November 15, 1998
OPEN MIND ON KNEE by Pat Rafter
I will know this week whether my left knee needs surgery.
There is still swelling in the joint and the doctors have said there is also bruising.
My main concern is being ready for the Australian Open in Melbourne from January 18-31.
The Open is a huge
goal and I want to be ready for it.
I have been having treatment on the knee this week, in London and Bermuda and it has
improved, but I would like
things to speed up a little.
The doctors had an MRI (magnetic resonance image) done on the knee in Paris, but sometimes
not everything
shows up.
I might have to consider taking a different course - to do something other than therapy
for the knee.
A few doctors have said if I undergo an arthroscopy I will walk out of the theatre on the
same day.
At this stage I am leaning away from the arthroscopy, but being able to move properly is
critical to my game. It is
now a bit of a waiting game to gauge how much natural improvement there is between now and
the middle of next
week.
I will either go in for a nip and tuck and be ready for the start of the summer circuit in
Adelaide or continue
treatment and still be ready on time.
My Hip is something that does not need surgery.
Vicki Bailey, who I see in Queensland and at Davis Cup t ies is somebody I will seek out
when I return along with
my chiropractor.
This time of the year is about getting things right with the mind and body.
Jason Stoltenberg's win over Pete Sampras in Stockholm was the highlight of the week for
me.
Stolts has been unlucky this season. He lost a string of tight three-setters in the middle
of the year and went
through a period when he kept on going down in third-set tiebreaks.
Stolts has always had the ability and always plays the game in the right spirit.
There is no doubt Sampras would have loved to have sewn up the season ending with the
world No. 1 ranking by
doing well in Stockholm. He now has some work to do in Hanover at the ATP world
championships.
I caught up with Mark Philippoussis in London and he was in good spirits after finishing
this season.
He is ranked 15th in the world and while he may not have played up to his potential this
year, his ranking holds
firm.