Pat Rafter Answers Your Questions
Q: What motivated you to come back and play tennis against some of the best of your era on the ATP Champions Tour?
Pat: You always want to know if you still can play tennis well enough. That is why I decided to come back and have a game. There is a good group of guys playing [on the ATP Champions Tour]. I’m very lucky to play with some good friends as well. So it’s to find out if I can still compete with these guys and so far it has been ok.
Q: Where did you watch the 2008 Wimbledon Men's Final and what did you think of it?
Pat: I was in France for a couple of months and I watched all the lead up for it. But unfortunately I had to travel on the day of the final. When I got to my destination they had no TV showing it so unfortunately I didn’t see it. But a friend of mine was texting me every three or four games giving me an update on the match and the rain and so on. It would have been a great match to watch and it’s a shame I didn’t watch it.
Q: Do you feel hard done by that Nadal has won Wimbledon on a hard, high bouncing court playing with a western forehand with no net play while you played the perfect grass court game and never won?
Pat: No, I certainly don’t feel hard done by. He (Nadal) is an amazing player. I spoke to some of the players on the Champions Tour and Goran said it’s incredible how slow the grass is now. He spoke to Federer about it and told me that’s why Federer doesn’t serve and volley, it’s just too slow. I think Wimbledon needs to change its grass and make it quicker because to me, watching grass court tennis from the baseline is not how it should be played on grass. It’s fine for clay but not for grass. I think they should make it quicker.
Q: Do you think that a traditional serve and volley player can be successful and win Grand Slams today, just as you did in the past?
Pat: I’d like to say yes but because I’m not playing on the tour anymore it’s probably hard for me to give an accurate appraisal on that. I think there is definitely room for serve and volleyers to play because you can mix it up. You don’t see a lot of players coming to the net anymore so I think there is room for it. It has to be executed very well though because the rackets and the strings are very powerful, which makes it very hard to come to the net at the moment.
Q: Would you change your U.S. titles for one Wimbledon or one Australian championship or a Davis Cup title for Australia?.
Pat: Oh, what a tough decision! I guess it’s an unrealistic question by the way since it will never happen. If someone, at the beginning of my career, would have said you’d win one of each or a couple at the same, I’d probably take one of each.
Q: Have you ever thought of becoming the captain of the Austalian Davis Cup team?
Pat: Oh no, not now. It requires a lot of travelling and a lot of time dedicated to it. I have a young family and that is something I want to be around for so it won’t be for a while.