Editing Pat Rafter (section)

===Breakthrough and stardom (1997–1999)===
Rafter's breakthrough came in 1997. At that year's French Open, he reached the semifinals, falling in four sets to two time former champion [[Sergi Bruguera]]. Then, he surprised many by winning the [[US Open (tennis)|US Open]], defeating [[Andriy Medvedev]], [[Magnus Norman]], [[Lionel Roux]], Andre Agassi, [[Magnus Larsson]], and [[Michael Chang]] before beating [[Greg Rusedski]] in a four-set final; he was the first non-American to win the title since [[Stefan Edberg]] in 1992. This was his first Grand Slam title, and catapulted him ahead of Chang to finish the year ranked #2 in the world (behind only [[Pete Sampras]]). The unexpected nature of his US Open title led many, including Hall-of-famer and four-time US Open champion [[John McEnroe]] to criticise Rafter as a "one-slam wonder".<ref name="Los Angeles Times">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-14-sp-22706-story.html|title=Rafter Grandly Slams U.S. Open Criticism|first=Lisa|last=Dillman|date=14 September 1998|newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

Rafter had a particularly strong year in 1998, winning the Canadian Open and the [[Cincinnati Masters]] ─ Andre Agassi (1995), [[Andy Roddick]] (2003), and [[Rafael Nadal]] (2013) are the only other players to have won both of these tournaments in the same year. Rafter defeated ninth-ranked [[Richard Krajicek]] in the Toronto final and second-ranked Pete Sampras in the Cincinnati final. When asked about the difference between himself and Rafter following their titles, Sampras responded, "10 grand slams". He added that a tennis player must come back and win a Grand Slam again in order to be considered great.<ref name="Los Angeles Times" />

Entering the U.S. Open as the defending champion, Rafter reached the final by defeating [[Hicham Arazi]], [[Hernán Gumy]], [[David Nainkin]], [[Goran Ivanišević]] and [[Jonas Björkman]] before besting Sampras in a five-set semifinal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/sampras-slight-raises-stakes-for-pattrick-741808.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/sampras-slight-raises-stakes-for-pattrick-741808.html |archive-date=25 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Sampras slight raises stakes for 'Pat-trick'|website=[[The Independent]]|date=28 August 1999}}</ref> Rafter then defended his US Open title by defeating fellow Australian [[Mark Philippoussis]] in four sets, committing only five unforced errors throughout the match.<ref name="Los Angeles Times" /> Altogether, Rafter won six tournaments in 1998, finishing the year No. 4 in the world.

Rafter won the [[Australian Open]] men's doubles title in 1999 (partnering Jonas Björkman), making him one of few players in the modern era to win both a singles and doubles Grand Slam title during their career (fellow countryman [[Lleyton Hewitt]] would later achieve this feat in 2001). He and Björkman also won a doubles title at the ATP Masters Series event in Canada in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.atptour.com/en/players/patrick-rafter/r255/overview|title=Patrick Rafter &#124; Titles and Finals &#124; ATP Tour &#124; Tennis|website=ATP Tour}}</ref> At the [[1999 French Open – Men's singles|1999 French Open]], Rafter drew future world No. 1 and 20-time Grand Slam champion [[Roger Federer]] in the first round, making him the first-ever opponent of Federer in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament. Rafter defeated him in four sets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.frenchopen.org/en/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf|date=1 October 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991001183130/http://www.frenchopen.org/en/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf|archive-date=1 October 1999|title=1999 French Open Men's Singles}}</ref> Rafter then reached the [[The Championships, Wimbledon|Wimbledon]] semifinals for the first time in 1999, losing in straight sets to Agassi. This was the first of three consecutive years that the two met in the Wimbledon semifinals. July 1999 saw Rafter holding the world No. 1 men's singles ranking for one week, making him the shortest-reigning world No. 1 in [[ATP Tour]] history.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.essentiallysports.com/top-5-tennis-players-with-the-shortest-reign-as-world-no-1/|title=Top 5 tennis players with the shortest reign as World No. 1|date=9 August 2015|website=EssentiallySports}}</ref> As the two-time defending US Open champion, Rafter lost in the first round of the tournament, retiring in the fifth set against [[Cédric Pioline]] after succumbing to shoulder [[tendinitis]]. Rafter's shoulder injury wound up being serious enough to necessitate surgery.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/olympics/2000/profiles/PATRAFTER.htm|title=Rio Olympics 2016 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)|website=ABC News}}</ref>

Due to injury, Rafter was unable to play in the [[1999 Davis Cup]] final won by Australia; however, he won important matches in the earlier rounds to help the team qualify.<ref name="Matthews, Bruce (January 2003)">{{cite news |last1=Matthews |first1=Bruce |title=Good guy of tennis quits for his family |work=Herald Sun |edition=First |date=11 January 2003 |location=Melbourne, Victoria |page=7}}</ref>