TONY JONES (host): Well since his win at the US Open, it seems everyone wants a piece of Pat Rafter. Those demands became evident a fortnight back when he fronted up for our Davis Cup tie in Mildura, only to be forced out of the campaign mid-way against the battle with Zimbabwe because of a virus. Well the world number 4 is now headed to his hideaway in Bermuda to recharge those batteries, but only after speaking with Geoff Hutchison about the pressures of being Pat.

Shots of the Murray River and Mildura tennis courts. Cut to Pat training with school kids looking on. Shots of Pat playing Rugby and football and then more training.

KIDS: "That's not Pat Rafter." "Yes it is." "The one with the ponytail." "The one next to the football." "...take off his shirt it would be easier."

GEOFF HUTCHISON: The school kids of Mildura weren't quite sure which one he was, but it hardly mattered. Pat Rafter, US Open champion, had come to grace the grass of their hometown. And the kids did what kids do. They cheered with all their might.

KIDS: Go Pat Rafter, go Pat Rafter, go Pat Rafter.

GH: But the Pat Rafter in Mildura, for what was to be Australia's ill-fated Davis Cup tie, was tired, jaded, and quite sick.

Audio of Pat coughing.

GH: He'd been trying to shake off a respiratory tract infection he'd contracted in Europe 5 weeks previously. And Davis Cup coach, John Newcombe, wasn't convinced he was fit. He sweated, he coughed, he served, he volleyed. But after an hour, he was exhausted. In April 1998, just 8 months after claiming the US Open crown, Pat Rafter was looking tense and a little tired of being famous.

PAT RAFTER: People are, you know, just being people. They want autographs and they want to be friendly, and you know I want to be friendly as well, but you know when there's hundreds and hundreds of people, it's tiring being friendly after awhile.

JOHN NEWCOMBE: Everywhere he goes, every tournament he goes to play in, he does interviews and they ask him the same questions and it's about 'how are you dealing with being the US Open champ', and we were discussing it the other day and I said, 'you know there's this psychological thing that now you go out and you get to the semi-finals of a tournament and you lose, you think that you've failed, but think back 9 months ago, if you got to the semis of a tournament you were estatic'.

PR: I'm sort of finding it hard to set goals for myself and times when I walk onto the court I'm thinking 'what have I got to gain from beating this guy', and just don't get up for matches anymore like I used to. But I've tried to turn that around and think, er, 'I want to try and crush everyone'. Hopefully I can get that into my mind-set and that will make me a better player and more happy on the court.

GH: Was that in your mind-set last year though?

PR: Definitely.

GH: Was it? PR: Yeah, not this year though.

JN: 'I don't have to win the tournament every week, that's what other people might say or expect, I don't expect that of myself', and I don't think he's come to grips with that at this stage, so consequently it's not a lot of fun out there for him.

Shots of New York and Pat playing at the US Open.

GH: The US Open ain't the prettiest of the Grand Slams, but win it and you can become very famous and very exposed, very quickly. In a draw which saw Pete Sampras out early, Pat Rafter quietly served and volleyed his way into contention.

Shots of Pat playing US Open final.

PR: Even midway through the US Open I don't remember extremely well. The whole thing is still a blur. I was just playing so, so well.

Shots of Pat winning the US Open and on-court celebrations.

GH: And then that irresistible momentum took him to his first Grand Slam title and Australia's first in a decade.

Audio of US Open commentary - "That will do it. Unbelievable result. Pat Rafter is the 1997 US Open champion."

GH: It all happened so fast, much of it remains a blur, but for one perfect fortnight, Pat Rafter lived a dream. PR: Hey, even the David Letterman I thought I nailed as well so it was like everything was continuing on a roll. I think it was about as much pressure as I had to face all week was go on the Letterman Show and some of the questions he fired at me!

Shots of the David Letterman interview.

GH: The most pressing question for the Aussie considered the sex symbol of tennis, 'does he have a girlfriend?

From the Letterman Show: PR: Um...I do. But it's a very open relationship.

DAVID LETTERMAN: Oh, very open relationship.

Shots of Pat training shirt-less, signing autographs, posing for pictures and photos from the Australian Style article.

