Richard Krajicek

Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek (Czech: Krajíček, 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 in straight sets. This was Sampras' only singles defeat at Wimbledon between 1993 and 2000. 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. Krajicek reached a career-high singles ranking of world no. 4 in March 1999.

Richard Krajicek is the son of Czech immigrants. In 1999, Krajicek married model, writer and hostess of Holland's Next Top Model and Benelux' Next Top Model, Daphne Deckers. Nicknamed "de Kraai" (Dutch for "the crow") in his home country, Krajicek has, among his siblings, half-sister Michaëlla Krajicek who also is a professional tennis player. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

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 in Hong Kong and his first tour doubles title in Hilversum.

In 1992, the 1.96 m (6' 5") Dutchman reached his first Grand Slam semifinals 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."

At the 1996 Italian Open, Krajicek reached the final, before losing in four sets to the reigning champion, Thomas Muster. At the 1996 French Open, Krajicek was the only player to take a set off the eventual champion, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, during their quarterfinal match.

Coming into 1996 Wimbledon, Krajicek had never previously progressed beyond the fourth round at the tournament and had lost in the first round in the two previous years. He was seen as 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 2) Thomas Muster pulled out shortly before the tournament due to an injury, Krajicek was declared the 17th seed and moved to Muster's place in the draw. Opinions differ, therefore, on whether or not he won the tournament as an unseeded player.

He beat former champion Michael Stich in the fourth round and met Sampras in the quarterfinals. 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, 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 to become the first Dutchman to win Wimbledon.

In 1997, Krajicek's defence of his Wimbledon title ended in the fourth round, when Tim Henman defeated him in four sets.

In 1998, Krajicek was in the Wimbledon semifinals again, where he lost to Goran Ivanišević in a marathon match, 13-15 in the fifth set, with both players serving a combined 38 aces.[1][2] 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 the 2000 U.S. Open, Krajicek met Sampras in the quarterfinals, winning the first set and being up 6-2 during the second-set tiebreaker, but then losing six straight points to lose the match. [3] 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 no. 4 in 1999. Krajicek's Wimbledon victory over Sampras proved to be no fluke, since he ended his career with a 6–4 record against the American player.

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').

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1–0)

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

Masters Series finals

Singles: 6 (2–4)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
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 Biscayne	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

Singles: 26 (17–9)

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

Singles