Richard Krajicek

Country	Netherlands
Residence	Muiderberg, Netherlands
Born	6 December 1971 (1971-12-06) (age 39) Rotterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Turned pro	1989
Retired	2003
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US$10,077,425
Singles
Career record	411–219 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	17
Highest ranking	4 (29 March 1999)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	SF (1992)
French Open	SF (1993)
Wimbledon	W (1996)
US Open	QF (1997, 1999, 2000)
Doubles
Career record	77–60 (at ATP Tour level, Grand Slam level, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	45 (26 July 1993)
Last updated on: 31 May 2007.

Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek (born 6 December 1971) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. In 1996 he won the men's singles title at Wimbledon, the only Dutch player to have done so. In the quarterfinals of that tournament he defeated Pete Sampras. This was Sampras' only singles defeat at Wimbledon between 1993 and 2001. Since 2004 Krajicek has been the tournament director of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. He is also the author of various sports books.

Personal life

Richard Krajicek is the son of Czech immigrants. In 1999, Krajicek married model, ex-Bond girl, writer and hostess of Holland's Next Top Model and Benelux' Next Top Model, Daphne Deckers. His half-sister Michaëlla Krajicek is also a professional tennis player.

Career

Richard Krajicek began playing tennis at the age of four. As a youngster he won both the Dutch under-12 and the under-14 National Championships twice. He turned professional in 1989, and in 1991 won his first top-level singles title at Hong Kong, and his first tour doubles title in Hilversum.

In 1992, the 6' 5" Dutchman reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open. He had to withdraw from this semifinal match due to a shoulder injury. The following year, he reached the semifinals at the French Open, where he lost in four sets to the defending champion Jim Courier. Also in 1992, Krajicek made a controversial comment regarding equal pay for women in Grand Slam events, saying, "Eighty percent of the top 100 women are fat pigs who don't deserve equal pay." Later, he jokingly clarified his comments, remarking, "What I meant to say was that only 75 percent are fat pigs." Krajicek later showed remorse for the comment.

Coming to Wimbledon in 1996, Krajicek had never previously progressed beyond the fourth round, and had lost in the first round in the two previous years. He was seen a player with potential, having one of the fastest serves at the time, but was not considered to be a strong contender for the title. The clear favourite was Pete Sampras, who had won the title for the past three consecutive years. Despite being ranked within the world's top 16, Krajicek just missed out on the seedings for the tournament, but when seventh seed (and world number two) Thomas Muster pulled out shortly before the tournament due to an injury, Krajicek was given Muster's place in the draw.

He beat former champion Michael Stich in the fourth round, and met Sampras in the quarter-finals. By that time, he had managed to turn his notably weak slice backhand into an aggressive top-spin shot. Krajicek shocked the tennis world by defeating Sampras in straight sets 7–5, 7–6(3), 6–4, becoming the only player to beat Sampras in a Wimbledon singles match in the eight-year period from 1993 until Sampras' fourth-round loss to Roger Federer in the 2001 tournament. Next he beat Australia's Jason Stoltenberg in the semifinals, and went on to face American MaliVai Washington in the final. He won the final in straight sets 6–3, 6–4, 6–3 to become the first Dutchman to win Wimbledon.

Krajicek's victory over Sampras proved to be no fluke. He amassed a 6–4 record against the American player. In 1998, Krajicek was in the Wimbledon semifinals again, where he lost to Goran Ivanišević in a marathon match 6–3, 6–4, 5–7, 6–7, 15–13. His final attempt at winning a second Wimbledon title was in 2002, when he lost in the quarterfinals to Xavier Malisse.

At the 1999 U.S. Open, Krajicek lost a quarterfinal matchup to Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Despite the loss, Krajicek set several "most aces" records that day. In 2000 Krajicek was awarded the ATP Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award for his efforts to help youth in his home country. He was named ATP Comeback Player of the Year in 2002.

Krajicek retired from the professional tour in 2003. During his career, he won 17 singles titles and 3 doubles titles. His career-high singles ranking was world number 4 in 1999.

Since retiring from the ATP circuit, Krajicek runs The Richard Krajicek Foundation which builds sports facilities for children in inner-city areas in the Netherlands. In 2004 Krajicek became the tournament director of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

In 2005, he published a book on tennis called 'Fast Balls' (Dutch: 'Harde Ballen').

