Rafter’s Rebound Puts Him Within Reach of No. 1

Patrick Rafter has always handled his setbacks better than everyone else.

After a disappointing 1999 Australian Open, he headed to Whistler, Canada, and went skiing and snowboarding. He survived uninjured and joked that “everyone told me not to do it.”

He followed with a mediocre winter and spring and was spotted playing doubles in a low-key, anonymous challenger event recently at home in Bermuda, instead of making the usual clay-court pilgrimages through Europe.

Last year, he lost in the quarterfinals at the Los Angeles tournament and surprised reporters with his upbeat, cheerful answers, saying it was just another loss. Several weeks later he won his second U.S. Open title.

Now, Rafter has been at his unpredictable best in Rome . . . serving and volleying on slow red clay and, generally, confusing his opponents with his slow-slice backhand. Now he is one match from becoming the No. 1 player in the world.

“When you see his slice, you think, ‘OK, I can hit that.’ ” said Spaniard Felix Mantilla, who lost to Rafter in the Italian Open semifinals. “But the ball is going so slowly it’s like my mother is hitting the ball.”

Said Rafter: “It’s good because they haven’t seen it. It’s my only shot on clay. He [Mantilla] doesn’t like it, so I keep doing it.”

Clearly, Rafter is not your typical clay-court player.

At the Italian Open, he has been wearing a funky pair of shorts, looking ready to hang 10 at Venice Beach, not play for No. 1 in Rome.

If Rafter defeats Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil today in the Italian Open final, he will become the first Australian to hold the top spot in the world since John Newcombe in 1974. It would be the first time four players have held No. 1 during any one year on the men’s tour. The others are Pete Sampras, Carlos Moya and the current No. 1, Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

This is also the 10th time in 16 weeks of tournament play that there has been the potential for a change at the top of the men’s game, according to the Assn. of Tennis Professionals. At various times in 1999, Andre Agassi, Alex Corretja, Richard Krajicek and Marcelo Rios have all had a shot at No. 1.

And by the way, it seems as though all roads to No. 1 must go through Kuerten. Moya became No. 1 by defeating Kuerten at Indian Wells in the semifinals in March.

Maybe this all makes sense in a twisted way. Moya did not become No. 1 on his favorite surface, clay. So why should Rafter reach No. 1 on a hard-court surface? He has never won a clay-court event, although he did reach the French Open semifinals in 1997.

“Everyone thinks it’s strange and shakes their heads,” Rafter said. “It’s strange for them and for me too. It came from nowhere.”

Earlier in the tournament, he responded with disbelief, saying, “Really?” when it was mentioned he could become No. 1 by winning the Italian Open. For him, obsession has rarely been a good thing.

“It’s not necessarily driving me, to have that thought [of No. 1] might be a problem, so I’m trying not to think about it,” Rafter said.

“Corretja said that if he gets to the final, he will give it to me.”

Kuerten eliminated that possibility Saturday, and the former French Open champion is having a stellar clay-court season, winning Monte Carlo in April. Kuerten’s presence in today’s final is not a huge surprise.

So, how then did Rafter turn into a clay-court guru?

Aussie legends Tony Roche and Newcombe advise him from time to time. Newcombe sent him a blistering, critical fax just before Wimbledon last year, and Rafter responded by winning a grass-court event in the Netherlands and reached the fourth round at Wimbledon.

This time, it was some friendly advice from Roche, telling him to get off the baseline and let his natural serve-and-volley game do the rest. His tactics have made the Italian Open a fascinating event, and could do the same at the French Open, especially if Sampras and Krajicek follow his example.

“He [Roche] just told me, ‘Go out and play your game.’ ” Rafter said. “No secrets. He’s not talking much about [my] success. If anything goes wrong, he’ll tell me. He’s very happy with me.”

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

* “I played like a schmuck. I am a schmuck,” said Agassi, on his loss to Rafter at the Italian Open.

* “He can recover from every disaster much faster than you can imagine,” Kafelnikov said of Sampras.

* “I would prefer to see Rafter win because he will become No. 1, and I think Guga [Kuerten] will have the chance also in the future,” Corretja said of today’s Italian Open final.