Rafter Leads the Aussie Assault

For the first time in more than 30 years, any one of three Australian men could win Wimbledon this year, with Pat Rafter, Mark Philippoussis and Lleyton Hewitt forming a three-pronged attack that may well see the game's most coveted trophy return to this country.

Not since the 1960s, the era of Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, John Newcombe and other great champions, has there been such depth in the Australian line-up. In those days, as Newcombe says, Australia's best players believed it their birthright to win all the major prizes. It was simply a matter of whose turn was next.

While circumstances are much different today - there's far stiffer competition, for one thing - it may take but one breakthrough for that feeling of supreme confidence, almost to the point of arrogance, to return. After all, the most important ingredient in any recipe for Grand Slam success is a player's unshakable self-belief that he can beat all-comers and win the title. He then knows that, barring bad luck, he can do it again.

Pete Sampras has won Wimbledon six times, a magnificent record that entitles him to clear favoritism. Even when he has been playing indifferently in the early part of the year, his game picks up dramatically once he steps on English turf, especially the turf in a leafy south-west corner of London. Since 1993, only a hot Richard Krajicek, in 1996, has interrupted his supremacy there.

Before Sampras opened his reign, Andre Agassi caused a major surprise by snatching the title in 1992. Sampras and Agassi are the only former winners in this year's field. They fought out the final in 1999, and most people expect them to do so again, although Sampras' increasing proneness to injury makes him a day-to-day proposition.

But Rafter, Philippoussis and Hewitt are credible threats to deny them that rendezvous. In fact, Rafter looks just the type to win Wimbledon, as did Pat Cash, our last champion, in 1987. Rafter serves and volleys as well as Cash, is at least as fast and athletic, and perhaps a little more flexible. He has better groundstrokes than Cash, and can fight as hard.

What he has usually lacked is Cash's instinctive attachment to grass courts. Cash grew up when grasscourt tennis was still a major facet of the game in Victoria; he knew the Kooyong centre court like the back of his hand. Rafter is more a product of hardcourt tennis; although his style is perfectly suited to grasscourt play - he picks up low volleys, for instance, like a Cash or Hoad - he has lacked the long experience on the surface that breeds complete confidence.

From 1996 to 1998 Rafter didn't advance beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon. Last year, when he was seeded seventh, his stature in the game had grown following back-to-back US Open triumphs in 1997-98. He enjoyed a string of good wins - over Bjorkman, Enqvist, Becker and Todd Martin - before losing to a brilliant Agassi in the semi-finals.

A few weeks earlier, Rafter had played three tough serve-and-volley matches at the French Open, followed by another five in winning a grasscourt tournament in Holland. Perhaps the shoulder injury that was to sideline him at the US Open a couple of months later had already occurred.

In retrospect, the Rafter family believes the mishap and the six months' layoff it caused may have been a blessing in disguise. "He took up surfing and spent a lot of time back home with the family," says Peter Rafter, one of Pat's brothers. "He was getting stale before and burning out mentally."

Now, Rafter seems revitalised. The quest for the Davis Cup has aroused his enthusiasm, and he has been given a clean bill of health, although his shoulder is still capable of causing a little worry from time to time. John Newcombe believes he has at least another two Grand Slam singles titles in him before retirement. "In some ways," says Pete Rafter, "Pat's better than he was before." Possibly, he is stronger both physically and mentally.

What he needs to win Wimbledon, apart from the luck that no contender can do without, is good weather. Rafter seeks firm courts on which his slice serves and kickers will be at their most effective, and on which he can move with his customary speed and agility. Cool, damp weather will detract from his technique and perhaps create small doubts about his shoulder, despite his confidence in the doctors' work.

Philippoussis will also be hoping for fine conditions. Big men - and he's as big as they come - are always at a disadvantage on damp grass. What's more, Philippoussis may still be experiencing some trauma from the injury to his left knee that put him out of Wimbledon last year, and the calf strain that troubled him in April. Fully fit, he poses a considerable threat.

Last year, when superbly prepared by Gavin Hopper and Pat Cash, Philippoussis was giving Sampras a hard time in their quarter-final when he damaged a cartilage and couldn't continue. He had won the first set and looked like getting on top in the second. Earlier, he'd eliminated British hope Greg Rusedski.

Philippoussis showed his potential on grass when he won the Queen's title in 1997. If he serves at his most powerful, but sensibly, he won't often concede his service. Under Cash's tutelage, his net attack has improved enormously.

Hewitt, superficially, lacks the grasscourt weapons of his older compatriots, but his footwork, intensity and punishing returns must put him in the running. He gave Sampras a torrid three-set match in the Queen's semi-finals last year, but was a bit overwhelmed by his first Wimbledon Centre Court appearance against such a living legend as Boris Becker, losing in the third round.

Hewitt draws encouragement from Agassi's success at Wimbledon. "My game is very similar to Agassi's. I pick up the ball very quickly," he said recently. "Obviously, everyone talks about the service being a big thing on grass. If you've got a big serve, you're halfway home. But if you watch Andre's matches, he takes away the serve. He beats Krajicek, Sampras; he can beat a lot of those guys on grass by just stepping in and taking away the serve and putting a lot of pressure on them with the returns. I think there's definitely an opportunity there for me."

The fourth Aussie contender to be watched very closely is Wayne Arthurs, who leaped to fame - and effectively into the Davis Cup team - by his phenomenal left-handed serves at the 1999 Championships. Left-handers can be especially menacing on Wimbledon grass - witness the exploits of Norman Brookes, Neale Fraser and John McEnroe, to mention a few. Newcombe gives Arthurs an outside chance of winning the title, but at 29 his trophy cupboard is so bare that it's difficult to see him scoring his first major triumph against such a star-packed field.

Of the other Australians, we shouldn't overlook Jason Stoltenberg and Todd Woodbridge, both semi-finalists in recent years, and both capable of doing a lot of damage again. If I were a bookmaker, I'd pitch the odds in the following sequence: 1, Sampras; 2, Agassi; 3, Rafter; 4, Krajicek; 5, Philippoussis; 6, Henman; 7, Hewitt; 8, Rusedski.