Australians looking to do it for Rafter

Australia clash with fellow Davis Cup heavyweights Sweden this weekend for a place in the final and every member of the Australian team will be putting in maximum effort for Pat Rafter.

The Australians' Davis Cup campaign this year is aimed at bringing a first Cup victory for Rafter, according to new U.S. Open champion and team mate Lleyton Hewitt.

"We're playing the Davis Cup basically for Pat this year, that's for sure.

"We want him to win the Davis Cup because he missed out two years ago," Hewitt says.

The after-effects of shoulder surgery kept Rafter out of the victory over France in Nice in the 1999 final but the twice U.S. Open champion was a member of the Australian side that lost last year's final to Spain in Barcelona.

A win against Sweden in the semifinals in Sydney this weekend will ensure that the final, against either the Netherlands or France, will be played in Melbourne.

It could be Rafter's last chance to join the elite list of Davis Cup champions because he intends to take a six-month break from tennis at the end of the year and says if he does not miss the game he will retire permanently.

EXTRA PRESSURE

With Rafter contemplating retirement and Mark Philippoussis struggling to recover from knee surgery, Hewitt knows he may carry the burden of Australia's Davis Cup hopes for the rest of this decade.

"It's obviously going to be a lot tougher in some of the Davis Cup ties now, due to Pat maybe retiring or taking a break," said Hewitt.

"And who knows how Mark's knee is going to come up? Maybe it will be a little bit of an added pressure going in there. We don't really have a lot of young guys coming up at the moment."

But the 20-year-old Hewitt made it clear he would always be prepared to play for his country.

"I'm still going in there with a job to do. I go out there and give 100 per cent every time I step on the court and that's not going to change.

"It's a great honour to play Davis Cup matches and see all the great champions that have played before me, being top Australian players. I love playing Davis Cup. It's the biggest thing for me throughout the whole year."

Sweden know the size of the task ahead of them. Thomas Johansson and Thomas Enqvist will spearhead Sweden's bid due to the absence of Magnus Norman with a hip injury.

SKY-HIGH FAVOURITES

"They are sky-high favourites," Johansson said. "But if we play well, we have a really good chance to beat them."

Australia have a 5-2 advantage over Sweden in previous Davis Cup ties and ATP tour head-to-head statistics also point to Australia in the singles.

Rafter is 1-0 versus Johansson and 6-2 against Enqvist. Hewitt's tally against Enqvist is 4-1 while he has never played Johansson.

"It is quite clear that I'll have to play my very best tennis to beat them," Johansson said.

In Rotterdam, the Netherlands will be without their most celebrated player -- 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek is injured -- but will be cheered on in their first Davis Cup semifinal by former Dutch stalwart Tom Okker.

Known as the Flying Dutchman, the lightly-built Okker used speed allied to a massive topspin forehand to establish himself among the world's top players in the 1960s and 70s.

A finalist at the first U.S. Open, held at Forest Hills in 1968 when Arthur Ashe won the title, Okker was always among the top eight players on the world championship tennis circuit during the heyday of Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe.

ART DEALER

Now an art dealer in Amsterdam, Okker will make the short journey to Rotterdam to offer his support to Jan Siemerink, Sjeng Schalken, Ramon Sluiter and veteran Paul Haarhuis who will bear the burden of trying to get the Netherlands into the final for the first time in 74 years of Davis Cup competition.

"France are far from unbeatable," is Okker's verdict. "They have several good players but no-one who is guaranteed a victory against us."

The Dutch players will be hoping to lift their nation's spirits after the Netherlands' shock exit from the soccer World Cup by doing a little better than Patrick Kluivert and his footballing colleagues.

"It would certainly go some way to making up for losing to Ireland," said Okker with a smile.