Interview with P Rafter:

                  Q. Pat, how much of a relief is it to get one away?
                  A. Definitely it's a big relief. I had time to think about it when I came off
                  after the second set, or near the end of the second set. I guess then I got a
                  little bit tired when I went out there. I didn't play as aggressively as I would
                  have liked. I didn't take my chances, like I did in the first two sets, and then
                  he picked up his game a bit. I was very happy, because I felt very
                  confident going into the match, because of the matches I did have in
                  Holland.

                  Q. What turned it around, Pat, from Queen's to Holland?
                  A. I got some good -- you know, I'd done the hard work, but I got a fax
                  from Newc, which I put down as probably the best advice I had, and he
                  just said a few encouraging words and a few things for me to do mentally,
                  and that's how I approached Rosmalen, that's the way. I had the results,
                  and I got out of a very tough second round match with Medvedev, I was
                  very nervous and then getting through that match, and then everything just
                  seemed to just go, everything, and then I started playing great and ever
                  since then I've played very well.

                  Q. What in particular did Newc say in the fax?
                  A. It's just between me and Newc. I needed a bit of a kick up the bum.
                  That's what he did.

                  Q. It must have meant a lot to you, when we saw you at Queen's, you
                  were pretty well down in the dumps, to get something like that from Newc
                  at that point?
                  A. Yes, sometimes, you know, it's a fine line between me just snapping
                  when I read that, or myself taking that information and taking it on board,
                  you know, what he's given me, and I looked at it and it sort of -- it was that
                  fine line, and I thought okay, yes, I'll give it a go, or I could have screwed it
                  up and thrown it in the bin and just got very mad about the fax.

                  Q. You've found it up and down since the Open. What's it been like?
                  Where do you feel like you're at at this point, today? How do you feel
                  about your chances?
                  A. Yes, I do, I feel good, but I feel a big sense of relief in a way. I feel like
                  I've got my happiness back on the court, and that's the main thing. When I
                  have that, I start playing well.

                  Q. Just in Holland?
                  A. Yes, I just felt it during that week, everything, it had something to do
                  with the fax that Newc wrote and although I had that information from
                  other people as well, it just hadn't sunk in and when I got it from someone
                  that I respect -- I do respect, you know, what Rochey says, you know, if
                  my father says something, it's all the same information, but it's just put in a
                  way, I guess, that --

                  Q. Forgive me, because I haven't been along for your ride recently, but
                  happiness -- you won the US Open, it's a player's dream -- how is that
                  taken away from you?
                  A. Only in the sense that I guess there's a lot more pressure put on you,
                  and you just don't enjoy yourself that way, only that way.

                  Q. Pat, were there any moments of doubt in the third set when you said to
                  yourself --
                  A. Yes, I had those couple of break points, I had two separate games
                  where in the other first two sets I took. These sets I didn't. In the third set I
                  didn't. I was getting a little bit anxious, I guess, but I knew just to keep
                  myself under control and I knew I was going to have more chances to
                  break him, and every game in the last set I did have chances.

                  Q. Do you think that while the rain lasts and the courts are a bit heavy
                  that's when you might be perhaps a little bit more vulnerable in this
                  tournament?
                  A. Yes, I guess, you know, slipperiness doesn't help when you're moving at
                  the end, but I felt today that I was moving very well. Some of the courts
                  are very hard, very firm. Court 1 in particular, Henman said, it's very firm.
                  Court 18, if I can remember from last year, as being very firm, very
                  slippery, quite hard to move on. Court 2 has been there, it's been
                  established for quite a while, and that court is quite a soft court and it's nice
                  to move on.

                  Q. Agassi was saying that courts seem to change in the second week.
                  A. I wouldn't know that. I'll take his word for it.

                  Q. Do you feel good enough about your game that you're looking at the
                  second week as something realistic?
                  A. I'm looking at the second round at the moment. I want to try and wait
                  and see what happens there. I guess it's the same sort of matches. I think
                  it's Nydahl, isn't it? It's the same sort of match as what I had today, so, you
                  know, they are capable of playing very well, I've just got to try and keep
                  my head and play as well as I did today.

                  Q. The ITF is talking about eliminating a let, which I've been told you know
                  about and aren't happy about. Is that correct?
                  A. It was put in a way that was taken out of context unfortunately. I said
                  that if everyone gets together and votes, that if they do bring it in and all the
                  players get together and say, "Listen, we're not going to play", I'll be one of
                  those. I'm not going to stand on my own and say I'm not going to play if
                  they bring it in. They won't give a shit, really, if I don't play. I'm going to
                  pull out if everyone else wants to. I'm not going to be that one who makes
                  a stand alone.

