Pat Rafter is a nice guy – that’s a fact.
But anyone who ever said that nice guys finish last had certainly never seen this tennis ace in his prime.
For those who love him he’s the Dave Grohl of tennis – where many others trade on ego and showmanship Rafter relied on his talent to carry him throughout his career.
And boy, did it carry him.
In his heyday in the late 90s to the early 2000s the 42-year-old was a former world number one. He twice won the Men’s Singles US Open and was twice a runner-up at Wimbledon.
His talented serve and volley style of play allowed him to achieve becoming the first man to win what is dubbed the American Slam Summer in 1998 – that’s the Montreal/Toronto,
Cincinnati and US Open all in the same season.
And so it goes that with achievement comes ego, but not the case for Pat.
Throughout his career Rafter was polite and a delight to watch. Even up against some of the sport’s most renowned hot heads – Aggassi, Safin, and his very own countryman, Lleyton Hewitt – Rafter never adjusted his style of play. He was so goddamn gracious.
His catchphrase wasn’t something along the lines of, “You can’t be serious!”, or “C’moooon!” No, if you had to pick a Rafter-ism it would be, “Sorry mate.” A sentence he uttered to his opponents when he mucked up a serve toss.
And if he played today you just know that he wouldn’t yell like Lleyton or swear like Kyrgios or wouldn’t rock a kit as flashy as Tomic’s but he would certainly be just as formidable – he just would have let his results do the smack talking.
So, what the deal? Why didn’t any of these Aussies who came up the tennis ranks after him follow in his footsteps to success. What happened to all of the nice guys in Aussie tennis?
Admittedly, we do like to sometimes see passionate players flirt with disqualification on the court but even as spectators we know that obscenities don’t help you ace.
That’s a fact we might have to remind 20-year-old Nick Kyrgios of after having another ugly exchange with a chair umpire for allegedly swearing under his breath at Wimbledon on Wednesday.
And something we might have to tell Bernie Tomic who has reportedly pulled out of the Davis Cup team because of the funding beef his father, John Tomic, has with Tennis Australia and Rafter himself (impossible – we know!).
Tomic Snr says the money going to his children Bernard and Sara Tomic’s careers is not enough but Rafter recently told reporters the amounts are in the vicinity of the “ridiculous” and swiftly qualified he wouldn’t like the whole controversy to play out publicly. He also wished Tomic well for the Wimbledon tournament.
See, nice guy.
So when considering all of that it’s tough not to want to shout, “C’mooooon future Australian tennis champions, let your talent do the talking!” It’s tough to not want to remind them that tennis is a gentleman’s game and in that respect Rafter was one of the greatest to ever play.
We’d like to see more Aussie nice guys like him win on the court – not brats.
PS. Pat is so nice that we even he’s tip toeing about in ONLY his socks and undies for Bonds we still think he is the most modest man ever.
On another note, here are some of the biggest dummy spits from some of the best superbrats to ever pick up (and throw) a racquet.
Words: Jessica Leahy
Throughout his career Rafter was polite and a delight to watch. Even up against some of the sport’s most renowned hot heads – Aggassi, Safin, and his very own countryman Lleyton Hewitt – Rafter never adjusted his style of play. He was so goddamn gracious.
Nick Kyrgios flirted with disqualification at Flushing Meadows in 2014 but his obscenities aren’t likely to even make a blip on the dummy spit scale when you consider the superbrats that have gone before him.
You couldn’t have a list of tennis tantys and not include John ‘You cannot be serious’ McEnroe. His infamous incident during his first round match against Tom Gullikson at Wimbledon in 1981 was sporting dummy spit at its best. Furious that the chair umpire called a ball out McEnroe entered in a hysterical tirade shouting “That ball was on the line! Chalk flew up! It was clearly in! You guys are the absolute pits of the world”.
The world number one Serena Williams lost her cool at the 2009 US Open final against Kim Clijsters when a lines woman called a fault which gave the Belgian two match points. “I swear to God I’m going to take this ball and shove it down your f—ing throat, you hear that? I swear to God,” Williams was caught saying to the official. Williams was fined $10,000 for the incident.
German racquet swinger Boris Becker was well known for his frequent meltdowns on the court. One of his most infamous outbursts was when he was matched against U.S. player Pete Sampras at the 1993 Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
Nine-time winner of the Wimbledon women’s singles title, Martina Navratilova lost her cool during an intense centre court match at the 1992 Wimbledon Championships where the Czech and American tennis player lost to top-seeded Monica Seles of Yugoslavia.
Almost known for her lungs as much as tennis playing ability Maria Sharapova let out a wild scream after missing a point at the 2005 semi-final against Kim Clijsters at the US Open.
In the 2006 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington Andre Agassi slammed his racquet down after an upset by Italian Andrea Stoppini. “Breaking a racket for me has always been a sign of caring about something that you can’t quite get over the hump with… I was very frustrated,” Agassi later told ESPN of the outburst.
While he might have been there to witness Kyrgios’ recent outburst at Flushing Meadows, Mikhail Youzhny’s dummy spit at the 2008 Miami Masters was a bloody mess. The Russian took a poorly executed backhand out on his forehead when he smashed his racquet into his skull not once, not twice, but three times. Un-fazed by his self-abuse the seeded player calmly called for a towel to mop the blood off his face, a fresh racquet and went on the win the match.
Just before losing the 2004 Wimbledon Championships to Roger Federer Andy Roddick infamously shook the net out of frustration.
Belgian Xavier Malisse received an immediate disqualification and four week ban from a tournament in Miami in 2005 after hurling a ball at a lineswoman, verbally abusing other officials before kicking a fence and attacking it with his racquet.
Argentinian David Nalbandian’s fiery temper got the best of him at Queens in 2012 when he was ejected from the court after kicking an advertising board that struck a line judge’s shin and resulted in a nasty gash. Nalbandian was fined £8,000 and docked 150 ranking points for the outburst.
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