GH: And so it began. People magazine called him one of the sexiest men on the planet. There are engagements, endorsements, endless introductions, offers, and once in a lifetime opportunities. Clothing, footwear, racquets, sunglasses, telephones, potato chips; the Rafter name and the Rafter body was called on to sell them all. PR: Ahhh...no, I've never really, really enjoyed being in front of the camera and doing the old smile and then turn the body this way (looks to his right) and look like a dork.

Shot of the Australian Style cover.

PR: Mate, you will never see me in a pair of those pants again I can tell you that right now.

GH: Pale blue shorts!

PR: They were shockers and, er, I just said 'listen man I'm not gay, what are you doing here?' And they think it's a sexy thing. I don't, er, see anything in that at all. My sister told me to put some socks down my pants. (Laughs)

Shots of the Australian Open match against Todd Martin.

GH: But by January, Pat Rafter the on-court model, was finding life tougher at the Australian Open.

From Pat's post match press conference after Martin match:

PR: I was hating the sun, I was hating just, just the whole circumstance; hating getting my butt kicked.

GH: What about the Australian Open, you really looked to be carrying the weight of the whole country on your shoulders?

PR: Very, very tough. Mentally and physically it was probably the hardest ordeal I've had to go through in terms of being on the tennis court.

JN: He tried to do the right thing to everybody, with everybody, and it took a lot more out of him than he thought. It really emotionally drained him and he started at the end of that to, I think, feel very claustrophobic. He felt all of that like an invasion of himself and, um, he wasn't angry with anyone, he just knew it was there and it had happened and sometimes it's very hard to get out of that.

PR: You know, when you do look back at it and you put it all in perspective, it's such a...it was a nice feeling because even though I did go out there and I did lose, everyone was so positive, the people were so positive, and I guess that that shows you that if you do put in 100% people don't really mind if you win or lose. And, er, that's the great thing about the Australian public, it's not a win, win, win thing all the time, it's 'listen mate, leave your guts on the court and if you do that then we're happy, or we're proud of you'.

Some various shots of Pat playing.

GH: It's important to keep this story about the pressures of being Pat in perspective. He has suffered a let down; staying at the summit has proved much harder than climbing it, but he is well equipped to deal with fame, for the simple reason, I'm not sure if he really believes it.

PR: Um, you know it's not really life is it? In all of that I've had my family, and I've got my girlfriend, Lara, and you know they've all been able to keep me sort of pretty level on the ground, but I feel like with or without them I'd still be able to maintain, er, where I am going. GH: Is it hard to say no?

PR: Yeah.

GH: Is it hard to reclaim a bit of time to yourself?

PR: It still is, you know, I've never been a person to say no before and I really don't enjoy that part of it either, but I do have to say it sometimes and I do have to hurt people, although I don't do it very much, sometimes you've just got to say 'mate, listen just leave me alone', and sure there are times where I've done that and I've upset some people along the way, but if they can't understand that hen that's not my problem.

Shots of Pat's Davis Cup match against Byron Black.

GH: But back in Mildura and just 40 minutes into his singles match against Byron Black, the decision to play had become a mistake. Rafter was exhausted, he'd put pressure on his team-mates and was so dreadfully disappointed, his Davis Cup coach could provide no words to inspire or console.

JN: The facts of life are there, Pat has won the US Open and he is a very attractive person and he's got that natural colour and people warm to him, so he's always going to be very popular and therefore people are going to have great expectations of him (Shots of Pat walking with reporters in Mildura), and this puts a lot of pressure on him, so he's just going to have to learn to deal with it and at the same time, not become sort of hard and cut people off. So this is an adjustment that he is going to have to make, and when I say 'is going to have to make it', he IS going to have to make it 'cause it ain't going away.

Shots of Pat's winning point in India, plus earlier shots of him playing.

GH: But last Sunday there were signs that Patrick turned the corner, breaking through to win the Indian Open. The priority now is to become more realistic about what he can actually fit into that schedule, to maintain his ranking inside the Top 10 and perhaps, most importantly, just play and enjoy and not be afraid to lose.

PR: Mate, you know, that's why I play tennis and, er, I mean you do conquer these pressures you become a lot happier for it.

TONY JONES: Yes, Geoff Hutchison reporting on one of the good guys of Australian sport.