Thursday, August 5, 1999

TENNIS CANADA OFFICIAL: Okay. Pat is a straight set winner today, second
straight win at the Canadian Open. He next plays either Nicolas Kiefer or
Tommy Haas tomorrow.

QUESTION: First of all, Patrick, your view of the match, please? How do you feel about how you played, your result, obviously you're happy?
MR. RAFTER: Yeah, very happy. Always happy if I walk off the winner. And I
felt that match was very close. He had a lot of chances and he didn't take  all the chances that he did have and I was pretty consistent with how I took mine. There were a few areas of the game that I didn't do great and a few parts of the game that I was very happy with.

QUESTION: Now you play a bit of a waiting game to see who you play next. Any personal choice?
MR. RAFTER: It's not really a waiting game. I play doubles, so I don't really feel like I'm waiting for anything. They're both very difficult opponents. I  played Tommy on the grass, but, you know, it's going to be nothing like here and I've lost twice to Nicolas already this year. So it's going to be a very tough match either way I look at it.

QUESTION: You had the trouble last year playing the doubles. No hesitation about playing this year?
MR. RAFTER: Well, I think that was my third doubles match that I had to stop playing. I had to play the finals the next day. I really wanted to be ready for the singles as well. There is nothing worse than having to watch the finals of a singles match and one guy is just dead after, injured or something or other and I didn't want that to happen. I think singles are a lot more important than doubles.

QUESTION: Did you hesitate here thinking maybe that situation could happen again?
MR. RAFTER: Well, I'll just pull out. I did that at Wimbledon. If the weather is going to be bad, then, you know, I still can't sacrifice my singles, yeah, I can't say I would sacrifice the singles for doubles, for sure, that's not my priority.

QUESTION: At this time last year you were talking about, understandably, about a little trepidation, of course, you had to defend going into the U.S. Open and the scrutiny that would follow. In retrospect, was the U.S. Open more difficult or easier than you thought going in, dealing with all the pressure and the focus and the attention and has that served well going into this year, too, just being a little more, I suppose, forged by fire and used to the attention?
MR. RAFTER: The situation last year going into the U.S. Open was made a lot easier by having the success at Toronto and then Cincinnati. I felt I could defend at all points. And then I went to Long Island very relaxed and won that. And all of a sudden I felt very relaxed for the U.S. Open. It was a good way to go into it.This year it's not going to happen quite that way. Even if I win every tournament, I've still got to sort of maintain things. The way I look at it, this week and also the lead up to the U.S. Open, without putting too much pressure on me is just trying to go out there and have fun. I felt I like I played pretty well during the Wimbledon-French Open season. So, yeah, I'm trying to take as much pressure off me as I can because there is a lot out here and I felt like I played and defended quite a few during that time of year as well.

QUESTION: Are you a person that had to learn how to say "no" to certain things like, whether it was fans here or there or different media requests with the more success obviously the more demands made on your time. Did you find that a difficult thing to do, or was it something that you had to do?
MR. RAFTER: Well, the ITP guys, along with Mickey, they give us a list of things that we have to do each week and they prioritize in any order they see fit. And we do what they say. And that is part of the STARS Program. And now if anyone asks if we will do anything, we tell them to talk to the ATP. And in that way it gets me off the hook from doing other things. So it's sort of worked pretty well, I think, this whole STARS Program this year. At times it would be nice to say: "Listen, I don't want to do that this week, I just want a week off." But that's not going to happen.

QUESTION: When a player like you reaches number one or, let's say the top five, except the money, what is the biggest difference in your life?
MR. RAFTER: The biggest difference. Well, the recognition part of it is probably one of the biggest differences. I notice that a lot in Australia. When I do go back there, the Australians are such a sort of buddy-buddy sort of people, even if you don't know them. And they like to really cling on to you, come up and talk and chat and very open sort of people and very friendly. And that can sometimes be tough when you don't feel like talking.So my life in Australia has become quite subdued to what it used to be. Over here it's more of a nice recognition, people know you and they might know who you are, but don't really care for you so much, in a nice way. It opens up a lot of doors, it has a lot of positives to it.

QUESTION: Pat, when you think of the great champions Australia has produced in the past, do you feel a link with players like Rod Laver or John Newcombe?
MR. RAFTER: That is a pretty big thing to say. I feel a link in a way in which I am trying to sort of carry on their tradition, more than anything. I think it's unfair to put me in their boat right now. They have accomplished so much more than what I have and continue to be legends and role models in Australia to the age they are right now. I'm only 25, so I still have a lot to prove, I feel.

QUESTION: Are you ever in contact with them at all?
MR. RAFTER: Well, with Newcombe, obviously. But with Laver, I speak to him a couple of times a year.

QUESTION: Did you talk to Jason?
MR. RAFTER: No, I didn't see him. I've been looking for him all day, today, too.

QUESTION: Where are you living, in Sydney or Melbourne?
MR. RAFTER: Brisbane. When I'm back in Australia I go there. My family is from there. I am not there very much, though, because I'm living in Bermuda.  And I haven't been back since February, after the Australian Open. But when I am back there, I spend a little bit of time in Queensland or training with Tony Rose, in Sidney.

QUESTION: Patrick, when you're in a tournament and there is inclement weather, obviously it affects the draw now, but does it affect the way you sort of approach things the next day, regardless, you know, when you're playing? Are you a little more concentrating on getting rest because there may be matches coming up quickly? I'm just wondering if the changes, how you go about doing things.
MR. RAFTER: Not really. Because you've got to be careful. I always like to keep my energy up, because I know that, if it does rain, I have two or three matches the next day. So I always try to eat a lot of carbohydrates, that sort of thing. I'm constantly watching my food intake. That's probably the biggest thing that I do.

QUESTION: We have heard that you like to ski.
MR. RAFTER: I have tried it once at the beginning of the year.

QUESTION: Would you go, again, do you like it?
MR. RAFTER: Yeah, I would definitely go, again, yeah.

QUESTION: Even at your age and having been on the tour as long as you have, how tough is it to go whatever it is, five, six, seven, eight months without going home to Australia?
MR. RAFTER: Can someone turn off the phones, please? This is getting a bit tough, thank you.

QUESTION: How much time, like I said, you're not a kid anymore, but does it get to you a little bit?
MR. RAFTER: There are a lot of sacrifices you have to make. It's not just me, it's everyone, everyone has got to make them. For me to ski last time was probably a pretty stupid thing to do. Now, I won't make any secret of that. And then there are times where I feel like I do things that I shouldn't do. But I try to put life in perspective sometimes I just try to enjoy myself as well and sometimes that means doing the things that are not conducive to playing tennis.

TENNIS CANADA OFFICIAL: Any other questions?
QUESTION: Just one. Patrick, do you look at drivers like Michael Schumacher in Formula I, they make more money in merchandising than they make from racing itself. In terms of merchandising your name and your image, have you made any steps in that direction and does that interest you at all?
MR. RAFTER: Yeah, I guess it does interest me in small steps. But, you know, we are not talking anything like what Schumacher makes. And it is hard to speak for someone like Andre, but I would never, I would not put myself in the same place as someone like Andre, either. But I do on.

QUESTION: You have your two legs.
MR. RAFTER: They are still there.

TENNIS CANADA OFFICIAL: Okay. Anything else?