request focus not focusing

I have a JApplet class and an extended JPanel. I add the JPanel to the
JApplet when the JApplet gets to its constructor. It is inside this
method, after I add the component, that I call
JPanel.JTextField.requestFocus(). And it does nothing. I put a
system.out statement directly after this line printing out
JTextField.isFocusOwner() and it prints false. Any ideas why this
occurs?

below is the code for my two classes:

package consultrequest;

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.*;

public class Main extends javax.swing.JApplet {
    JPanel jpan;

    int width = 604;

    public void init(){
    setSize(width, 400);
    }

    public Main(){
    Container c = getContentPane();
        c.setLayout( new BorderLayout() );

        jpan = new JPanel();
        jpan.setLayout(new FlowLayout());

        jpan.setBorder(new EtchedBorder());
        c.add(jpan,BorderLayout.NORTH);

    Panel panel = new Panel();
    jpan.add(panel);
    panel.lastName.requestFocus();
    System.out.println(panel.lastName.isFocusOwner());
    }
}

//**********************************************************************
//**********************************************************************

package consultrequest;

import java.util.Calendar;
import javax.swing.*;
import java.awt.*;
import java.util.Date;
import java.text.DateFormat;

public class Panel extends JPanel{

    JTextField date, time, firstName, middleInitial, lastName;

   int width = 600;

    public Panel() {
    setLayout(null);
    setPreferredSize(new Dimension(600, 400));

        Font smallFont = new Font("Serif", Font.BOLD, 10);

        JLabel textDate, textTime, textName, textLast, textComma,
textFirst, textMI;

        textDate = new JLabel("Date:");
        textTime = new JLabel("Time:");
        textName = new JLabel("Patient's Name:");
        textLast = new JLabel("Last");
            textLast.setFont(smallFont);
    textComma = new JLabel(",");
        textFirst = new JLabel("First");
        textFirst.setFont(smallFont);
        textMI = new JLabel("MI");
        textMI.setFont(smallFont);

        date = new JTextField();
        time = new JTextField();
        firstName = new JTextField();
        lastName = new JTextField();
    mI = new JTextField();

    add(textDate);
    textDate.setBounds(10, 50, textDate.getPreferredSize().width,
textDate.getPreferredSize().height);
    add(date);
    date.setBounds(20 + textDate.getPreferredSize().width, 49, 70,
date.getPreferredSize().height);

    add(textTime);
    textTime.setBounds(210, 50, textTime.getPreferredSize().width,
textTime.getPreferredSize().height);
    add(time);
    time.setBounds(220 + textTime.getPreferredSize().width, 49, 70,
time.getPreferredSize().height);

    add(textName);
    textName.setBounds(10, 80, textName.getPreferredSize().width,
textName.getPreferredSize().height);

    add(lastName);
    lastName.setBounds(110, 79, 100, lastName.getPreferredSize().height);
    add(textLast);
    textLast.setBounds(110, 100, textLast.getPreferredSize().width,
textLast.getPreferredSize().height);

    add(textComma);
    textComma.setBounds(212, 80, textComma.getPreferredSize().width,
        textComma.getPreferredSize().height);

    add(firstName);
    firstName.setBounds(220, 79, 100,
firstName.getPreferredSize().height);
    add(textFirst);
    textFirst.setBounds(220, 100, textFirst.getPreferredSize().width,
textFirst.getPreferredSize().height);

    add(mI);
    mI.setBounds(330, 79, 20, mI.getPreferredSize().height);
    add(textMI);
    textMI.setBounds(330, 100, textMI.getPreferredSize().width,
textMI.getPreferredSize().height);

    Date now = new Date();
        DateFormat df = DateFormat.getDateInstance(DateFormat.SHORT);
        String today = df.format(now);
        date.setText(today);

    Calendar tNow = Calendar.getInstance ();
    String hour = String.valueOf(tNow.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY));
    if(hour.length() == 1){
        hour = "0" + hour;
    }
    String minute = String.valueOf(tNow.get(Calendar.MINUTE));
    if(minute.length() == 1){
        minute = "0" + minute;
    }
    time.setText(hour + ":" + minute);

    }

    public static void main(String args[]){
    JFrame frame = new JFrame("SliderDemo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);

        //Create and set up the content pane.
        Panel panel = new Panel();
        panel.setSize(panel.getPreferredSize());
        frame.setSize(panel.getPreferredSize().width + 20,
panel.getPreferredSize().height + 20);
        panel.setOpaque(true); //content panes must be opaque
        frame.setContentPane(panel);

        //Display the window.
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }
}

I copied and pasted the code, deleting a few components, any errors
will be null pointers, which just delete the offending component.

As always, thank you for any help...