Twenty years ago, Australian Pat Rafter volleyed a winner into the open court and collapsed on his back, the moment when the game's then-newest Grand Slam champion was crowned.
It was 1997, the first year of Arthur Ashe Stadium's existence, when the DecoTurf courts were still green and serve-and-volley tennis was commonplace on the men's tour.
Rafter's 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 win over Briton Greg Rusedski made him the first Australian major champion since Pat Cash a decade earlier at Wimbledon and instantly catapulted him to superstardom in his homeland. But his dashing, athletic performance at Flushing Meadows gained him plenty of supporters in the U.S., too, especially when he went back-to-back with a run to the title in 1998.
Rafter would also reach consecutive Wimbledon finals in 2000 and 2001 before retiring from the sport in 2002, having peaked at world No. 1 in July 1999. He would for four years serve as Australia's Davis Cup captain.
The popular Aussie spoke with USOpen.org about the memories he holds of that career-defining fortnight in New York 20 years ago.
USOpen.org: Does it feel like 20 years have passed since you had this breakthrough?
Pat Rafter: I don’t really reminisce very much. I don’t know what 20 years is anymore… 20 years is forever. Life goes on so bloody quickly, so I don’t know what’s going on. So 20 years – I mean, I’ve moved on. Tennis was a big part of my life and really affected so much of it. So when you ask a lot of questions about tennis, I just feel like I’ve got to go back in the memory bank and reminisce on it because it’s not something I think about; it’s not at the forefront of my mind anymore. So I guess when you talk about 20 years, it’s a long period of time, but as you get older, life goes so much quicker that it just feels like my other little life.
USOpen.org: Coming into the Open in 1997, how were you feeling about your game? You made a couple of finals leading up to the tournament …
Pat Rafter: I always liked the US Open. And although I’d never had great results (there), I’d always been a pretty good hard-court player. And I’d had a good summer in America – not that I’d won a tournament, but I did reach those finals (in New Haven and Long Island) and lost all of them. But I was someone who liked to play a lot of tennis… So I got there (to New York) not necessarily fresh, but feeling really good. And at that age, you’re 24 or whatever, I don’t need to be fresh. I’m young and fit. So I liked to play a lot of matches, and a lot of matches suited me. So that was the best preparation I could have had.
USOpen.org: At what point did you feel you could genuinely win the title? Was it something that you felt as soon as the first round, or was there a moment or a win where you suddenly thought you could go all the way?
Pat Rafter: There was a funny comment made by (Andre) Agassi. I beat him in the fourth round, and I can’t exactly remember, but I’m pretty sure they said in the press conference, and I might be wrong – I’m good mates with Andre, so hopefully this doesn’t come across the wrong way – but I’m pretty sure they asked him about my (title) chances, and he said, “Not good.” And my attitude back to that was, "Well, now, there’s only eight guys left, and I’m one of those guys." So I knew I had as good a chance as anyone to win it. And I genuinely felt that; a one-in-eight chance to win. I didn’t feel like I was the No. 1 out of the eight players (left) to win it – I was just one of the guys who was there with a chance.
USOpen.org: Did you find that Andre’s comment was motivating for you?
Pat Rafter: No. He was probably right (laughter). He’s got a one-in-eight chance of getting it wrong; the odds are in his favor (laughter). But the reality was I was playing pretty decent tennis. I know (Michael) Chang was still in there – and he was No. 2 in the world. I played (Magnus) Larsson in the quarters, who I felt really comfortable with, and then I played Chang in the semis, and I really didn’t know how that match was going to go. But I just played great tennis. I don’t know why – I just did.
USOpen.org: Do you have many memories of the final?
