Rocket To The Top

On The Road With Pat Rafter

Australia's premier tennis player, Pat Rafter has had a drama-filled year: exhilarating highs, terrible lows, masterful wins and disappointing defeats. Now, all Pat fans can have exclusive access to the locker-rooms of the ATP Tour in 'Rocket to the Top: On the Road With Pat Rafter.'

In 1999, Pat achieved in lifetime ambition of becoming world No. 1. In doing so, he became the first Australian since John Newcombe to claim the coveted crown. It was also the year that he won the World Team Cup with Australia in Germany, made the semi-finals of Wimbledon, crushed the United States in the Davis Cup in Boston, and went into the final Grand Slam event of the year, the US Open, as two-time defending champion. Devastatingly, a niggling shoulder injury put paid to his dream of a hat-trick.

The diary of an incredible twelve months, from his majestic win over Mark Philippoussis in the 1998 US Open final to his ill-fated 1999 defence, this is an absorbing insight into the mind of one of Australia's favourite sportsmen. Beautifully complemented by the stunning images of Allsport Australia, it provides a rare opportunity to get to know the real Pat - his observations of other players on the ATP Tour such as Agassi, Sampras, Philippoussis and Hewitt, his off-court life in Bermuda, his relationships, his devotion to a string of charitable causes, and his media and sponsor commitments.

It's essential reading for a long, hot summer of tennis.