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It had been a long time - more than eight years since their 2001 Wimbledon final - and the memory of that Monday final came rushing back as they prepared for the AEGON Masters Tennis event at the Royal Albert Hall, where they will play each other again this week.

"When I see Pat I laugh," admitted Ivanisevic. "It's great to see him. It always reminds me of winning Wimbledon, of me struggling put a serve in in that final game. It's great. I felt sorry for Pat but he won two US Opens, so he's ok. It was my only chance, my last chance, my last train to glory."

Rafter agreed. "I saved his life. He should thank me!" he said.

The Australian joined the ATP Champions Tour last year, but has yet to face Ivanisevic on the court.

"It's going to be good to play him actually, I haven't played him since Wimbledon so it'll be a good laugh. We're going to go out there and have a real crack at each other and that's the fun thing about this tournament is that we will still play competitively but we can have a laugh and be a lot more light-hearted. That's why I think the event really works."

Ivanisevic said he had no plans to go easy on his old rival. "If I can I'm going to kick his ass. It's going to be fun and it's going to be interesting. It's great to play again in London, everybody's going to be talking about that match and it's going to be a lot of fun."

Rafter and Ivanisevic are in Group A of the tournament alongside 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and AEGON Masters defending champion Cedric Pioline.

Group B features the return of Mark Philippoussis to the city that he so nearly conquered in 2003. The towering Australian known as 'Scud' for the power of his serve, will take on two-time Wimbledon champion Stefan Edberg, Britain's Greg Rusedski and another ATP Champions Tour newcomer, Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco.

In the first round-robin match of the tournament, Stefan Edberg gave away five years to ATP Champions Tour debutant Younes El Aynaoui, but won through 6-3, 6-4.