27 Facts About Patrick Rafter

1.

Patrick Michael Rafter was born on 28 December 1972 and is an Australian former world No 1 tennis player.

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2.

Patrick Rafter reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals singles ranking on 26 July 1999.

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3.

Patrick Rafter became the first man in the Open Era to win Canada Masters, Cincinnati Masters and the US Open in the same year, which he achieved in 1998; this achievement has been dubbed the American Summer Slam.

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4.

Patrick Rafter is the only player to remain undefeated against Roger Federer with at least three meetings, though the meetings took place early in Federer's career.

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5.

Patrick Rafter is the only player with a winning record over the Swiss on all the three main surfaces: hard, clay and grass.

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6.

Patrick Rafter won his first tour-level match in 1993, at Wimbledon.

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7.

Patrick Rafter reached the third round, before losing to Andre Agassi.

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8.

Patrick Rafter defeated Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals in three tight sets, before losing to Boris Becker in the semifinals.

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9.

Patrick Rafter won his first career singles title in 1994 in Manchester.

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10.

Patrick Rafter had a particularly strong year in 1998, winning the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Masters.

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11.

Patrick Rafter defeated ninth-ranked Richard Krajicek in the Toronto final and second-ranked Pete Sampras in the Cincinnati final.

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12.

Patrick Rafter added that a tennis player must come back and win a Grand Slam again in order to be considered great.

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13.

Patrick Rafter then defended his US Open title by defeating fellow Australian Mark Philippoussis in four sets, committing only five unforced errors throughout the match.

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14.

Altogether, Patrick Rafter won six tournaments in 1998, finishing the year No 4 in the world.

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15.

Patrick Rafter won the Australian Open men's doubles title in 1999, making him one of few players in the modern era to win both a singles and doubles Grand Slam title during their career.

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16.

Patrick Rafter then reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time in 1999, losing in straight sets to Agassi.

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17.

July 1999 saw Patrick Rafter holding the world No 1 men's singles ranking for one week, making him the shortest-reigning world No 1 in ATP Tour history.

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18.

Patrick Rafter's ranking had fallen to No 21 by the time he reached the Wimbledon final in July 2000.

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19.

Patrick Rafter faced Sampras in the final, who was gunning for a record-breaking seventh Wimbledon title overall.

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20.

Patrick Rafter played on the Australian Davis Cup Team that lost in the final in 2000 and 2001.

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21.

Patrick Rafter played on the Australian teams that won the World Team Cup in 1999 and 2001.

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22.

Patrick Rafter played his last match at the Davis Cup final, winning the singles rubber but losing the doubles rubber.

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23.

Patrick Rafter did return at the beginning of the 2004 season to play doubles at two tournaments only; the 2004 Australian Open and the 2004 AAPT Championships.

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24.

In 2005, Patrick Rafter won the International Club's prestigious Jean Borotra Sportsmanship Award.

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25.

Patrick Rafter was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2006.

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26.

In 2009, as part of the Q150 celebrations, Patrick Rafter was announced as one of the Q150 Icons of Queensland for his role as a "sports legend".

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27.

Patrick Rafter stood down as Australia's Davis Cup captain on 29 January 2015.

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