Patrick Rafter (w) vs. Neville Godwin
Wednesday, August 5, 1998
2nd Round
Interview with Patrick Rafter
7-5, 6-3

SHARKO: Patrick moves into the third round. He will take on either Mark Philippoussis or Wayne Black.

QUESTION: Just generally, Patrick, how does this tournament fit into your tuning up for the U. S. Open because I know, for instance, Pete Sampras doesn't really normally like to play this week at all leading up to it.

RAFTER: Last year I played it in Montreal. I lost pretty early, but you know, it's matches for me and I need matches, where for someone like Pete he's probably got a good chance of winning this tournament, so he's probably got five matches. Maybe it's a little too early for him to play that many matches. For me I'm just not guaranteed that many matches, but if I can win it, then it would be great.

QUESTION: What do you think of today's match?

RAFTER: It was good to win. You know, I'm hitting the ball okay, just not moving quite as well as I'd like to just yet. Just a little sluggish, I think. So I think it's pretty important to get that spark back into my game before leading up to the U. S. Open. So these are all lead-up tournaments and obviously it's a very big tournament, so we all want to do very well here. So hopefully it'll turn around and I'll feel a lot better tomorrow.

QUESTION: In leading up to the U. S. Open, is there a
different feel for it obviously this year from going back into it
again? Pressure is an overused word, but is there something there
that, oh, boy?

RAFTER: Oh, definitely different because '96 I lost first round and '97 I went there just thinking who knows how I'm going to go this week, and I knew I'd been playing pretty well, but I had a big schedule leading up and I was a little tired, but I was hitting the ball really well. I got through my first three matches pretty comfortably and I found that I had all my energy back again. So I think you know, there's obviously going to be a certain amount of pressure, a lot more pressure than what it was last year, but hopefully I won't see it any differently than what I did when I won it.

QUESTION: Do you find just by your career being solid anyway, but after winning the U. S. Open in such style, are there more demands on your free time, a lot of other things you have to factor into your schedule?

RAFTER: Definitely.

QUESTION: Tell us a little bit about that. Do you have to learn to say no or do you welcome everything?

RAFTER: You do have to learn to say no. There are a lot more demands in terms of we have the new program this year, the Stars program, which is a very good idea to help promote tennis, and that comes from a lot of the players. We all have to pitch in there. Plus I have a lot of Reebok and Prince commitments that I
have to do as part of my contract. Which you know, it's just that spare time that maybe you think you got a day off and then you gotta think again, maybe. And then there's also occasions when you go out and people come up and they want a bit of your time or all this and talk, and unfortunately you just can't please everyone, and there are times when you want your own time and you just can't get it because everyone is still around you, so it's important to separate when you are going to have that free time, to make sure it is your time and you have to learn to say no.

QUESTION: When you're featured in the magazines as the
world's most hottest man in the universe, that sort of thing,
could that sometimes be a curse as much as a compliment or no?
Maybe no.

RAFTER: Not really. No. It's quite nice.

TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY:

Kelly McKee Dorsey
McKee Court Reporting, Inc.
800-894-8322
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