Patrick Rafter (w) vs. Tim Henman
Saturday, August 8, 1998
Semifinals
Interview with Patrick Rafter
6-2, 6-4

SHARKO: Patrick will move into his third ATP Tour final
of the year and he's also looking for his third ATP Tour title
this season, and with a win tomorrow he would become the first
Australian to win here in Canada since John Newcombe in 1971.

QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about your first
match against Henman and maybe did that go the way you thought it
might?

RAFTER: No. I didn't really know what to expect in that
match. It was a very difficult match, I thought. I went out
there and I thought Tim was probably a step slow. He had a couple
heavy matches yesterday, and I really took advantage of that, and
when I saw that he was a step slow, it made me a little more
confident and got me up on my toes, and I got ahead of him early
and I sort of stayed that way for the rest of the match.

QUESTION: It seemed as if you really dominated the net
play. Was that the key there how well you did at the net?

RAFTER: Yeah. I wanted to get to the net as much as I
could. And I mean everything went my way today, the let court and
the miss hits and everything, I picked the right ways at the right
time. It was just one of those days. It went my way, and
unfortunately for Tim he was a little bit flat and nothing went
his way. That can happen.

QUESTION: Have you ever had a double before when you've won both singles and doubles in an event?

RAFTER: In an event, no.

QUESTION: Talk a little bit about you won almost all of
your first serve points. That's a little rare. I mean for you
everything was going right.

RAFTER: As soon as I started getting like two or three
let courts and a couple miss hits, I just thought it's just my
day. But what happens sometimes everything turns around, and
unfortunately for Tim, he probably got a rough line call on his
serve at 2-2 on break point to me, and then I got on top. It was
very difficult for him to turn that around.

QUESTION: You had two matches yesterday. You have two
doubles and singles today, are you worried at all that you may not
have a lot of gas left tomorrow?

RAFTER: Yeah. A little bit. I'll see how I feel in the
next half an hour and I'll make my decision on whether or not I'll
compete in the doubles match because ultimately it's the singles
that I'm here for. So I'll see how I feel. I'm just going to try
and get myself feeling fresh.

QUESTION: How are you feeling right now?

RAFTER: Well, a little bit tired, and it's important to
get myself fresh for tomorrow. So I'll just gauge and see how I go.

QUESTION: Patrick, you had a so-so week last week. It
wasn't too bad, the quarters and stuff. You're playing obviously
very well this week. Going back to last year's U. S. Open,
looking back now, how did you win it? What combination of
circumstances came together for you to win it?

RAFTER: I think I started to get off to a good start. I
had matches against good players, but having results like I am
having here, a lot of quick, easy matches and not expelling too
much energy on the court and that's very important when you're
playing a Grand Slam. And I think when your confidence gets more,
it builds, and you feel fresh, fresher than the other guy anyway.
And that's the way I'm playing out here at the moment. If I can
keep this up, then I might have another good chance at the U. S. Open.

QUESTION: How much of a shock was it to you to win?

RAFTER: It was a big shock. It's an old question, this
one. You haven't heard it before?

QUESTION: Well, your answer is not necessarily now.

RAFTER: Yeah. I mean it was a very big shock at the
time and it still is, I guess.

QUESTION: Pete has talked about the importance of doing
well and winning tournaments leading up to the Open as there being
an intimidation factor so that people look at your results and
look over the net and they're a little afraid and intimidated. Do
you share that view?

RAFTER: I think it does carry some weight, yeah. Every
time a good one goes up to play Pete, you're always scared,
doesn't matter if he's lost two or three first rounds. But yeah,
I think it's important more for your confidence than anything. I
mean Andre's playing well. He's on a hot streak, and when you get
into a habit of winning, it's all about habits and he's on a good
roll at the moment, so --

QUESTION: Would you rather not face him tomorrow?

RAFTER: It doesn't really matter. They both give me a
hard time. So I'll just -- it doesn't really matter.

QUESTION: Can you talk about the Krajicek versus Agassi
and what difficulties each one is going to present?

RAFTER: They're both completely different styles of
players. And even I'm a little bit different to Richard in some
ways where Richard has a very big first serve and is very
aggressive on his returns where I'm sort of three-quarter first
serve and just try to get his return back, his serve back. He has
a very good serve. It's very difficult to read.
Against Andre, he's got a very good return of service,
moving well, very good ground strokes and his serve is a serve
that allows him to play the game he wants to play. It's not big,
but it sets up the point for him. So you got two contrasting
players and either one is very tough.

QUESTION: When you get past Cincinnati, you're going to
lose all of those points you picked up last year at the U. S.
Open. This must be very big for you to be able to pile up some
excellent points this week.

RAFTER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Plus to pick up some excellent bonus points
because you beat a 25 and a 15 and a 12. You've really piled up
the points this week and that's gotta really take some pressure
off of you in terms of holding your ranking and going into the U.
S. Open and getting a good seed, does it not?

RAFTER: You've answered the question, mate.

QUESTION: Just going into the doubles, I'd still like to
know what your thinking is sometimes, your teamwork strategy, your
friendship strategy when you decide maybe I shouldn't play this
match with Jonas and just figure out --

RAFTER: Yeah. Definitely. When I go and play, I play
putting 100 percent every time, and if I don't feel like putting
100 percent, I won't go on the court. And Jonas we both play
singles. We know that's our priority, and if it interferes with
our singles, then we put doubles aside. That's just the way we
are. We have that understanding. We're good mates about that and
we totally understand it. So whichever way I make that decision,
he will be behind me.

QUESTION: Do you find your doubles play complements your
singles when you're playing well on doubles?

RAFTER: Not necessarily, no. No. It never really
worked that way for me. It's just good to get the practice in.
That's the way I look at it. Instead of going on the court for
another hour and a half at the end of a match, play a doubles
match.

QUESTION: So it takes the place of practice.

RAFTER: Definitely. That's the way I prefer it and you
get in that pressure situation.

QUESTION: What would your comment be to the fans who
come out here hoping to see a doubles final and you decided, hey,
I'm not going to play?

RAFTER: I hope they understand my position. We're here
for singles. I mean obviously doubles is great to play, and you
know, I'd love to play it, but if I don't feel it's going to be
100 percent for me for my singles play, then I would give it a
miss. I think on the other side of that door there's only a
couple of us that do play doubles, a few of us in the Top 10 that
do play doubles, so I think if they're looking for that, then I've
put out a few matches for them. I think it's a lot better than
what they could ask for.

QUESTION: It was mentioned that the last Aussie to win
here was '71. Does that mean anything to you?

RAFTER: I'm getting referred to Newcombe quite a bit
lately. I think he was the last one to win the U. S. Open. Was
it? Yeah. The last one to win the U. S. Open. I was the last
one to be seeded as high as him, No. 2, and maybe I could be the
last -- the one after him to win the Canadian Open, so --

QUESTION: Does it mean to be compared -- there are a lot
of great Australian players.

RAFTER: Oh, definitely, yeah. Any one of them is a
great tradition to follow behind.

TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY:

Kelly McKee Dorsey
McKee Court Reporting, Inc.
800-894-8322
912-232-8322
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