Patrick Rafter

Patrick Rafter is a former tennis pro, emerging as World's no. 1 in 1999. He also holds the record for being the only Australian to have won two U.S. championships in a row, in 1997 and in 1998. He is best known for his amazing serve-and-volley play.

Born in December 28, 1972 in Mount Isa, Queensland, Pat is the third-youngest child in a family of nine kids. At five years old, he began playing the game as his father and there older brothers were active in the sport themselves.

Pat turned pro in 1991, when he was just nineteen years old. It was three (3) years after turning pro that he won his first Singles title in Manchester in 1994; his career seemed low to progress until 1997, when he at last reached the semis at the French Open. Later that year, he won the US Open, his first Grand Slam title. The athletes he beat in the event were tennis legends themselves, including Andre Agassi and Michael Chang.

1998 was even a better year for the Aussie star, as he won six tournaments then, including two (2) ATP Masters Series titles in Toronto and in Cincinnati. This back-to-back win put him in equal rank as Agassi and Roddick, the only two other tennis athletes who won two tournaments in one year.

Rafter’s twelve-year career earned him eleven (11) Singles titles and ten (10) Doubles titles. He was awarded “Australian of the Year” in 2002, and towards the end of the same year he retired from the professional tour.

Rafter was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2008, he was inducted into the Australian Open Hall of Fame. He currently plays in the ATP Champions Tour.