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1996	Wimbledon	Grass	MaliVai Washington	6–3, 6–4, 6–3

Masters Series finals

Singles: 6 (2–4)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1996	Rome	Clay	Thomas Muster	2–6, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Runner-up	1997	Stuttgart	Carpet	Petr Korda	6–7(6–8), 2–6, 4–6
Runner-up	1998	Canada (Toronto)	Hard	Patrick Rafter	6–7(3–7), 4–6
Winner	1998	Stuttgart	Carpet	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	1999	Key Biscane	Hard	Sébastien Grosjean	4–6, 6–1, 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	1999	Stuttgart	Carpet	Thomas Enqvist	1–6, 4–6, 7–5, 5–7

Career finals

Singles: 26 (17–9)

Wins (17)

Outcome	No.	Date	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	8 April 1991	Hong Kong, UK	Hard	Wally Masur	6–2, 3–6, 6–3
Runner-up	1.	13 April 1992	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Jim Courier	4–6, 4–6, 6–7(3–7)
Winner	2.	10 August 1992	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Mark Woodforde	6–4, 2–6, 6–4
Winner	3.	16 November 1992	Antwerp, Belgium	Carpet (i)	Mark Woodforde	6–2, 6–2
Runner-up	2.	22 February 1993	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet (i)	Michael Stich	6–4, 5–7, 6–7(4–7), 6–3, 5–7
Winner	4.	9 August 1993	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Michael Chang	0–6, 7–6(7–3), 7–6(7–5)
Winner	5.	11 April 1994	Barcelona, Spain	Clay	Carlos Costa	6–4, 7–6(8–6), 6–2
Winner	6.	13 June 1994	Rosmalen, Netherlands	Grass	Karsten Braasch	6–3, 6–4
Winner	7.	10 October 1994	Sydney, Australia	Hard (i)	Boris Becker	7–6(7–5), 7–6(9–7), 2–6, 6–3
Winner	8.	27 February 1995	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet (i)	Michael Stich	7–6(7–4), 6–3, 6–7(6–8), 1–6, 6–3
Winner	9.	6 March 1995	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Paul Haarhuis	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Runner-up	3.	21 August 1995	New Haven, USA	Hard	Andre Agassi	6–3, 6–7(2–7), 3–6
Runner-up	4.	20 May 1996	Rome, Italy	Clay	Thomas Muster	2–6, 4–6, 6–3, 3–6
Winner	10.	8 July 1996	Wimbledon, London, UK	Grass	MaliVai Washington	6–3, 6–4, 6–3
Runner-up	5.	5 August 1996	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Michael Chang	4–6, 3–6
Winner	11.	10 March 1997	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Carpet (i)	Daniel Vacek	7–6(7–4), 7–6(7–5)
Winner	12.	21 April 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Hard	Lionel Roux	6–2, 3–6, 6–1
Winner	13.	23 June 1997	Rosmalen, Netherlands	Grass	Guillaume Raoux	6–4, 7–6(9–7)
Runner-up	6.	27 October 1997	Stuttgart, Germany	Carpet (i)	Petr Korda	6–7(6–8), 2–6, 4–6
Winner	14.	16 February 1998	St. Petersburg, Russia	Carpet (i)	Marc Rosset	6–4, 7–6(7–5)
Runner-up	7.	10 August 1998	Toronto, Canada	Hard	Patrick Rafter	6–7(3–7), 4–6
Winner	15.	2 November 1998	Stuttgart, Germany	Hard (i)	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	6–4, 6–3, 6–3
Winner	16.	1 March 1999	London, UK	Carpet (i)	Greg Rusedski	7–6(8–6), 6–7(5–7), 7–5
Winner	17.	29 March 1999	Miami, USA	Hard	Sébastien Grosjean	4–6, 6–1, 6–2, 7–5
Runner-up	8.	1 November 1999	Stuttgart, Germany	Hard (i)	Thomas Enqvist	1–6, 4–6, 7–5, 5–7
Runner-up	9.	19 June 2000	Halle, Germany	Grass	David Prinosil	3–6, 2–6

Performance Timelines

Singles

Trivia

On February 28, 1999 Richard Krajicek played in the final of the London indoor tournament against Greg Rusedski. His victory in three sets (7-6, 6-7, 7-5) brought him to the 8th place in the ATP rankings. A prank by Rusedski caused Krajicek to lose his momentum. After another ace by Krajicek, the desperate Brit gave his racket to the ball girl and sat the next point out. Krajicek played along with Rusedski's prank and played one rally with the girl. After the game resumed, Krajicek lost three straight points and Rusedski broke the set even:4-4. "The next time I play against Greg, I know what to do. I'll let a ball girl stand-in for me before I come back into the game" said Krajicek after the game.

Bibliography

List of books written by Richard Krajicek:

• Een half jaar netpost (2003) with Tino Bakker
• Naar de top (2005)
• Harde ballen (2005)
• Honger naar de bal (2006)
• Alle ballen verzamelen (2007)