Tennis: Rafter wants another shot at elusive title

SYDNEY - Pat Rafter is set to put his tennis retirement on hold long enough for one last crack at an Australian Open title.

The two-time US Open champion has had a change of heart since hinting strongly at the Open last month that his semifinal loss to Andre Agassi would be his last appearance at Melbourne Park.

Rafter all but said goodbye to his Australian fans, declaring he would probably take a lengthy break from the game after this year and might not return.

But yesterday, an enthusiastic Rafter said he would love to play the Open again next January.

Whether he did would depend on how successful he was this year.

He hoped to do well enough to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup tournament for the year's top eight players in Sydney in November.

If he managed that, it would be a perfect lead-in to the Open.

If not, he would struggle to maintain the motivation and fitness needed in the lead-up.

He said the tournament season was long enough to keep the momentum going until next year and the Australian Open.

"I would love to come back," Rafter said, while getting his trademark long hair shorn for charity.

"But if it looks like I'm going to slow down in September, then it's very hard to do all that work again to get ready for the Australian Open.

"I don't want to go into a tournament like the Australian Open underdone or to be just there for another tribute.

"I want to be there to compete and be there to win.

"I wouldn't be going there if I didn't have the tennis."

Rafter was typically enthusiastic about the challenge of Australia's Davis Cup quarter-final tie against the Gustavo Kuerten-led Brazil in Brazil.

He expected the traditionally boisterous Brazilian crowd to behave in the same way as the fans at the Cup final against Spain in Barcelona last December.

But he said the highly charged environment would be amazing even if it was gruelling.

"Even though Spain was a strange tie with the sort of atmosphere that we dealt with, it still created an amazing atmosphere, even though it was a negative one," he said. "I think Brazil will be along the same lines."

Rafter also suggested he had found effective treatment for the profuse sweating and cramping that affected him during last month's Open semifinal against Andre Agassi.

"Until I have a really tough match it's hard to say, but we're pretty confident that we're on to something with the fluid loss and the salt loss," he said.

"Everyone's looking for other answers, and everyone thinks it's something else but really at the end of the day that's all it is."

He said he and his teammates would welcome back the injured Mark Philippoussis to the Davis Cup squad.

- NZPA