Has fatherhood been a good chapter of your life?
It’s unbelievable. I’ve liked all the stages of my life, growing up and then I had my tennis, and then after that my family and the bit of work that I do. I don’t often reflect back on tennis. It obviously comes up in conversation. But family’s my life now and I love it. Tennis also is still part of my life in a way, but it’s not how it used to be.
How often do you play tennis, just to have a hit?
I try to keep fit. It’s a good way of doing it. I try and do two one-hour hits a week. But after an hour I start to get bored with it.
Federer has said that he often feels the family man in him pulling him away from tennis, do you relate to that?
No, not one little bit. It’s the complete opposite actually. I decided I would not have family while I was playing tennis. That was never going to be the case. I retired when I was nearly 28. I was still young. I’d have enough of the game. I was ready to stop. And I was going out, for me, toward the top of my game. I was still very competitive with the boys.
I was not in [Federer’s] league but I was still feeling like I was at the top of my game, my particular game, and I wanted to leave when I was playing great tennis. And I was happy to leave on that particular note. But I totally understand what he’s talking about. I see that a lot with a lot of the other guys.
What do you mean not in his league? A former world number 1 saying that seems a little hard on yourself….
Thanks very much. Yeah, what I mean, if I make the final of a World Slam it was pretty good for me. But if Federer doesn’t win a Slam, it’s disappointing to him. We had different ideas and different expectations of where we’re at.
For me he was the greatest player I’ve ever seen. Roger was the greatest player of certainly our last generation, last 20-30 years of the game. Before then you had McEnroe, Lendl, Borg. But certainly from what I’ve seen, he’s been the best.
Isn’t he on record as saying that “Pat Rafter intimidated me”?
True. But that was in the beginning. Back then he was a pussy. He was the kid that came on the tour and he was really fresh-faced young kid. He looked up to everyone. And he loved the older guys. He had too much respect for us when he first came on. And he was a bit soft mentally. It was the worst part of his game until he was 20-years old, he had little mental issues of being able to fight and hang in the matches.
How did fatherhood change you?
I’ve always been motivated to get out of bed but I think the best way to describe the career is selfish. That was the only way I was going to be the best player. But when I came out of tennis and I had a family it was one of the best things I ever did. It gave me a whole different point of focus.
Your perspective changes, where you put things in your life. I’ve got to make decisions now where if it interferes with my family life I won’t do it. If it was just me I’d be selfish my whole life, but I can’t be selfish anymore. If I find that if something comes up and it takes my time at the expense of my family, I will forego it. I’ll make moral issues based on that now.
What do your kids think of the pre-family Pat Rafter?
They see people come up to me all the time and stop me and talk about tennis, and want a photograph and autograph. They see all that and they know. But they don’t really care. I’m their father. And the other stuff is when we go out and they sort of see it. I think they’re sort of amused by it. My daughter’s a bit more impressed than my son. They all play it very cool. They don’t make a big deal of it. It’s more their friends. Their friends come over and go “You’re Pat Rafter, you’re a tennis player.” And my kids, well, they’re pretty cool about it.