April 2000

or two years, Inside Sport has sought an interview with Pat Rafter, and for two years his management has knocked us back, at least partly because this would interfere with big deals struck with US media outlets. Rafter is an Australian hero, but it’s US money that talks. We’ve also hit impassable obstacles chasing Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Philippoussis and Jelena Dokic, who recently accepted $50,000 from New Idea to reveal, exclusively, that she would refuse to compete for Australia at the Olympics ... These are symptoms of a big problem tennis has had for years: it’s so busy counting its money, it’s lost touch with its dwindling legion of fans.