WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2000

Richard Krajicek

MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. Richard Krajicek.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, that's right.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, I started off perfect - well, perfect. Started away with a break, so that's nice. But already also from the first game, I was struggling with my serve. 40-15 up, hit two double-faults. That basically, yeah, was an important point in the whole match. I was really struggling with my rhythm on the first and second serve, then later in the match, I started to take a little pace off the serve, try to place it a bit more and try to get the first serve percentage up. He broke me back in the first set. A little bit lucky I think at 6-5 to break him, to win the first set. Yeah, it all looked okay. But my service problems continued. Then on top of that, he was punishing my second serve very well. I started to take pace off the first serve to get the first serve percentage up, so he wasn't going to step up so much. I have to give him a lot of credit. I wish I was just serving a little bit more so I felt a little bit more confident, holding my games easier. Every time I had the feeling, and I think he had the feeling also, that he had a chance to break me. Normally it doesn't happen, especially on grass. My opponents shouldn't have that feeling. But I think that was the key point. I wasn't serving great, but he was really stepping in and hitting good forehand and backhand returns, especially backhand, yeah, it can be on and off. The forehand is always big for me, but his backhand, I thought was very sharp.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I thought it was an important one. Would have gone back to deuce, maybe gone back to the tiebreaker. I got that overrule. He was upset. Sacrificed the racquet.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Tough to say. I think it might have touched the line actually. It was difficult. The serve was so big. I think Wayne's point was more that he thought it was in, but he also thought it was the first overrule of the match. To do it on such a crucial point can be a little bit annoying. Yeah, to win that point and the set, I thought it was good for me, also that he would be a little bit upset, maybe I could take advantage of it. I was really looking for an early break myself. I thought maybe he's still upset and I can break him maybe straightaway in the second game to go 2-Love. I didn't have a chance. I think he held his game. I couldn't take advantage of that little moment that he maybe lost his concentration.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, I think it's very impressive, of course. He's just -- I think it's very good to win so many matches. Against me four years ago, I was playing very good, and maybe he wasn't playing that great, then you can lose. But that hasn't happened in any of the other years. I think you have to be a very high level. You can always have a lesser day and play an opponent who is on top of his game that day. Only once in seven years he managed to lose a match, so I think that's, yeah, got all my respect, that's for sure.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, but it always is. It's difficult to say. I think for starters, of course, the umpires and the linesmen are also human, so they can make mistakes. But somehow I think everybody feels that it's a tense moment. Maybe the umpire is nervous, has a feeling that the linesmen is nervous; maybe he or she is choking also, wants to correct their mistake. I don't know. But it always seems to happen on set points, always crucial points. The umpires also -- I think it's normal. If you have no feelings, then I don't think you can be a good umpire. I think you have to feel the moment of the match. But sometimes, yeah, it is amazing what kind of timing they can have for overruling.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Like I said, maybe the linesmen or women are not making those mistakes in the beginning of the set, and the umpire has the feeling they are making them when it gets more important. I don't know. I mean, you always have the -- if it's against you, you always think it's bad timing. It was pretty good timing, I thought.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: No. For the first set it did, but not for the match.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I thought maybe if I could win the fourth set, Love-30, relatively easy forehand to go Love-40, triple set point, we go into a fifth. But second or third, after I got broken, then I wasn't really in it anymore for those two sets. But in the fourth, I was back in it. You go to a fifth, you never know what happens.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, I know I'm struggling with my serve, basically not from the moment I got on grass, but for sure last week and this week. But I don't know if it's the balls. Maybe finally I can blame somebody else than myself. That's good. It somehow maybe goes a little bit , flies a little bit slower. That's why sometimes I hit -- I've hit definitely more double-faults the last couple of weeks than I've had on all the other surfaces. I think you just go for a little bit more. You don't get as much help as you normally would get. I mean, the balls are already heavy. Now that they're bigger, I think they're even slower. Maybe that's an explanation why sometimes you have the feeling the ball is not coming off your racquet. I had the feeling last year they weren't that quick either. It's tough to say. I mean, it's 12 months ago. I don't really remember how the ball felt off my racquet. I have to say this year, they're pretty heavy. Of course, the grass seems a little bit longer also actually. I don't know. It's no joke. The court is a little -- plays a little bit slower. I think it makes the grass a little bit longer.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, I think every year there's basically the same discussion. Yeah, you have a yearly ranking for the seedings. At Wimbledon, it has been always different. One of the reasons is that grass is a different surface. I think the best thing would be to maybe make separate rankings for the seedings only, not that you publish those, but you just look at, I don't know, last two or three years, somebody's grass court results, somebody's clay court results, then I think nobody can complain. Or you just say, "Okay, we do it according to the world ranking." I don't know. I don't know what is smart. I think that sometimes the clay court players, when they come here, I don't think Corretja or Costa played any event warming up for grass. I don't think they were really ready to play Wimbledon anyway. But for me personally, I don't know. I mean, I think the only one that really had to be seeded was Rafter. I think he deserved it. He was No. 1 last year. He was out for six months because of his shoulder. He was here in semifinals, won Rosmalen last year and this year again, but it was after the seedings. For myself, I don't know. I think if I play well, I can be contender for the title. In that sense, you can seed me. I haven't played that great last two years now at Wimbledon. My ranking is low. Yeah, you can say something for both sides. Maybe I shouldn't be seeded, but when you do seed me, I think, yeah, it was also good, I mean, for the other seeded players. I think if Sampras or Henman or any of the other seeds would meet me first round, I don't think they would be very happy.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Davis Cup, then the hard court season, Toronto, Cincinnati, US Open.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: If that goes wrong, too, tomorrow, it will be a very disappointing week. We'll see. Italians are tough. I hope we can finally break through the defensive football that they're playing.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I'll be watching in Holland. I don't know if I'll be in the stadium. I'll be watching it for sure on TV. Maybe I'll go watch live.