Rafter misses chance for No. 1
Posted: Friday January 22, 1999 09:55 PM
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Dejected: Rafter once again could not come through for the home country fans AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Pat Rafter listed sanity among his
goals for 1999 after missing his chance to take over the No. 1 spot
from Pete Sampras at the Australian Open.
The Australian, who spent time at No. 2 last year before
slipping back to No. 4, lost 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to Sweden's Thomas
Enqvist in their third-round match Friday.
Enqvist stomped on Rafter's second serves and punished the local
hope with his own, setting back Rafter's bid for the summit. The
two-time U.S. Open champion needed to reach the final to surpass
Sampras, who missed the year's first Grand Slam because of fatigue.
Five players had the chance to take over from Sampras here. Of
them, only Andre Agassi remains in the title chase. But to reach
No. 1, he would have needed bonus points from beating high seeds
already gone.
Rafter admitted the last year wore him out too, so he plans to
play about 19 tournaments this year instead of the 26 in 1998.
"I just want to have more of a sane year," Rafter said. "I'm
going to have a lot more breaks than I did las year. It's just too
hard to keep playing."
Rafter came into the tournament on a down after going 1-2 in his
three tuneup matches. He complained that the pressure of playing at
home weighed heavily and he looked beat before the year had really
started.
It's amazing what a good loss an do.
"I'm really looking forward to this year," Rafter said. "I
feel like I want to go bak out and train, which is a real positive
sign or the rest of the year. Unfortunately, it's not going to
happen here."
Rafter has yet to go beyond the fourth round of his home Slam
and he was pinned back away from the net Friday as Enqvist reeled
off some stunning groundstrokes.
In the crucial seventh game of the fourth set, Enqvist kept
hammering backhand winners off Rafter's serve and got the winning
break when the Australian had his second double fault.
Enqvist was tipped as a dangerous unseeded floater before the
tournament, after he won all eight tuneup games including the AAPT
Championships title.
He bounces from one local hero to another, having to meet Mark
Philippoussis in the fourth round.
"I don't know if he can keep it going for five sets," Rafter
said of his conqueror. "But he's probably in the best shape and
hitting the ball as well as he ever has."
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