Pat Rafter explains why he loves Australia and our larrikin attitude

We talk about the tall poppy syndrome, but I don’t necessarily agree with that. If I could sum up what our attitude is, it’s this: don’t be an arrogant d**k, writes Pat Rafter.

I’m very proud to be an Australian.

We’re a proud nation – but at the same time a certain humility is also a big part of who we are.

We talk about the tall poppy syndrome, but I don’t necessarily agree with that. If I could sum up what our attitude is, it’s this: don’t be an arrogant dick. And it doesn’t matter who you are. It’s not about being cut down, it’s just: don’t get a big head. Don’t get an ego.

The way the world is now, with social media, that’s getting increasingly hard, because everyone’s trying to be something that they’re not, and going for their five minutes of fame, and they allow that to go to their heads.

Australian former world No. 1 tennis player Pat Rafter. Picture: Mark Stewart

With me, bringing up my children, humility is part of what I want to teach them; just that sense of being normal, not thinking that they’re better than anyone else.

I grew up in a pretty bloody Australian town – Mt Isa – in a large loving family, with white and Aboriginal mates who I played tennis with and hung out with. It wasn’t about white or black; we were just mates.

As a kid, you don’t really know much about Aboriginal history, but when you get a bit older you find out more about what Australia is, and what it was. That transition has been a little bit rocky at times, but I believe it’s a lot better now. That might be a delusion, but I like to think we’re at heart a really good, peaceful country.

When I got to travel overseas, especially America in the 1990s, people would find out I was Australian and ask me to say things. The Crocodile Dundee thing was still pretty fresh back then. But it made me realise we were looked at as a country that was well-loved, and we were thought of as a people who were jovial and knew how to have a good time, but we also treated everyone the same.

Rafter in action on centre court during the 1996 Australian Open.

Rafter leaves the court at the Paris Open indoor tournament in October 1997. Picture: Michel Lipchitz / AP

Society and technology might have kicked a bit of the larrikin spirit out of us; everyone has a mobile camera these days and that probably stops a bit of mischief. But also now we’re just so woke, and wokeness doesn’t really work with that larrikin spirit. Wokeness is great to a degree, it’s brought a lot of things to attention, but we’ve gone too far, like a lot of countries have, and larrikinism was a big part of our culture. If we ever lose that, we lose a big part of who we are.

We’re a large country with a small population, and that has its limitations. We try to mix it with the big boys and I think per capita we do an amazing job; we encourage success in sport and in business and we do it really well.

Again, it’s a little cliche, but the Diggers, the Anzacs had that thing of never taking a backwards step, they would always keep going forward, and I think that’s what we continue to do.

Pat Rafter is a former world number one tennis player.

Originally published as Pat Rafter explains why he loves Australia and our larrikin attitude