Pat Rafter is taken into account one in all Australia’s best-ever male tennis gamers.
The previous world primary males’s participant gained two grand slam titles, and an Australian Open males’s doubles title throughout a greater than decade-long skilled profession
Now, greater than 20 years after he retired from the game that made him a family identify, Rafter lives a quiet life together with his spouse of twenty years, Lara, with whom he shares two kids.
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Born to ‘serve’
Patrick Michael Rafter was born within the mining city of Mount Isa, Queensland, on December 28, 1972.
In response to the ABC, his mother and father, Jim and Jocelyn had moved there within the late 60s after his father obtained a job as an accountant within the mines.
Rafter, who was one in all 10 kids, together with a brother who was stillborn, first picked up a tennis racquet when he was 5.
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He honed his abilities on the burning sizzling bitumen courts that have been a few hundred metres from his household’s modest residence and later performed within the native tennis competitors his father helped sponsor.
In response to the ABC, Rafter, like his older siblings, left Mount Isa to attend highschool.
He went to Albany State Excessive College in Brisbane. In 2022, the college posted a photograph on its Fb web page of Rafter with different college students who have been a part of the 1988 tennis squad.
Courting success
He was 19 when he turned professional in 1991.
Inside two years, Rafter had gained his first tour-level match at Wimbledon earlier than dropping to Andre Agassi within the third spherical of the competitors.
That yr he defeated Pete Sampras within the quarter finals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships earlier than succumbing to Boris Becker within the semis, however completed 1993 with a world rating of 66.
He gained his first profession singles title in 1994.
However the profession breakthrough got here in 1997 when he reached the semi-finals of the French Open earlier than occurring to win that yr’s US Open, when he defeated Greg Rusedski to nab his first Grand Slam title.
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That yr he locked in a No. 2 world rating. And it was solely months later that he went on to win the US Open after defeating fellow Aussie Mark Philippoussis within the ultimate.
In 1999, Rafter partnered with Jonas Björkman to win the Australian Open males’s doubles title. And he was again within the semis at Wimbledon, however misplaced to Andre Agassi.
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He underwent shoulder surgical procedure later that yr however nonetheless managed to complete the yr as world No. 1. Nonetheless, throughout his restoration, he slipped to twenty first within the rankings and when he was again on courtroom within the Wimbledon finals, it slipped by way of his fingers and he misplaced to Pete Sampras.
Sadly, historical past was set to repeat itself as he reached the finals of Wimbledon as soon as extra earlier than dropping to Goran Ivanišević.
That yr he gained the Davis Cup singles title. He didn’t play in any tour matches in 2002 whereas recovering from accidents.
Retirement
Pat Rafter introduced his retirement in January 2003, on the age of 30.
Whereas his accidents had taken their toll, he mentioned on the time he had merely misplaced the motivation to play tennis on the prime degree.
After his retirement, he was named 2002 Australian of the Yr, and Queensland Tennis Centre in Brisbane was renamed Pat Rafter Enviornment in his honour. In 2009, he was named a Queensland “sports activities legend.”
Rafter returned to the game in 2004 to play doubles within the Australian Open and AAPT Championship and defeated Stefan Edberg on the 2009 AEGON Masters Tennis event.
He partnered with one other legend, Lleyton Hewitt, to play doubles on the 2014 Australian Open.
He has been inducted into the Worldwide Tennis Corridor of Fame, Sport Australia Corridor of Fame and Australian Tennis Corridor of Fame.
Household life
Simply as Rafter’s profession was taking off, he began courting mannequin Lara Feltham.
The 2 reportedly met in 1997 at a Sydney charity occasion in assist of the Starlight Youngsters’s Basis.
5 years later they welcomed their first youngster, son Joshua, in 2002 and reportedly turned engaged.
The couple married in a secret ceremony in Fiji two years later after telling reporters at Sydney Airport who suspected a marriage was within the works that they have been jetting off on a household vacation.
The couple added to their household with the delivery of their daughter India in 2005.
Internet value and prize cash
Rafter gained $17.8 million in prize cash throughout his profession but in addition earned cash from endorsements.
He was an envoy for Bonds, first becoming a member of the model in 2002 for a reported $150,000 a yr. He famously took a pay reduce in 2009 after Bonds introduced it was shedding 1850 employees.
In 2012, he instructed media retailers he was planning to cease modelling underwear because it was turning into tougher to remain in form as he neared 40.
However he continued as an envoy and was even the face of the Bonds Child Search for a few years.
Rafter and his spouse additionally discovered different methods to earn cash, together with property. He has owned a lot of houses and funding properties in Queensland and NSW.
In 2006, the couple paid $9.5 million for a property in Sunshine Seashore on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast the place they constructed a brand new residence.
They offered it for $15.2 million in January 2018 – lower than the unique $18 million asking value, with Rafter claiming he misplaced cash on the deal.
Subsequent, they purchased 28 hectares of land for $1.35 million in Damaged Head, close to Byron Bay, NSW, near the place Chris Hemsworth later constructed his residence.
The Rafters reportedly spent $1.5 million constructing a sprawling dream residence with a state-of-the-art full-size tennis courtroom and a ‘clubhouse’, and it’s thought to now be value many thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
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What does Pat Rafter do now?
Rafter, now 52, and spouse Lara proceed to reside on the property though their kids have reportedly moved out.
Earlier this yr, Rafter instructed Newscorp he spends a lot of his time planting timber on the property to revive it to its former glory and to entice native wildlife equivalent to echidnas, bandicoots and swamp wallabies again to the property.
The household has stayed largely out of the highlight however have been photographed in November 2024 on the Queensland Sport Awards when Rafter was named a legend of the game of tennis.
Earlier within the yr, he was pictured when he donned a singlet, wig and hat to slip down the Massive Freeze 10 waterslide earlier than the 2024 AFL Spherical 13 match between Collingwood and Melbourne Demons in Melbourne.
He additionally took half in an exhibition match throughout day one of many Brisbane Worldwide occasion in December 2024.
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