Patrick Rafter and Martina Hingis have enjoyed their time in the spotlight since winning last year's Open. But playing starring roles won't be so easy this time.

(Half the page has Rafter article and the other half has the Hingis article)

It was a true matinee idol moment. At the French Open in Paris this past June, Patrick Rafter was heading to the locker room through a dark corridor that a zealous group of Tennis Annies had turned into a hall of worship.

When the Australian heartthrob with the Tom Cruise smaile got close, mothers tripped over their own children for a better glimpse of his classically chisled face, and a few even tossed slips of paper with their phone numbers on them into his racquet bag.

Then a 9 year old girl reached up to touch Rafter's samurai pony tail and blurted out a question: "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Who told you to ask that?" Rafter shot back in a mock scolding tone, his tongue firmly planted in a cheek still emblazoned with the zinc oxide he applies to ward off the sun, which gives him a warrior look. She smiled meekly, confessed that she was asking for herself and held out her autograph book. Without saying another owrd, Rafter put his smile into full gear and acommodated her, along with a number of requests for Polaroid photos and handshakes.

Since winning the 1997 US OPEN, rafter, 25, has gone from being an attractive guy to being nearly irresistible, according to his newfound fans. He was officially proclaimed the Sexiest Athlete of 1997 by People Magazine.

But to Patrick's large, adoring and supportive family, he's still good 'ol "skunky", so nicknamed, says older brother Steve, "beacuse Pat has a birthmark on the top of his head where a white patch of hair grows, and because he farts up a storm."

It's Skunky's family that keeps his feet on the ground and all the adulation from rushing to his head. It's also the reason Patrick is not your typical pop star. He doesn't keep adoring fans at bay with a phalanx of bodyguards. Rafter, Rafter admits he enjoys the attention. "I'm trying to make the most of it before it ends," he says. "The support is great after so many years on the tour. There was a time I thought I wouldn't make it. So, for this to happen now is nice."

But while his celebrity has skyrocketed since his only Grand Slam title a year ago completed the rise from No. 62 to No. 2, his tennis game has been going downhill.

After triumphantly returning to Australia last September, he put his training aside and spent much of his time fulfillinf press and charity requests. Rafter did not win another title in 1997 and was upset in 4 ATP Tour events during the fall by lower ranked opponents. He began this year by exiting in the third round of the Aus. Open, then suffered 5 consecutive opening round losses this spring, plus a disappointing second round French Open loss to 44th ranked Jason Stoltenberg, all of which caused his ranking to drop from No. 2 to No. 6.

Things began to turn around a little this summer when he had a respectable Wimbledon, winning 3 rounds before falling to local hero and semifinalist Tim Henman. "If someone had told me just before Wimbledon that I was going to get tot the 4th Round, I would have been very happy considering the form I was taking into the tournament," Rafter says.

While he has remained composed throughout his slump, the losses haven't sompletely slid off his back. At a tournament in Lyon, Frence, last fall, Rafter was so disgusted with himself after a first round defeat that he returned his $50,000 appearence fee to the promoter.

"I think I lost my motivation after my dream came true [winning the US OPEN]," he says. " I didn't work hard as I had last year. [Pete] Sampras does whatever the book says to be No. 1-have quiet dinners, get so many hours of sleep. But I like to go out with my friends and have a good time."

The Fosters' "Australian for Beer" commercials are only a slight exaggeration of the lifestyle that has made the tennis Aussies notorious, dating back to Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, John Newcombe and Tony Roche.

"It's a national heritage to celebrate after you've won," says Stolle, explaining the Down Under athletic culture. "Pat is your typical Aussie bloke," adds Roche, Rafter's Davis Cup coach. " He works hard and then plays hard." Rafter has even been known to play up the image. After having a few beers with his mates on the eve of a Davis Cup match last year, he joked that even though he had won the match, he had played with a hangover.

Australian tennis players are also, as a group, the most generous and unpretentious guys in sports. When Rafter won the Open, he quietly donated $300,000 of his $500,000 winner;s check to fund a wing for chronicaly ill kids at the Brisbane Children's Hospital.

Money doesn't seem to be at the top of Rafter's mind, even if he makes his home in the tax haven of Bermuda. He doesn't own a car or a house; instead he rents an aprtment and moped when he's there, which isn't often. "I don't need all the goodies; I'm very conservative with my money," he says. " There's no point in having a home and car in Australia right now. Becasue it's so far away from everywhere, I'd never be there to use them. Right now, my passport is my most valuable possession."

Rafter's frugality may be a consquence of his upbringing. His parents, Jim, an accountant, and Jocelyn, a full time mum, stretched their modest means to raise 9 kids-Pat is the 7th child and the fourth of 6 boys and couldn't afford to support Patrcik's tennis ambitions. As a kid he played anywhere he could, primarily on public courts. He was athletic but small, and he refused to take his parents' advice to play Michael Chang style, scampering around the baseline. Instead he fearlessly surged to the net. When lunging and leaping for passing shots failed him, he didn't whine or mope, but instead slapped his thigh and went back for more. Since he didn't have overwhelming weapons, he craftily worked for each point and mastered the stratigic aspects of the game. The intangibles began to surface, too, like drive and grit. Like many of hislegendary Australian predecessors, Rafter learned to love the battle and thrived on the challenge of competition. And when he lost, he took it hard. After falling in the final of one junior event, Rfater took his runner up trophy intot he backyeard and gunned it down with his father's rifle. But his parents and a strong sibling support system wouldn't let him mope for long after a loss or, for that matter , gloat after his victories. Brother Geoff, an actupuncturist and a masseur, believed in his little brother enough that in 1991 he gave him his life savings-$14,000-to finance Patrick's trips to the closest Satellite circuit, in Asia. Eventually, Geoff would become his coach.

