- Great Australian tennis player passionate about regenerating land
- He lives with his wife Lara in the Byron Bay hinterland.
- Pat Rafter won two Grand Slam titles in a decorated career
Australian tennis great Pat Rafter has offered insight into the passion that drives him more than 20 years after his retirement, and also revealed his thoughts on a previous family tragedy in which a relative was jailed.
The 51-year-old, two-time US Open Grand Slam winner, resides in the Byron Bay hinterland and, having previously owned a beachfront property just down the road, couldn’t be more happy.
The father-of-two has been busy – his family has planted approximately 7,500 native plants and trees on their 26 hectare property, and also planted 10,000 eucalyptus trees in a bid to create a corridor and sanctuary for koalas.
“I love working the land and that takes up a lot of my time,” he said. News Corporation.
“For us it is very important to regenerate the property so that it returns to what it was before and we are doing it in segments.”
Australian tennis great Pat Rafter has offered insight into his life these days and also revealed his thoughts on a family tragedy (pictured at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane).
Pat Rafter (pictured right) is living a relaxed life these days with his wife Lara in the Byron Bay hinterland
Rafter won two US Open titles in his career (pictured above in the 1997 final) and was also world number one in 1999.
Seeing echidnas, bandicoots and swamp kangaroos has become the norm, and Rafter and his wife Lara enjoy the quiet life.
Their children, Joshua, 21, and India, 18, have moved away as they look to start their own careers and lives.
The former sports heartthrob, who reached number one in the world ranking in 1999, also discovered that his family has a criminal past.
The Rafter appeared on the SBS show. Who do you think you are? with a historian revealing that the tennis star’s great-grandfather on his father’s side was often in trouble with the law.
David Dee’s family came to Australia from Ireland and settled in Townsville in 1875 as free immigrants, and the baker had a short fuse.
Police once accused Dee of using profanity, with the offensive words “damned bastard and damned rascal.”
Court appearances and physical altercations followed, before Dee was jailed for four years after fighting with another man.
His wife Teresa had to raise five children, and after finding love elsewhere with her husband behind bars, Dee sadly died broke, separated from his children and alone in Cairns in 1918.
Rafter acknowledged that Dee “made some really bad decisions,” but was still fascinated to hear about her early family history.
He also confirmed that he doesn’t play much tennis these days, but he competed in the recent World Senior Padel Championships in Spain, in the men’s 50-54 division.