Pat Rafter is still unaware of the impact his ascension to the top of the world tennis rankings has made at home. But while he has not heard or seen the reaction since becoming this week just the second Australian No.1 in 25 years, it did not stop him from volunteering some lively and at times provocative thoughts of his own yesterday.

Rafter has for more than 12 months shared an occasionally testy relationship with the dominant player of the past six years: Pete Sampras. Most reports have the rivalry beginning in earnest at the 1997 US Open, with Sampras affronted that the good-looking and hugely popular Aussie upstart should presume to claim the American's national championship as his first grand slam title.

A few weeks later, it was an overtly aggressive Sampras who opposed the Australians at the Davis Cup semi-final in Washington. He said rather pointedly that it was hard to win a major, but harder to defend one. After strutting around the court in victory draped in a US flag on the opening day, Sampras explained that nobody liked to lose their national title. "I just wanted to show Pat that I'm not done with yet."

Rafter then fanned the flames himself, admitting there was "a bit of feeling" between he and Sampras. "I want to get into him a bit," the Queenslander said. "We're not the best of mates. I wouldn't go out for a beer with him, put it that way."

And so it has continued. Rafter has said a tense feeling emerged between the pair at the Queen's Club tournament last year, but a more public tiff occurred in Cincinatti last August. Rafter won in three sets, Sampras having disputed a line call at 4-4 in the second set and then been outraged by a service overrule on match point. The American's reaction - he reluctantly shook Rafter's hand and snubbed the chair umpire - left Rafter with a sour taste.

"Unfortunately it took a little bit away from the end, because I thought the ball was in," Rafter said after ending his nine-match losing run against the world No.1.

"I thought 'stuff it. It's my occasion, it's my time, I want to enjoy it'."

It was also about then that Sampras uttered his most famous one-line jab in the ongoing verbal stoush. Asked about the difference between himself and Rafter, Sampras said something to the effect of:

"Oh, about 10 or 11 majors."

He backtracked slightly straight afterwards, but the message was clear: cop that, Pat.

More needle still was injected at this month's Davis Cup quarter-final in Boston, where Australia's Mark Woodforde partly attributed the motivation for Sampras' doubles involvement to a response to Rafter's soaring popularity, profile and on-court success. Woodforde said he believed the winning combination had made Sampras "very uncomfortable".

And so, with that history, it was predictable that the continuing personal rivalry would dominate much of yesterday's Rafter conference call with the world's media. From his apartment in Bermuda, the new No.1 spoke on everything from his respect for Andre Agassi to the need to guard against mental burnout. From the inhospitably slow pace of Melbourne Park's Rebound
Ace (about which he plans a quiet word with tournament boss Paul McNamee) to the Brisbane Broncos, whose stadium is favored to host the September Davis Cup semi-final.

But his comments on Sampras, his victim in their past three encounters, including last year's US Open semi-final, were the spiciest.

For one: "It's always nice to beat Pete, whether it's on the court or whether it's a rankings thing, or whether it's Davis Cup. I get an incredible amount of enjoyment from being on top of him and pretty well just annoying him."

For another: "To be honest, it (reaching No.1) is not a real play on Pete, it's just an achievement that I'm really pleased in myself. But I know if Pete's upset about it, then it makes it even better."

And this: "He doesn't really bug me that much. There are times he says certain comments that annoy me, but it doesn't really drive me to No.1. He just says some really funny things at the wrong time I think. We're out there busting our guts and he doesn't show a lot of respect to the other player ...he tries to play down the reason why he lost and gives no credit to the other
player, and that's what really upsets me about him and the reason why I try to piss him off as much as I can."

Rafter says he is the first to acknowledge that he is still in a league below Sampras, while speaking expansively on a range of other subjects. He now believes anything is possible on the court, having never dreamed that the top ranking could realistically be his.

Davis Cup captain John Newcombe, the only previous Australian No.1, has predicted Rafter will be the complete player by the end of the year, dominate for the next two and win at least three more grand slams. Rafter's response is that in every major he enters he now gives himself a chance of doing very well, if not winning. His decision to drop doubles from his grand slam
schedule should also help in that regard.

Yet his first priority remains Davis Cup, with Australia this year in its best position to win the competition since its last victory, in 1986. Victory in the semi-final over Russia would earn a finals berth against France or Belgium in Europe from 3-5 December.

It would also stretch out an already long and demanding year for Rafter, and probably disrupt his preparation for the local summer circuit and the Australian Open. He has never passed the fourth round at Melbourne Park and says he has "always come in underdone" - last year due to a bruised meniscus in his left knee - despite his best intentions and ambitions.

"Now if we make the final in the Davis Cup, which I really am hoping to happen, my preparation for the Australian Open again will be very very slow," he said. "I am trying to look for a way of having a good performance there. The conditions really haven't favored me greatly, I'm still working on McNamee for that, to help out.

"But I still haven't come into the Australian Open playing my best tennis. I always tend to play my best tennis when I play a lot of matches and I can't get that before the Australian Open because of the lack of tournaments ... maybe my Christmas time is a little bit too Christmasy. Probably I should be knuckling down a bit harder."

And there were a few final thoughts, too.

On the pressures of being No.1, which Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Carlos Moya reportedly found difficult to handle. How conscious of such a burden is Rafter? "Oh mate, not really. Just bloody happy to be there. It's just a really exciting thing and I don't see it as pressure. It's not going to make any difference at all."

On tennis at the Sydney Olympics: "I've always said I don't think it should be part of the Olympics, it takes away from the other special events of the Olympics, but, mate, if I'm there, I'll be really looking forward to it. I would have loved to have played in '96 and I really am looking forward to the opportunity of hopefully being selected. To see everyone there competing, and to walk out on the track with all the other great athletes, I hope will go down as a very memorable part of my tennis career."

On Agassi: "I have a lot of respect for Andre. I have no problem with Andre at all. He's always been gracious in defeat, and he made that funny comment at Wimbledon about not losing to (anyone with) a ponytail. Well I won't be losing to anyone bald again."

On the Americans' attempted Davis Cup shenanigans: "We really don't know the whole side of it but I looked at Todd Martin's expression and he really didn't look good when he walked on the court, he did look very pale, regardless of how he came out and played, and I've always said about Todd that he's a great sport and I don't think he would (fake an illness)."

On whether he now considers himself a great player, or still someone merely capable of playing great tennis. "Now I have put two years together. You know, I haven't done extraordinary things, and I probably still consider myself the same sort of (player), but what I find more now is that miracles happen."

On retirement: "I really don't know how much longer I'm going to be playing on the professional circuit. It's becoming very tough, it's a long year and I just wonder how much it can take out of me. But so far I'm still fit and healthy and I'm enjoying myself, so I will continue as long as I'm enjoying myself. After that I'll always try and help out the young blokes and more importantly the guys who work hard and have a great attitude. I love working with Lleyton (Hewitt) ... well, Lleyton loves kicking my arse!"