While flashier, wealthier and better-connected jumiors received wild cards into tournaments, Rafter travelled from city to city, most often with his mother or Geoff, collecting computer points and fighting his way up from the bottom. "My family has always been there for me," he says. "Even though we didn't have a lot of money, my parents never made us feel that way. I always knew that if nothing else went right, I'd always have them.:"

It was on the Satellite and Challenger circuits that Rafter met his current doubles partner, JOnas Bjorkman of Sweden, along with Yevgeny Kafelnikov and other future stars struggling in the minors. They lived from win to win, check to check. Unable to afford coaches, they practised, roomed and partied with each other.

"Patrick and I have so much in common even though we are from different countries," Bjorkman says. "Neither of us had a lot of [national tennis] federation support. Neither of us were considered furture top 10 stuff. We had to make it on our own. It was hard at first in the challengers, but we had a lot of fun sharing cramped, cheap motel rooms. It doesn't surprise me at all to see us both in the top 10 now."

Rafter's first significant victory was over Sampras in Indianapolis in 1993. He then took out Thomas Muster at the 1994 French Open, the same year Rafter rose to No. 21 in the rankings. But a wrist injury followed by a sprained ankle caused him to miss most of 1995, and his ranking hung around 60s until last year.

The turning point came during a spring 1997 Davis Cup tie with France. Trailing Cedric Pioline 2 sets to love, Rafter recovered to win the opening rubber for Aus.

"Patrick had to dig deep down deep to win that one," says Newcombe, the Aussie Davis Cup Captain. "He learned from that match that he could find it within himself to pull out those tight ones. It gave him the belief that he could do that in other matches."

At the heart of this new mindset were the mind over matter Eastern philosophy lessons he was taught by Geoff. Practsing meditation to alleviate his physical pain, combined with Geoff's expertise as an actupuncturist and masseur, helped the injury-prones Patrick to, he says, "release my mind and muscles."

Eventually though, rfater decided he needed more tactical and technical coaching expertise to raise his game. In a stunner, he fired Geoff as his coach early last year. "Geoff had taught me how to relax and enjoy it [on the court] and [firing him] was the hardest decision I've ever had to make," says Patrick. " He had done so much for me, but I just needed to be on my own."

Geoff has remained supportive. "Looking bak," he says, " Pat had to go his own way. It was difficult but we are always brothers first. And even though I enjoyed working with hin, I always want him to do what's best for himself and his tennis."

Rafter still occasionally asks his brother to travel with him but otherwise turns to Roache and Newcombe for coaching. But Patrcik Rafter Inc. remains a family affair. Oldest brother Steve is his business manager and agent, brother Peter is his business assistent, sister Louise coordinates his charity work and travel arrangements and Geoff is now his merchandising director.

When Rafter won the Open, no one was more surprised than the new champion. "I really didn't think that I would get by the first round," he says. " I had such a tough draw that I don't remember much about the tournament other than trying to get through each match. Beating [Andre] Agassi was great but the final [against Greg Rusedski] is the one that stays in my mind. Winning that last point is one I'll never forget."

After he stopped shaking and called his parents at home in Queensland with the news, he took on his role as the toast of New York with ease. He partied with fellow Aussies, curetn and retired, celebrating the first Aus. Singles ein at the US OPEn since John Newcombe in 1973.

At a blast the night of victory, supermodels dropped their phone numbers in his pockets. then Rafter went on the Late Night with David Letterman, where the transformation from Skunky to sexy played out on national television. As Letterman quizzed him about his love life, the studio audience squealed, espcially when he divulged, " I have a girlfriend but it's an open relationship. I'm only 24 you know."

But with the lackluster results he's had this year, Rafter is a long shot to be the toast of New York again. Commentator John McEnroe hasn't done anything to boost Rafter's confidence by calling him "a one-slam wonder".

And Rafter even admits that he occasionally has thoughts about retiring. " It's in the picture," he says. " I'd like to go for another 3-5 years but it will depend on whether I'm still enjoying the otur. Right now I'm going to cut back some on the travel and the number of tournaments I play. I still would like to wn another slam and prove McEnroe wrong. But if I didn't win another match I could go on to my next career [he wants to be a rock singer] feeling hapy about what I have achieved.

Nonetheless, Rafter does claim to have renewed mental energy, and there's another change from last year-a new girlfriend. " I've been involved with an Australian girl [a 24-yr old model that he'll only identify as Lara] for about 6 months," he says with a nervous laugh. Marriage isn't a consideration right now, but when you ask him if this is another 'open relationship' he answers, "Not quite so."

The fact that Rafter may be in a serious relationship is no doubt a bigger deal to his female fans than his chances of defending his title. For them, win or lose, the ponytailed Patrick "Skunky" Rafter will still be the mane attraction.

Note form me : *Lara's age is wrong. She is 27 not 24.*