Life after Olympics: Tennis great making much more gold off court
As tennis pros Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal clashed in their nostalgic ‘final dance’ at the Paris Olympics, former world #1 Pat Rafter is proof there’s more gold waiting after sports.
Rafter, whose sole Olympic team inclusion was for Australia during Sydney 2000, won an estimated $US11.1m through tennis – about $17m in today’s Aussie dollars.
But he – and his family – have made much more than that before and after his on-court time, thanks to their fearless attitude towards properties they have created and invested in.
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Former world number one tennis player Pat Rafter custom-built the Sunshine Beach home now owned by richlister Therese Rein, wife of former PM Kevin Rudd.
The view Rafter had to capture in his dream build by the beach.
His earliest lesson in property development came from parents Jim and Jocelyn Rafter who funded their lifestyle – and his tennis lessons – by turning their 140ha estate on the Sunshine Coast into what locals affectionately callRafter Country.
It’s a neighbourhood the Rafters developed of more than 80 large land lots in Doonan near Eumundi, during a time when interest rates were a super painful 22 per cent in Australia.
Close to 100 families are estimated to now call the neighbourhood home, with blocks they sold for $250,000 upwards now multimillion-dollar homes.
Jim Rafter led the family through the development of 140-plus hectares of land over four decades. Picture: Sharyn Rosewarne.
The Rafter clan in a clipping from Jim and Jocelyn’s 25th wedding anniversary in 1986. Standing from L: Louise, Theresa, Geoffrey, Peter, Maree, Stephen. Front: Patrick (Pat), Jocelyn, Michael, Jim and David.
The only visible sign of links to the family’s development activity is a single street bearing their name – Rafter View Crest – though that wassomething the council insisted on much to their parents’ displeasure at appearing boastful, according to brother Geoff.
A second street named after their mum – Jocelyn Drive – was one which they all preferred as a legacy. Their father had tried to name a few streets after their sisters but could not get it past council.
For his part, Pat Rafter was not shy at putting money into property over the years, with his most recent property sale being this year – an apartment on the Gold Coast he let go for over half a million dollars – and one of the earliest being a decade ago when he sold a three-bedroom house in Sydney’s Woollahra for $2.4m. He still owns several including a four bedder in Tweed Heads bought for $540,000.
Burger entrepreneur David Hales and wife Louise bought the Rafters forever home in Sunshine Beach.
The biggest transaction of his life though was the $15.2m sale of the forever home he and wife Lara Feltham custom-made in Sunshine Beach – about 20km from where he grew up.
The couple’s seven-bedroom John Burgess-designed home was bought by the founder of Queensland boutique burger chain Betty’s Burgers, who went on to sell it for $17m to richlist businesswoman Therese Rein – wife of former prime minister Kevin Rudd.
The Rafters bought 28ha of land for $1.35m over the border in Broken Head, close to Byron Bay, where they built another dream home for $1.5m, complete with a $55,000 clubhouse for the specially-built tennis court.
Luke and Liam Hemsworth, brothers of Thor star Chris, were joined by tennis legend Pat Rafter and others cleaning up in Lismore during historic floods.
Two former world No. 1s Ash Barty and fellow Queenslander Pat Rafter during a rooftop tennis match to raise awareness and support for frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Both Novak Djokovic – who won the epic match in Paris on Monday – and Rafael Nadal stayed professional for almost two decades – significantly longer than Rafter ever did -amassing over $220m each in net worth according to estimates.
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