Pat Rafter has always had the ambition to become the world number 1. His results over the past few years have shown that he also has the talent. In 1993 as a raw 20 year old Patrick Rafter beat then world number 1 Pete Sampras in their first meeting. 1994 was then a breakthrough year. Rafter won his first career singles title at Manchester on grass and had wins over Jim Courier, Michael Chang and Thomas Muster. These results at such an early stage of his career were indicative of Rafter's raw talent. But he also was wildly inconsistent at this stage, and often seemed to crack under pressure. This showed in 1995 and 1996 seasons, where for the most part he struggled for form.
It wasn't until 1997 when this changed. Rafter showed a new-found maturity and mental strength, and this showed in his results. He made the final of 2 hardcourt events, and followed this up with his first career grand slam title at the US Open. In 1998 Rafter surpassed this, with a fantastic season resulting in 2 super nine titles, a further 4 smaller titles and a successful defence of the US Open.
But even during his best seasons in 1997 and 1998, Rafter still suffered from inconsistancy. This is demonstrated by a form slump following both of his US Open titles. This year Rafter had not made the quarter-final stage of a tournament until the Italian Open last fortnight.
With 2 US Open titles, Rafter definitely has the results to be a worthy number 1. The biggest question weighing on him is whether or not he has or can develop the mental strength to become a truly dominating player, as former top ranked players Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Boris Becker once were.
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