Ladies And Gentlemen, Meet An Australian No.1: Patrick Rafter

The Age

Saturday January 26, 2002

CAROLINE OVERINGTON

Before he became a highly paid professional tennis player, Patrick Rafter was a scruffy little country kid with an oversized racquet. He used to have lessons at the local tennis club in Nambour, Queensland.

"Whenever I managed to get a ball back over the net, my coach, Gavin Yarrow, would yell out, `You're going to be No.1 in the world'," Rafter said yesterday. ``I'd shout back, 'top 10 will do'."

In an effort to build the young player's confidence, Rafter's coach would send two balls over the net and say, ``If you can get both back to me, I promise you, you'll be No.1 in the world."

And then, one day, Pat did get both of them back, ``and we danced around and around like idiots, yelling, `I'm No.1. I'm going to be No.1."'

And so he was. Rafter achieved top ranking in 1999, the year after he won his second consecutive US Open. Yesterday, he picked up another prize: once-dubbed the "world's sexiest man" Rafter is the 2002 Australian of the Year.

Rafter's choice was popular but not without controversy, as he does not live in Australia. He has a home in the tropical haven Bermuda, where he pays no tax on an estimated $9 million annual income.

Asked yesterday if he intended to return to Australia, Rafter said he was ``back now, mate" and ``looking for a place" and would probably settle on the Sunshine Coast.

Rafter has previously said he lives in Bermuda because he is anonymous there. Seven of the 32 men's seeds playing in the Australian Open have similar reasons for living in another zero-tax haven, Monaco. Conversely, the world No.1, Lleyton Hewitt, has a home in Adelaide, where the top tax rate is 48 per cent.

National Australia Day Council director Warren Pearson, said a person did not have to live in Australia to be nominated for Australian of the Year.

"That was part of the discussion, when we looked at the shortlist," he said. ``I had a chat to Pat. He assures me there is no way you can be full-time in Australia and achieve what he has on the tennis court. But he's through-and-through Australian. I think he proved that with the Davis Cup. And on the issue of the tax haven, I think Pat's philanthropy more than makes up."

Accepting his award, Rafter thanked his large family. He is the seventh of nine children. "Dad wanted five kids, Mum wanted four, so they compromised."

He also thanked his ``father figure and really good mate" Tony Roche, and his girlfriend, Lara, who is expecting the couple's child.

Rafter, 29, was raised in Mount Isa, and later Eumundi, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland. As a teen player, he failed to get into the Australian Institute of Sport.

He is much admired for his philanthropy (in 1999, he used his prizemoney from the Australian Open to establish the Cherish the Children Foundation) and modesty (two years earlier, he returned his appearance money after losing a first-round exhibition match in France).

Three Australian Achievers were also announced. They are marine enviromentalist Valerie Taylor for gaining protection for sea lions, potato cod, coral sea bird and the southern right whale; astronaut Andy Thomas; and SBS radio head Tuong Quang Luu, for his work with refugees.

Full list of honours - NEWS EXTRA

Australia Day speeches, diary, art gallery display - NEWS 9-11

© 2002 The Age

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