Australian Open tennis news 2023: Pat Rafter on Ash Barty career, retirement and Nick Kyrgios
Pat Rafter has revealed his “secret hope” Ash Barty will play professional tennis again and lifted the lid on a frosty feud between the Australian and one of her main rivals.
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Pat Rafter has lifted the lid on the friction between Ash Barty and her Australian Open final opponent Danielle Collins, revealing there was “no love lost” between the pair.
Rafter, one of the nicest guys in the sport, may have accidentally revealed the tension between the pair almost a year after Barty became the first Australian in 44 years to win her home grand slam.
Talking about his “secret hope” Barty would backflip on her retirement decision — despite knowing there was no chance she would — Rafter talked of the enjoyment the three-time grand slam champion brought him while watching her play.
“It was the only match I would go and watch live — even Federer and Djokovic, who I love watching them play, and Nadal — but I can’t (miss) sitting and watch a match with Ash, I just really got into it.
“I think also being Australian, I was a lot more invested with the result.
“Being an armchair critic, your heartrate gets up, so I was one of those, I loved it.”
He watched what turned out to be the final match of her career from Melbourne and picked up on plenty of signs that Collins, the woman nicknamed “Danimal” was getting under Barty’s skin in the final.
“I knew with her and Danielle, they had a bit of a … what’s the word - there was no love lost anyway,” Rafter said.
“Danielle’s pretty feisty. And Ash didn’t want to lose to her.”
Watching on from his hotel room in Melbourne, Rafter could pick up on signs Collins was starting to rattle Barty in the second set after the Aussie had won the opener handily.
“It was pretty funny, I don’t know how much you can pick up on the on-court subtleties of it but I’m pretty aware of Ash and I understand where her mind’s at and I can see all her little movements and ticks,” Rafter said as Collins pushed to a 5-1 lead in the second set.
“I was going, ‘oh no, she’s getting rattled, she’s not good’.
“But she was able to pull it out which was pretty important.
“I would have hated to see her get to the final and lose because she was the dominant player. I like seeing the best players win.”
On the verge of dropping a set for the first time in the tournament, Barty managed to avoid the match going to a decider, levelling at 5-5 before forcing a tie-break she won convincingly to become the first Australian since Chris O’Neil in 1978 to win her home grand slam.
Rafter, in Brisbane at the arena named in his honour to promote the United Cup, believes Australia has a chance in the tournament, in part because of the presence of the nation’s top-ranked woman Ajla Tomljanovic, who has stepped into the spotlight in Barty’s absence, having an outstanding year.
But Barty would be missed.
“I enjoyed watching her. It was the one match that I’d always turn on to watch,” Rafter said.
“It’s been a year without Ash nearly, so we’re slowly getting over it.
“She obviously showed who she is and the person she is and she’s had a really great year sitting on the sidelines and there is certainly no desire from her to come back to tennis - although we all secretly hope she will.
“Just come back for a little bit anyway. I mean, she loves tennis, she’s still involved, she’s passionate about it.
“But playing on the court is different. You’ve got that pressure and expectation and all the things that go along with it and it’s not easy.”
A two-time grand slam champion and former world no. 1 Rafter made what seemed a premature retirement of his own at 28.
“I was turning 29, I was still 28 when I retired but it’s a really unique thing for individuals where their mind’s at,” he said.
“I had a different mentality of where I wanted to be, to someone like a Federer or Nadal who are going for these amazing records and are so fit and driven.
“If you don’t have the drive, you can’t play and Ash had lost a bit of that and she said it was time for her (to retire) and you’ve got to respect that.
“I think it was an amazing time to quit - just winning the Aussie Open and she was going to play the Billie Jean King Cup and then the Ukraine (war) happened, so she was going to go out on doing some pretty cool things.
“But at the same time, she was going to stop after Wimbledon, so it was amazing to keep her on court that long.”
RAFTER ON ‘ENIGMA’ KYRGIOS’ AUSTRALIAN OPEN HOPES
Former World No. 1 Pat Rafter is in no doubt Nick Kyrgios has the skill to win the Australian Open but it depends on the frame of mind the “enigma” that is the World No. 22 takes to Melbourne Park.
“The talent’s there, we’ve always known it, it’s up to him,” Rafter said when asked if Kyrgios was primed for a strong showing at the Australian Open this summer.
“We always said that but you need the whole package as well.
“Obviously talent-wise, in terms of how you play the game, yes (he can win the tournament).
“But the game is complicated, it has a lot of other things. You have to be really fit, you have to be in a good frame of mind, all those type of things need to work.
“He’s a bit of an enigma, I guess. It’s always hard to know with him how he’s going to go but he’s got the talent.”
Rafter “imagined” Kyrgios’s run to the Wimbledon final would have bolstered confidence he could get through to the business end of a grand slam.
But he said the Australian Open in summer was a different beast to the grass in London.
“Grass is really a fair bit easier on your body as well,” said Rafter, who made the final twice at the All England club.
“I never felt like Wimbledon was going to be physically that demanding.
“The French, US, Australian Open – hot, hard and a lot of long matches and long points – so that’s where it’s all at.”
Rafter was reticent to be drawn much further on Kyrgios, in part because he has no role or contact with the Kyrgios camp, but also because the two-time grand slam champion is well aware of how quickly any comment he makes will consume the headlines and likely draw a rebuke from the Canberran.
Certainly he wasn’t willing to comment on his on-court behaviour.
Back at Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena on Monday, the two-time grand slam winner was keen to talk about the return of international tennis to the venue for the first time since 2019.
But he understood the interest in Kyrgios, who said over the weekend he was looking forward to kickstarting his Aussie summer campaign in the United Cup, where Australia will play their pool stages – and hopefully finals – in Sydney.
Kyrgios’s part in the United Cup is a boon for Tennis Australia but an about-face after years of refusing to play Davis Cup.
It’s an attitude that seems anathema to Rafter.
While he would not go so far as to say Kyrgios would have made the difference to Australia in their recent Davis Cup final, or declare the 27-year-old should play, he was clear what playing in the green and gold meant to him.
“Would have, should have, could have. I mean, in terms of playing events, it’s about do you want to get involved?” Rafter said.
“And some players do, some players don’t. I don’t know exactly what goes through their mind except that I know that representing my country was the highlight.
“Obviously you have Lleyton in there running the show and all our generation, we wanted to be there and play and we loved it.
“Some people don’t like doing it though.”
Kyrgios has instead played exhibitions in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, where he is earning six-figure appearance fees and his recent comments have included being involved in a Twitter exchange with former Aussie doubles champ Rennae Stubbs about Pickleball and showing up in the trailer for Netflix’s fly-on-the-wall tennis series.
“It’s just sensationalism, everyone wants to write a story about something,” Rafter said, refusing to bite on either subject.
“He definitely takes the headlines. He wants it – that’s the way he rolls.”
Kyrgios’s perception he is under-appreciated in Australia could change with his United Cup appearance.
“I guess that’s up to him. He’ll have to work out how he goes about all that, I don’t really know what goes on with him so I just sort of sit back and watch it,” Rafter said.
“I don’t know about you guys but I just sit back and have a look at it and see what comes out and have a bit of a laugh because I’m not involved anymore.
“I don’t need to be. I just enjoy sitting back now and not having to say or do anything.”
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