Pat Rafter

Patrick Michael "Pat" Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the men's singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of play. He became the first man in the Open Era to win Montreal/Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open in the same year (1998); this achievement has been dubbed the American Summer Slam.

Tennis career

1990s

Rafter turned professional in 1991 and won his first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester. Prior to 1997, this was the only ATP singles title he had won.

Rafter's breakthrough came in 1997. At that year's French Open he reached the semifinals, falling in four sets to Sergi Bruguera. Then he surprised many by winning the US Open, defeating Greg Rusedski in a four-set final and Andre Agassi and Michael Chang, among others, in earlier rounds; he was the first non-American to win the title since Stefan Edberg in 1992. This was his first Grand Slam title, and catapulted him ahead of Chang to finish the year ranked #2 in the world, behind only Pete Sampras. The unexpected nature of his U.S. Open title led many, including Hall-of-famer and four-time U.S. Open champion John McEnroe to criticise Rafter as a "one-slam wonder".