Patrick Rafter, the former Australian tennis champion, will take his first steps on the international padel circuit during the FIP Rise Australia Padel Open which begins on January 3.

Yet another former tennis champion who is trying his hand at padel.

In 2001, Rafter reached the semi-final of the Australian Open in singles and lost to Andre Agassi. He would, however, win the Australian Open in doubles alongside a well-known Swede in the padel world, Jonas Bjorkman, captain of the Swedish men's padel team. He won the US Open twice.

Pat Rafter, who obtained his best tennis ranking on July 26, 1999 with a world first place and who will make the heyday of the Australian Tennis Team including a victory in the Davis Cup in 1999, therefore launches for the first time on the FIP Tour circuit.

Remember that he obtained a 6th place in the world in doubles in February 1999.

The 50th-year-old Australian player will play alongside 2-point Australian player Luke Morland, making the pair the 12th pair in the table.

The former doubles champion, a serve-volley specialist, could surprise us in Australia. To be continued.

Franck Binisti

Franck Binisti discovered padel at the Club des Pyramides in 2009 in the Paris region. Since then, padel has been part of his life. You often see him touring France to cover major French padel events.