Australian tennis great Pat Rafter says Roger Federer was a “ratbag” when he first emerged on the tour, lifting the lid on a fiery early match-up with the Swiss phenom.
Rafter is one of very few players to be unbeaten against Federer, holding a 3-0 career record against the eventual 20-time grand slam champ.
The first of the pair’s meetings came at Roland-Garros in 1999, when Rafter emerged a winner in four sets after Federer took the opener in a tiebreak.
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Rafter recalled learning about Federer, a wildcard for the tournament, ahead of the clash through Lleyton Hewitt, who was also rising up the ranks as a youngster at the time.
“Lleyton said ‘he’s bloody good’,” Rafter told Wide World of Sports’ The Happy Slam podcast.
“He (Hewitt) played a lot of him (Federer) in juniors and I was on the tour at that stage and he said, ‘watch out, this guy’s good’.”
Rafter revealed how Federer riled him up after taking the opening set, but he then turned the Swiss youngster “to water”.
“I was not on my best surface, but there’s no way I’m losing to this guy,” he said.
“I go out there fine and he breaks me at five-all and he gets a bit excited. I get into his grill a little bit, and I get a bit upset and I get into his face and he turned to water.
Listen to all six episodes of The Happy Slam podcast on Apple and on Spotify, featuring in-depth interviews with tennis legends Pat Rafter, Jelena Dokic, Jim Courier, Dylan Alcott, Todd Woodbridge, and Australia’s current top WTA player Ajla Tomljanovic.
“He was pretty soft back then and that was his downside, which was very fine for me, and it took him a little while to mature.
“I got to play him a couple more times before I finished and he just seems to get better and better.
“Not to say (he was) much better, but knowing who he was and how he was going to mentally play these matches.”
Rafter revealed the moment he knew how special Federer could become.
“I played him one week in 2001 in my last year and he had match points (against) me in Germany on grass,” he said.
“Then he went on to beat (Pete) Sampras at Wimbledon the next week and it’s like, this kid is starting to believe.”
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Federer called time on his illustrious career in 2022 and retired as tennis’ consummate professional and the ultimate gentleman, but Rafter recalled how that was not always the case.
“We always think of him as the ultimate gentleman and he has been for the last 15 years, but his first five years he was soft,” he said.
“He was a ratbag and he was certainly no gentleman of the sport then, but he was learning and finding out who he was as a young boy dealing with all the pressures and expectations.”
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