Career Earnings: $25 Million
Age:51
DOB: 28 December 1972
Birthplace: Mount Isa City, Queensland, Australia
Along with Leyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis, Pat Rafter is a former tennis player who was part of Australia’s ‘golden generation’. Like Hewitt, Rafter rose to the top of the ATP rankings (in 1999), which meant he was considered the best player in the world at that time.
Rafter enjoyed a successful career, winning 11 career singles titles, including back-to-back US Opens and ten doubles titles in a career that spanned a dozen years. Notably, in 1998, Rafter became the first person to win the US Open, Cincinnati Masters and Canada Masters in the same year – collectively known as the ‘American Summer Slam’. He is also only the third male player to reach the semi-final stages or better of all four Grand Slam competitions in both singles and doubles.
Thanks to his on-court successes and lucrative endorsement deals, Rafter has accumulated a net worth of around $25 million.
Early Life
Rafter was born in the mining town of Mount Isa in Queensland, where Greg Norman, the Australian golf champion, originates from. Pat was the seventh of nine children born to parents Jim and Jocelyn.
He fell in love with sports at a young age, in particular tennis, which he played with his dad and three eldest brothers. When he was 19, he turned professional.
Early Career and Breakthrough
Rafter won his first professional match on the ATP tour at Wimbledon in 1993. He would go on to lose to Andre Agassi in the third round. Later that year, he rose to prominence by beating Pete Sampras in the quarter-finals at Indianapolis before losing in the semi-final to Boris Becker.
Spurred on by these impressive showings, Rafter took out his inaugural ATP singles title in Manchester in 1994. However, he didn’t win another title until 1997, when, after reaching the semi-finals of the French Open, he shocked many tennis fans by triumphing in the US Open after defeating Greg Rudeski in the final. However, this win did not impress everyone. The legendary John McEnroe, who himself was a four-time champion at the US Open, labelled him a ‘one-slam wonder’.
Rafter would prove McEnroe wrong by winning the tournament again the next year.
Professional Career
As a singles player, Rafter won 65.2% of his matches, ending up with a career record of 358–191. As well as his back-to-back US Open wins, he also reached the Wimbledon final twice, losing in 2000 and 2001, as well as the semi-final of the French Open in 1997 and the Australian Open in 2001.
As a doubles player, partnering with Jonas Björkman, he won the Australian Men’s Open. Overall, he enjoyed a marginally better record in this form of the game, with a 214–111 career record and a 65.8% win percentage.
Rafter also added the Davis Cup to his collection, winning the tournament with Australia in 1999.
Unfortunately, the latter part of his career was plagued by injury. While his last competitive match was in 2001, he eventually retired from the game in 2003.
Comebacks
After retiring, Rafter twice tried to make comebacks to the sport. The first time was in 2004 when he played doubles with Joshua Eagle at the Australian Open and AAPT Championships. However, they fell at the first hurdle in both competitions.
Remarkably, ten years later, when he was 41 years old, he shocked the tennis world by stating he would be making another comeback in doubles with Leyton Hewitt – who was the Australian number one player at that time. Unfortunately, they lost in the first round of the Australian Open.
Awards and Recognitions
Pat Rafter has won a number of awards and recognitions as a result of his tennis career.
He was bestowed the Australian of the Year Award in 2002 – although in somewhat controversial circumstances due to him spending much of his playing career living in Bermuda, apparently for tax benefits. In addition to this accolade, shortly after he retired, the Queensland Tennis Centre, located in its capital city of Brisbane, was renamed in honour of him.
Other awards he has won include the Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award in 2005 from the International Club. He was also inducted into both the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2008, he was welcomed into the Australian Tennis Hall of Fame.
As part of Queensland’s Q150 celebrations, Rafter was included as one of its 150 icons in 2009, on account of his status as a ‘sports legend’.
Personal Life
Pat Rafter married the Australian model Lara Feltham in 2004. They have two children together.
Away from tennis, he became a successful model for the underwear company Bonds. He also took on a role with the Mantra Group of hotels as a brand ambassador. Additionally, he also is fronts the Eat Well Be Active campaign run by the Queensland Government and the Hotshots program by Tennis Australia.
Back in 1997 he was voted the ‘Sexiest Athlete Alive’ by People magazine. Since retiring for the last
time in 2014, he has kept a fairly low profile from the public eye.
Pat is a big supporter of the Brisbane Broncos in NRL and the Brisbane Lions in AFL.