<human>: Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former professional tennis player. He reached the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 1 singles ranking on July 26, 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open titles in 1997 and 1998 and consecutive runner-up at Wimbledon in 2000 and 2001.

His ranking had fallen to No. 21 by the time he reached the Wimbledon final in July 2000. In the semifinals, Rafter defeated Agassi 7-5, 4-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. The match was hailed as a classic, particularly because of their contrasting playing styles, with Agassi playing primarily from the baseline and Rafter attacking the net. Rafter faced Sampras in the final, who was gunning for a record-breaking seventh Wimbledon title overall (and seven in the past eight years). While Rafter made a strong start to the match and took the first set, after the match he would claim that he had "choked" part way through the second set, and was then not able to get back into his game. Sampras won in four sets.  In 2001, Rafter reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, but despite holding a two sets to one lead and having the support of the home crowd, Rafter lost the match to Agassi in five sets. Later in the year, Rafter again reached the Wimbledon final. For the third straight year, he faced Agassi in the semifinals and won in yet another five-setter, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, 8-6. Much like the previous year's semifinal, this match also received praise for the quality of play that the two men displayed. In the final, he squared off against Goran Ivanisevic, who had reached the Wimbledon final three times before but had slid down the rankings to World No. 125 following injury problems. In a five-set struggle that lasted just over three hours, Ivanisevic prevailed. He played his last match before his unexpected retirement at the Davis Cup final, winning the singles rubber but losing the doubles rubber.  Rafter announced his retirement at the end of the year, stating that he had lost all motivation to compete at the top level, after not playing any matches during the season to recover from injuries. CANNOTANSWER

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