Not just the understanding instilled by Jim and Jocelyn Rafter, for life away from the courts, that he was no better than anyone else because he could play tennis. But also because it took time for his body to grow into the serve-volley game he wanted to play because it was more fun that hammering away from the base line.

Echoing the opinion of most close Rafter observers, Australian Davis Cup stalwart John Fitzgerald said the No 1 ranking would not be the burden for him that it has been for past holders of the keys to the tennis penthouse.

"Even if he doesn't hold it long, it's still a great achievement," Fitzgerald said, "I just hope he keeps playing for another three or four years.

"He showed at Wimbledon, with his performance against Becker, that he can win  Wimbledon. It's not something you should pass up."