Once again Goran Ivanisevic was the winner in a match against the Australian Patrick Rafter. The two found each other in de finale of Wimbledon 2001, the edition that was won by a wild card player named Goran Ivanisevic. Rafter, who according to Goran is probably the best volley player in tennis history, played his serve and volley game, but on the clay of Umag is was not effective enough to defeat the Croatian tennis hero. Ivanisevic passing shots were of great quality and he took the lead in the first set (5-1). From that point of the match Rafter had more success with his game and Ivanisevic made some errors, but he still won the first set (6-4). That was also the outcome of the second set, in which Goran proved to be an excellent volley player as well.
We wrote earlier that Goran and Patrick together on a couch means a lot of fun. They proved that also during the match as you can see in the pictures below. At the end there was a serious award ceremony with the sponsors, tournament director Lawrence Frankopan and the elegant tournament hostess.
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