Pat Rafter: Yeah, I was pretty nervous. I’d lost five finals that year, and I was going into my sixth final of the year, and I’m playing Greg Rusedski, a guy who I hadn’t lost to [often]. So I felt like I should win. I was really the guy that should be winning it; now, all of a sudden, I’m the favorite. And that was a strange position for me to be in – I wasn’t used to that. I remember playing and feeling like I should win. And we both played pretty tight tennis, I would say. He was really tight. And I guess it was just a matter of me holding my nerve…
USOpen.org: Was that easy to do? It’s one thing to just have to control your nerves and things could go OK, but did you freak out at all? Was it hard to stay calm?
Pat Rafter: Good question. I don’t know. You just go out there with a game plan; you don’t think about whether you’re nervous. You play to your strengths, and things will work. My game plan was working; I knew Greg’s game really well. I stuck to what I knew, and I just played him. And he was somewhat predictable, I guess. So I guess it was just two guys, who weren’t the favorites, in a position to win a tournament. And he played his game that he knew, and I played the game which I knew could beat him. In that situation, you play to your strengths.
USOpen.org: When you put away that forehand volley on championship point, do you remember the emotions when you fell down on the court?
Pat Rafter: I remember getting close to winning and thinking, "Don’t stuff it up." Your adrenaline starts running really high. You’re at the point where your dreams are about to come true, I guess. This is what you’ve been working towards forever, and all of a sudden it’s there. I’d already mapped the point out in my head exactly how it was going to play out, and it played out exactly the way it did.
USOpen.org: Your record at the Grand Slams before the 1997 US Open wasn’t that strong. You’d only gone beyond the fourth round of a major once before, and you’d never gone past the third round at Flushing Meadows. What was it that fortnight that clicked for you?
Pat Rafter: I made the semis of the French (Open) that year… Things were happening for me. When I came onto the scene, I was not a young kid. I mean, if it was now, I guess I’d be considered relatively young, but at the time I was more an older guy coming on and doing pretty well. I did OK when I was 21, and it took me a couple of years to sort of mature and become a better player.
USOpen.org: When you won the title, what was the experience like adjusting to life as a Slam champion? Did you enjoy it, or did you feel it created pressure?
Pat Rafter: You’re just riding the roller coaster, really, for that particular part of the end of the year. I know I went to Europe at the end of the year, but there was a celebratory enjoyment the last sort of six weeks. I didn’t really worry about things too much; I had a bit of fun. All of my dreams had come true, so I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone or myself. Emotionally it was tough. The next year (January 1998) I had to come back, and that’s when you start getting into the Grand Slams again. Australian Open, I never did great at; I’d never played enough tennis leading into the Aussie Open. So for me, I didn’t really worry about it (after I’d won the US Open). All my dreams had come true all at once, so I was cruising. Whatever happened, happened.
USOpen.org: How do you compare the 1997 US Open victory to the one in 1998?
Pat Rafter: The first one’s always the most special. There’s no doubt about it. The second one’s great because you can back it up. You might sit there and think (the first one’s) pure luck; but no, I backed it up. It was pretty cool, actually. And I played great again. I had to play Pete (Sampras) in the semis, and, again, it was the same situation in the final (as in 1997) – I’m playing (Mark) Philippoussis, who I felt really comfortable playing. I don’t know if I’d lost to Mark by then, so I knew what I had to do. I was super relaxed because I’d won a US Open the year before. I can’t believe I was that relaxed for a final. So I was just really chilled.
USOpen.org: You seemed to get a lot of support in New York. The crowd really embraced you, even though you weren’t American. Was that something you noticed, and do you have a theory as to why that was?
Pat Rafter: Yeah, I did notice it. It was a good atmosphere. I remember playing Pete in the (1998) semis, and I probably had as many people going for me as there were for Pete. Yeah, I enjoyed it. I don’t know, I guess I did things that the American fans liked. I competed. I didn’t mind getting excited at times. In the after-match interviews or in press conferences, I never liked to say clichéd things. I always like to try and say something a bit different, try and have a bit of fun with everyone, so that was always my personality. And I guess the Americans embraced that.
