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Men's Tennis
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Women's Tennis
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| Friday, March 30 |
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| New-look Rafter winning in different ways Associated Press | |||
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. – Nearing retirement at age 28, Pat
Rafter is giving opponents a new look, and not just because of his
switch to a buzz-cut hairstyle.
Rafter, one of the last serve-and-volleyers on tours, has lately
begun to hit better from the baseline. His improved forehand and
backhand are on display at the Ericsson Open, where Rafter advanced
Thursday to the semifinals for the first time since 1994.
"I just added another dimension to my game, which is really
enjoyable for me to go to if things aren't working well with my
strengths," he said.
The eighth-seeded Australian needed just 58 minutes in the
quarterfinals to beat Roger Federer 6-3, 6-1. Rafter's opponent
Saturday will be No. 3 Andre Agassi, who rallied to beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 6-4 in a match that was concluded Friday. Rain halted
play Thursday night with Agassi trailing 3-1.
Rafter's countryman, No. 7 Lleyton Hewitt, will play American
Jan-Michael Gambill in the other semifinal Friday night.
The change in Rafter is immediately noticeable: His familiar
ponytail is gone, and so is his reluctance to rally. The
transformation of his groundstrokes began during two weeks of
training for the Davis Cup final in December, when he honed his
game to face Spain on clay.
Rafter and the Aussies lost, but there has been a residual
benefit to the practice.
"We did a lot of work, four hours a day on the court just
hitting groundstrokes," he said. "It's really starting to show in
my game. When I'm at the baseline, I'm feeling like I can now start
controlling the points."
That's the good news. The bad news is that tendinitis in
Rafter's right wrist is slowly getting worse. As a precaution, he
withdrew from doubles before the semifinals Thursday, and he plans to
take a few weeks off after Australia's Davis Cup tie against Brazil
next week.
"It's classic tendinitis," he said. "If you continue to play
through, it will just continually get worse and worse."
Rafter hopes to make the layoff brief because he's off to one of
the best starts of his nine-year career. He announced in January
that this would likely be his final year on the tour, and two weeks
later he reached the semifinals at the Australian Open for the
first time.
"He brings just a great rawness to the game," Agassi said.
"He's a true competitor, true champion, true grit, always punches
in the clock, always a class act, always professional on the court,
always a first-class person off the court. You want a person like
that around. The game will miss him when he goes."
Rafter's not done yet. The newfound confidence from the baseline
should help next week against Brazil, and it should help at the
Ericsson as he bids for his first title in the United States since
winning his second U.S. Open championship in 1998.
"I've done it before, I guess, where I get on a roll and I feel
good and I play a lot of matches and I know I'm hitting the ball
well," Rafter said. "I'm trying to keep that momentum going." Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories | |
ALSO SEE Thursday's results Venus dominates Hingis to reach Ericsson Open final Hewitt ends Roddick's run at Ericsson Open | |
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