10th October, 1999

PLEASE LET SERENA PLAY ON MEN'S TOUR

SERENA Williams has been making plenty of noise about wanting to play on the men's tour after her wins in the US Open and the Grand Slam Cup.

My attitude is let her go. I'd love nothing more than to have an easy first-round somewhere against her.

The Williams sisters, Serena and Venus, always have plenty to say and much of it is positive. But if they want to join the men's tour - which is not going to happen - they'd better be prepared to lose on a regular basis.

They went down a similar path at the Australian Open a couple of years ago when they played Karsten Braasch in a couple of practice sets. He was ranked outside the top 100 at the time, yet easily beat Serena and then had Venus walk on the court to challenge him. He beat her, too. They didn't make too much noise about that.

Boris Becker has said if the men's game is open to women, then it's only fair, in the age of equality, that the women's game is open to men.

If that's the case, there will be a lot of male champions on the women's tour.

TODD Woodbridge's results in Shanghai this week are important in the context of the Davis Cup final against France in December.

In fact, this tournament could prove very important for the rest of Todd's career.

He urgently needed to get his confidence back, having lost in the last round of qualifying in Shanghai. He then received a lucky loser entry and he's taken advantage of the situation.

Todd's career has been notable for its ups and down. Unfortuantely his downs have been a little too heavy. But by reaching the quarters, he's obviously on the way back.

Like everyone else who's played Davis Cup this year, Todd has been invited to go to the final in France and participate. His presence gives Newk (John Newcombe) and Rochey (Tony Roche) more options when it comes to the team selection.

Todd's Davis Cup record is outstanding and it would be great for Australia if he can regain his confidence and form for the final.

THE shoulder appears to be progressing well. I have good days and then ordinary days, but the amount of movement in the arm is increasing steadily.

The shoulder is certainly a lot better than it was and I haven't been rushing it. Over the past week I've been pushing the shoulder through several different motions to see what kind of progress I've made.

At the moment, I'm hopeful of making it back in time for the Paris Indoors in Paris (November 1-7). I'll be heading to Sydney soon to work with Rochey and then I'll catch up again with Muddy (Mark Waters) to try to get everything right.

---oOo---

RAFTER A MAN ON A MISSION by John Thirsk

PAT Rafter has started his comeback with his first on-court practice session in five weeks after withdrawing with a shoulder injury from the US Open in August.

Physical conditioner Mark Waters will supervise Rafter's rehabilition for the next two months to ensure he is in peak condition for the Davis Cup final against France in Nice from December 3-5.

"Right now, Patrick's shoulder is at 80 percent fitness level," Waters said.

"I'm confident we can attain that extra 20 percent in two months.

"His rehabilitation has been terrific and he hasn't missed a day. He really needed three weeks complete rest to heal. Now we can start doing some stregnth work. His work ethic has been outstanding. We started hitting last Monday. It was for only half an hour but built up to an hour by the end of the week. He's a man on a mission and he's really fired up to win the Davis Cup for the first time in 13 years."

PAT'S PLAN

6am-9am: Mixture of activities including sprint and strength work on legs. Cardiovascular workout. Strength work in gym: squats and presses for legs and stretching. Shoulder work: elastic cords, rubber tubing, pulley work exercises, light dumbells. Warm down with stretching exercises and massage. Occasional surfboard riding and swimming.

9.30am-Noon: Breakfast, relax and unwind. Half-hour to an hour practice session. No serving to test the injury during the first week back on court. Massage.

Noon: Lunch