Patrick Rafter...Undressed!

I haven't met Kennethinthe212.com blogger Kenneth Walsh yet but it seems we have something in common: we are mad for retired tennis star Patrick Rafter. Kenneth posted some pics this week and last of Rafter in his current gig as an underwear model. It's a job he seems to do as well as he played tennis. During my only trip to the U.S. Open back in 1996, the first match I watched was Rafter's first-rounder against a Swede Kenneth Carlson. It was on an outside court and I was in the front row snapping off a roll of film. Rafter lost in straight sets and I would have never imagined that just 12 months later, he would be tournament champion...

...Saw Rafter the next summer at the UCLA tournament - then called the Infiniti Open - and my nephew and I arrived so early that we wandered to the stadium and got to watch, for about 45 minutes, a shirtless Patrick Rafter and his then doubles partner (and now reality show stud) Mark Phillipousis knock the heck out of the ball. Rafter lost his match that day, I think to another Swedish player. But he would go on to win the U.S. Open twice, reach the finals of Wimbledon twice, and the semifinals of both the French Open and Australian Open. Rafter was briefly number one and has been inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. But even more than his accomplishments, it was what else Rafter brought to the game: sportsmanship, good humor, a beautiful serve and volley game, and as much sex appeal as has ever has graced a tennis court.
I just wish I hadn't, years ago, sold the GQ magazine with him on the cover on eBay.