Australian Open, with the organisers hoping he will be fit enough to take advantage of it.

Tennis Australia said the last of eight wildcards into the men's singles draw was being held for Rafter, Australia's dual U.S. Open winner, who is struggling to recover from shoulder surgery.

"Pat is currently in training and we would like to retain the possibility of him competing in the singles event should he find at the last minute he's able to,'' Australian Open chief executive Paul McNamee said.

Rafter suffered for much of 1999 with the shoulder injury, a torn rotator cuff, which forced him to pull out of the U.S. Open in the fifth set of his first-round match against Cedric Pioline at Flushing Meadows in September.

Since then, he has been rehabilitating in Australia, trying to get in shape for the upcoming ATP Tour season which starts next week.

Davis Cup winning doubles specialists Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge were added to the list of Australian Open wildcards yesterday.

"The Woodies,'' who have shared nine grand slam victories since 1992, gave Australia a crucial advantage by winning their doubles tie in the Davis Cup final against France on December 5.

Australia went on to take the Davis Cup for the 27th time.

Woodbridge and Woodforde are joined as wildcards by Australians James Sekulov and Scott Draper. All four are ranked between 130 and 197 in the world.

Previously announced wildcards into the men's draw are Japan's Gouichi Motomura and Australians Dejan Petrovic and Joseph Sirianni.

"Our wildcard recipients are a good blend of established players and young hopefuls,'' Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said.

The eighth and final men's wildcard will be announced after a series of warm-up events.

Pat Rafter: wildcard hopeful.