                  Q. Can you tell me what's the reason that you don't like that idea?
                  A. It doesn't make much sense to me. You know, it's just another excuse
                  to abuse the Umpire, I think. It's fun. No, it's not. But the players have to
                  realise that, if we don't bring this rule in, not to take it out quite so hard on
                  the umpires, you know. It's not their fault that they can't -- we're on a level
                  where we can hear the ball a lot better than the Umpire can, so we have to
                  be careful not to overreact when we do have a -- when it's not called.

                  Q. It sounds like what's changed for you is mainly mental, but has anything
                  about your physical game changed, any sort of technique?
                  A. I think I'm just starting to get my movement back as well. I'm not quite
                  sure if that comes along with the mental aspect as well. When you become
                  more relaxed in your mind your body relaxes so you move better. I'm not
                  100 per cent sure if that's the case or not. I just feel strong and move well
                  on the court. When I move well I play well. That's a big part of my game.

                  Q. Are you going to the concert tonight?
                  A. No, because I have to play tomorrow.

                  Q. You've changed the plan?
                  A. I had to change that one, but the Bob Dillon one is still on.

                  Q. Pat, the first game of the fourth set, you seemed to go up a gear, you
                  started to run around the backhand and return and you moved up. Have
                  you still got plenty of cogs left to move up?
                  A. I think the first two sets was as good as I'm going to play. And then I
                  felt that, when I came back out in the third and fourth I probably got a little
                  bit tight so I played within myself. I didn't want to go for too much. I think,
                  you know, there's a fine line there where you can try to say "I'll keep going
                  for it", but if you're too tight your body won't let you, so I was a little bit
                  tight, so I just played a little bit safer. But I don't know, if I can stay that
                  relaxed, the first two sets aren't going to get that much better.

                  Q. Pat, in the US Open, your second serve was one of your main weapons.
                  Do you think that's going to be another main weapon here, and how --
                  A. On grass, it's never really a main weapon, because I feel I've got more
                  of a kick serve. I don't know what I won today on second serves, but, you
                  know, it's mainly a good first serve, a solid first serve in the corner, then get
                  in. In the US Open, the hard courts, I go for my first serve a lot more, and
                  because I feel a lot better with my second serve, I can get a lot more kick
                  on it, a lot more bite and a lot more variation on hard courts, so I can do
                  that. But on grass courts you couldn't afford to give them too many second
                  serves, because when you're coming on it's a little bit slippery and you can't
                  push off and the ball seems to come through on that even height.

                  Q. Does this make it a tougher surface for you to win on?
                  A. In a way, yes, but it would be nice to see what the second week is like,
                  to see if I can move better.

                  Q. Pat, Mark Woodforde said at Queen's that he felt he could lift off his
                  burden of Australia that you have to carry. Do you think there's been eased
                  a little bit?
                  A. Yes, I think having that helped a bit and people realising that I'm not
                  supposed to win all the time, and I am having a lot of losses, I think in a
                  way that took a bit of pressure off me, because I was losing quite
                  consistently. I think within myself I started thinking that maybe people don't
                  expect quite as much of me. I don't know, again, but all I know is there's a
                  lot of -- everything is taken off me. I feel very relaxed at the moment.

                  Q. Andre came in yesterday and said he thought the change to a let that he
                  was interested in was calling it a fault instead of eliminating it altogether.
                  Are you just in favour of just keeping it the way it is, or do you actually
                  think there's room to mess with it?
                  A. He can say that, because he just kicks his serve in usually. It's not really
                  a fair statement. I'm thinking of myself a bit more. He's thinking of himself,
                  obviously, with that comment. I think you'll definitely see maybe a lot of
                  eliminations -- you're going to see probably serve volleying not quite as
                  much, because you have to go for a slower serve, and I'm not quite sure, I
                  think you see enough of baseline rallies as it is, and people want serve and
                  volleying back.

                  Q. The way it is is fine with you?
                  A. The way it is is fine with me. I'm very happy to experiment with the -- I
                  think it's the short deuces you're thinking of. Again, that doesn't favour me,
                  but it makes it more exciting, and I'm willing to try that, because it makes it
                  more exciting.

                  Q. The pressure was off you when you won in Holland and you're winning
                  here. Do you feel it will come back on, though?
                  A. No. If I can keep the way I'm thinking, the mindset I'm in, I don't think
                  there's any reason why I can't win at the moment. So for these couple of
                  weeks -- especially for this week, I won't be -- I'll be the same way, I
                  know I will. Everything is relaxed and easy going. Who knows what
                  happens after this.

                  (INTERVIEW CONCLUDED)