happier and maybe just a tiny bit hung over.

"I never thought I would win a Slam,'' he told the Associated Press. "I always dreamed of it, but I never thought I would actually win one.'' But the 24-year-old Australian did just that, capturing the US Open on Sunday by defeating Britain's big-serving Greg Rusedski 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 with a clinical demonstration of serve-and-volley tennis.

Then, in the company of several Australian champions, including Tony Roche, John Newcombe and Ken Rosewall, Rafter celebrated until the wee hours. Among them, the Aussie contingent has 19 Grand Slam tournament titles. Other former Aussie players at the party included Wally Masur, Brad Drewett, Darren Cahill and Paul McNamee.

"It ended with a great cake fight about 2 o'clock in the morning,'' Rafter said.

Several friends from Bermuda flew to New York for the final and what they was something out of Hollywood.

Until this year, Rafter had been in the pack of early-round losers, traversing the world in search of a victory and computer ranking points. He finished the past two years ranked number 68 and number 62 while battling injuries. His only other title came at Manchester, England, in 1994.

"I've won two tournaments in my life, and one was the US Open,'' he said, still awed by his accomplishment.

He had reached five finals this year before the US Open. But with Sunday's victory, he shot up to numbe three in the world behind Pete Sampras and his semi-final victim, Michael Chang. And with the cheque for more than $600,000 that went with it, he leaped over the $1 million mark in earnings for the season, second only to Sampras. "I started making changes at the beginning of the year,'' Rafter said. "Less off-court work, a change in the gym programme, more on-court work. It was a lot of hard work. I felt so good within myself. I felt so much stronger this year.'' Newcombe, the Australian Davis Cup coach who has been working with Rafter steadily, was quick to offer Rafter some additional advice following Sunday's win. "Newk said, `Just because you're number three in the world and you've won the US Open, you don't have to win every tournament. Don't put that kind of pressure on yourself,''' PAT RAFTER -- Rejoices after Sunday's stunning US Open victory.