WIMBLEDON

June 28, 2002

Richard Krajicek

MODERATOR: Shall we start in English.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Oh, against Blake, during the match, my toes were hurting, my big toes, both of them. After the match, they were full of blood under the toes. So I made some holes in the nails to get the blood out. Yeah, I thought it would be enough. So I got some padding on. Yeah, during the match, or actually straightaway from the beginning, it kept bothering me. So I asked the trainer out. Yeah, I asked him -- I knew it wasn't possible. I asked him to give me a lidocaine shot, local, that you get at the dentist also, because then it numbs it completely. It wasn't possible. He just ice sprayed it. Didn't really help. After the match goes on, you warm up, it gets better.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Normally I have it in the States, in the American summer. It's so hot and humid that your foot is moving in your shoe. That is the first time I have it actually anywhere else than the American summer. Yeah, my body, I guess, is not used to it. My toes are not used to stopping and starting. Especially when I was going forward, after the serve to hit the volley, to stop, my toe was hitting always the front of the shoe. After, yeah, five sets or during five sets, it was a little bit too much.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: My elbow actually (laughter). There's some parts. My left leg feels pretty good. Right leg is pretty stiff. When you win, doesn't matter. The toes, that's a little bit painful. The rest is just stiffness, muscle stiffness. That really is never bad. You know, that always warms up once you start playing.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: No, I'm not a religious person. Maybe there's somebody watching over me, but I don't know about it. I was looking for the ray of sun when I walked in because I remember Goran saw a ray of sun when he walked in last year, but I couldn't find it (smiling). There was not a clear sign for me that somebody is on your side.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: No, I haven't practiced at all. So it is very surprising for me because normally - I already said it Monday - when I come back from injury, I first get healthy; then I practice three, four weeks really hard to get physically in shape, but also mentally play matches. Yeah, I was just too long away from the tour. I've a couple times tried that way. My arm was good, I tried to really build up. Then always at the end, yeah, my aarm start to bother me again. So now I thought, "Okay, the first day my arm is going to be good, I just have to play in the event." I wasn't playing, I was going crazy, I didn't know why anymore I was doing the rehabilitation for. So I didn't have high expectations at all. Last week I played Federer and I was happy to make it to 7-5. I thought it was already good. When I saw the draw, I thought one round was good, maybe two, then, yeah, go home and work out hard finally for the American summer. But I didn't expect this. I mean, this match was good because I had high expectations again. I was expecting to win; put some pressure on me. So I was happy I handled that pressure I put on myself. And the other match, I was happy that, yeah, it was so close, so tight, and I came up with some, you know, big serves and I played some good points at the important moments. Normally that takes time. But somehow I've managed to, a little bit out of nothing, get this level of tennis and also the match toughness - which normally you should train, but I didn't train at all.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, I think it's a combination. Of course, you need a successful surgery. There's a lot of knowledge and tools that can help for a successful surgery. But then if you don't do the rehab well, and if you don't take your time, even if you have the best surgery, you can still ruin it by maybe coming back too quick or straining it too much. So it is a combination. I think what is more interesting, if you want to talk about surgical knowledge nowadays, is arthroscopic surgery, what I had on my knee, the scopes. I mean, they make little holes, yeah, and it doesn't damage hardly anything. Within a couple weeks, you can basically play again. But, yeah, it is nice to live in these times. Maybe 20, 30 years ago, yeah, I maybe had to take one, two, three years off or maybe I never would have been able to play and wait till the pain to go away.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, maybe he's even further. I heard something in the press that he had some artificial cartilage or something. I think our most famous football player, also maybe in the world, had cartilage problems, and he couldn't return. I think already a couple years already makes a difference. They really keep on inventing new things. So, yeah, it's good to be in this time. Maybe in another 10, 20, 30 years.... I don't know if you ever watch Star Trek. They go over you with this little metal thing and you're healthy. That would be nice (laughter). I was actually thinking about that the last couple months. I thought that would have been pretty good (smiling).

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I know I've lost to him also. But I think I've beaten him also. I know I lost to him first time I played him in Tokyo, indoors, a couple years ago, or five, six, seven years ago. I've beaten him once on clay in Monaco. I have no idea when else I've played him.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Very slim, I think. I mean, the only thing would help if we both return the serve, get a volley, have a second shot, maybe one more shot after that. Thaat's probably going to be it. I'm not going to stay back on my first or second serve, and neither is he. That makes it already difficult. Today and also against Blake, I mean, both players stayed back on their second serve most of the time, then I could come in, sometimes rally, then there's a chance of a rally. Yeah, ain't going to happen. I don't want him to come to the net on my serve, and he feels the same way, I think. Yeah, we just want to get to the net as quick as possible. We both feel that's the way to win our matches. So very, very few rallies. Maybe if I return like Andre does in his good moments, then he gets intimidated. But the chances are pretty small that that's going to happen.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yes and no. I mean, in a way. I know he beat Agassi, but I thought was also a possibility that coming off that high, a lot of -- yeah, surprise win for him I think also, that maybe he would have had a letdown. Yeah, it was 4-3 first set with new balls. After that, when I broke him, he really started playing less and less. I got a little more confident. After that, I think he wasn't playing close to what he was playing two days ago, I guess.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, it's good to play tournaments again because I can sleep. That's sometimes very difficult. Normally you went to tournaments to work hard, but now I actually use tournaments as rest. That's the difference being a father (laughter). I'm so rested when I come back after a couple best-of-five matches. But it's nice. Yeah, of course, I call home. My wife came today or yesterday. It's nice to hear some stories, like my four-year-old daughter is explaining to my two-year-old son, he sees me now, he understands who I am, that I'm not a real dad, I'm the tennis dad who's on TV. That's very funny to hear. He goes, "That's daddy, daddy." "No, it's not like that. That's tennis dad. That's on TV. There's another one we have at home." Those are funny stories. But the rest, I'm just trying to concentrate, of course, on my tennis. When I'm home, then I concentrate on my family.