SPORTS
By Sandra McKee and Sandra McKee,SUN STAFF | September 8, 1997
NEW YORK -- No. 13-ranked Patrick Rafter could feel what was coming. A bam-bam-bam net exchange got him his first point in what would be the last game of this U.S. Open men's championship, and Rafter pumped his fist.When a forehand volley winner put him two points from victory, he put his hand in the air, pumped -- and waved at the crowd.A 101-mph ace brought the Australian to match point and when he connected on a sharp cross-court forehand volley for the winning point, Rafter didn't know what to do with himself.
SPORTS
By Sandra McKee and Sandra McKee,SUN STAFF | September 13, 1998
NEW YORK -- Pete Sampras was up a set and a break, but down a point, 0-15, in the third set of his U.S. Open match with Patrick Rafter last evening when he made a big lunge for a backhand volley.Sampras reached the volley and won the game. He even won the set. But in a classic example of losing the war, he pulled his left quadriceps muscle and lost his chance at tying Australian Roy Emerson's record of 12 major championships."You know, it shocked me a little bit," Sampras said after losing the semifinal to Rafter, the defending Open champion, 6-7 (8-10)
SPORTS
By Bill Glauber and Bill Glauber,SUN FOREIGN STAFF | June 27, 2001
WIMBLEDON, England - Beyond the looks, the legs and the ever-changing hairstyles, Patrick Rafter has always set himself apart in men's tennis by his simple humanity. He's the champ who admits to nerves, the star hobbled by injuries, the veteran publicly pondering retirement. So there was a bit of anticipation yesterday when Rafter showed up at Centre Court on a warm, humid day, modeling a buzz cut and bandanna that made him look like an extra from a Rambo flick while embarking on what may be his last chance for a first Wimbledon title.
SPORTS
By Bill Glauber and Bill Glauber,SUN FOREIGN STAFF | July 7, 2001
WIMBLEDON, England - At the bitter end, Andre Agassi snarled. At the bitter end, he smashed a ball that skipped close to a lineswoman, who had heard him curse in the match and reported him to the umpire. At the bitter end, he was ousted from Wimbledon in what might have been his last, best chance to win the tournament. Yesterday, Agassi lost a heartbreaker of a men's semifinal against Patrick Rafter, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6. He lost when he was two points from winning, lost in one of the better semifinals seen at Wimbledon, lost against a player who has been chasing him here for three years.
SPORTS
By Bill Glauber and Bill Glauber,SUN FOREIGN STAFF | July 5, 2001
WIMBLEDON, England - One is an old champion who won the title at the tail end of the first Bush administration. Two are old favorites who have come within inches of winning crowns. And the last is a quiet Englishman out to end more than a half-century of men's tennis misery for Britain. They are Wimbledon's men's semifinalists: Andre Agassi, Patrick Rafter, Goran Ivanisevic and Tim Henman. Yesterday, the veteran grass-court quartet ousted the teens and pretenders by storming through the quarterfinals during a day of high drama and high humidity at the sweaty All England Club.
SPORTS
By Sandra McKee and Sandra McKee,SUN STAFF | June 5, 1997
PARIS -- Australian Patrick Rafter has dreamed of being in a Grand Slam semifinal -- just not this one."The French Open, definitely not in the first two," he said, after serve-and-volleying his way to tomorrow's semifinals with a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 victory over Spaniard Galo Blanco, the 111th-ranked player in the world."I think the first two were Wimbledon and the Australian Open," Rafter said. "The Australian Open, obviously, because it's home. Wimbledon, because it's regarded as where tennis started.