THE LIPTON CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 27, 1999

Richard Krajicek

GREG SHARKO: Richard concludes the tournament now with a 17-4 match record on the season. He wins his second ATP Tour title of the year and his second Mercedes Super 9 of his career. He goes to a career high No. 4 on the ATP Tour rankings. First question for Richard.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, I felt really bad basically from the beginning. After like ten minutes I was already struggling. What I was complaining about against Enqvist, my legs didn't feel so great. I thought it was sunstroke. Yesterday you saw the weather. So, I don't know. Since Thursday morning, I haven't had a really good meal, like I've lost my appetite a little bit. Maybe also I just didn't get enough food in me to really feel strong, so I was really struggling with recuperation. That's why I was picking my points. On 30-All I would run, but the first point in the game, if the ball would be too far away, I let it go. I picked my points to use my energy because sometimes instead of 15 seconds, what normally takes to recuperate after a decent point, it took me a minute.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, sometimes it does happen. Sometimes it happens in the first round, you know, maybe you're just a little bit nervous. Maybe it was also nerves. You know, it's a big event. When I beat Pete, suddenly I saw not completely open up the draw, but I knew the match against Thomas would be important. So that could have been a factor also. But it's been very weird that i have it for a couple days, never happened in one match. But like today I didn't feel I could really stretch out. The only thing I didn't have, what sometimes happens also, is you have the taste of the throw-up taste, really disgusting taste. I didn't have that today.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I think very important. It's nice to reach career-high No. 4. But for me today the most important thing was to win the title. Yeah, it's a little bit like Wimbledon, it's just a little bit bigger Grand Slam, even though I won it. Now again I won this one, so maybe it's a little bit bigger than the other Super 9's. I'm not saying that because I won both events, but it's a very prestigious event, and I'm very happy to win it. For sure I'm more happy about winning the event than reaching No. 4.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I don't know. Strange things can happen. But, yeah, I was definitely not hoping for a fifth set. Luckily I still have my serve. So, you know, I can win a couple of easy games. Maybe you have to favor his chances. I'm just happy it didn't go to a fifth. I don't want to think about that. It brings negative thoughts in my head.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I was very unhappy, of course, with myself. I was Love-30. Played two good points.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I hit three big serves. Then he had like this miss-hit return down the line which I couldn't see well. I thought maybe it was wide, but I guess it touched the line. Yeah, then I missed the volley at deuce. A couple of like weird -- actually, he played two good points. Yeah, it was strange points. Three big serves. From 40-30 was really strange points, I think. I thought maybe that second serve on breakpoint could have touched the line also. I didn't have a nice feeling about that game. Suddenly he gets more confident about returning. Maybe I don't serve so good, but next game I'm breakpoint down again. Yeah, I choose -- luckily, I make the right choice. I thought, okay aggressive kick. It bounces up. Somehow he was liking -- at that moment he was having the timing for the quick second serve. I hit it very aggressive to make it bounce up. He completely miss-timed, too, on breakpoint and on deuce. Yeah, I change the tactics just in time. Then I played an okay game, he played a little less game at 5-All.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I don't know what I would have done before, but I think experience has helped. Maybe I would have used my energy on less important points. That was very good what I did today, that I didn't panic, for starters. I didn't feel good, but I didn't get upset about it. I just accepted the fact, yeah, I'm not physically not feeling the best. Then you have to adjust to that. That was at least a good point. Like I said before, I was picking my points well. At 4-2 in the third when he was serving, on deuce and on breakpoint, both points, yeah, I moved very good. Yeah, I didn't feel so good the game after, like during the changeover. But, yeah, I knew that's what I had to do. If it would be 30-Love up, the same kind of points would have happened, I would have just let the points go and just concentrate on my next service game. So, yeah, the main thing was I didn't panic and I picked my points well.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, it was interesting. Emma didn't know what was going on. I have to say she was not smiling so much. She felt there was something happening. Normally she's smiley all the time. In the morning, we had a birthday breakfast in the Sonesta Hotel. Yeah, the table decorated, she was hitting the spoon, unwrapping the presents. That was a lot of fun. My coach was there also, my physiotherapist and his wife, Daphne and myself, and of course Emma. We had for an hour a birthday breakfast. Then I went out to practice. In the afternoon, we had a little lunch. Then we had the cake ceremony. Yeah, unfortunately, we bring her up too good. We give her the manners. We taught her too many manners because we just was taking little pieces out of the whipped cream. We were just hoping she would go with both hands and put the face in. But, unfortunately, that didn't happen. It was a lot of fun. Yeah, like I said, it's for the parents. She doesn't know what's going on. But, yeah, we both enjoyed it, Daphne and myself.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I didn't buy her. I won Lipton for her. Yeah, we got her a little dress. It's tough to buy something for her, you know, because every day is a birthday. Not every day, but every week almost a birthday. Every week you come home with something. Bought her a little dress. She's got only about 25,000 dresses.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Definitely. Good blackmail material.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: It's been almost seven years ago. The fact is that women's tennis is very interesting at the moment. Yeah, they have a good-looking player like Anna Kournikova, they have a very talented player I think with Martina Hingis, they got two sisters who are also African American, which also is special in tennis. They have a lot of personalities. Also, yeah, the attention has gone to them. I think we also have a lot of different personalities. We have Pete Sampras, who is almost a living legend already, Pat Rafter who is the good looking one, you can compare maybe with Kournikova in a way. But women's tennis is doing very good. It's good to see because men's tennis was maybe struggling for a while. Women's tennis was doing good, and still it is doing good. In the end, I think it's going to help men's tennis also, because tennis is tennis in the end. I don't know if I motivated them with any statements I made in the past. Yeah, I respected the women's game, and they get all the attention they deserve, I think. I think it's a very healthy, healthy tour. I think two, three, four years ago, I know they were really struggling big time. They've really come out of it. They're very successful. In the end, I see it as something positive because it's also going to help the men's game.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: This time he finished the match, for starters. It's difficult to say. I don't remember how well he played before, but he still has also -- last year he was a fighter. He's a break down in the fourth, and he comes back. So I think he's the same player. I'm sure that he improved his tennis. But last year he was already mentally I think a very tough player. So in that sense, he kept it, and he probably improved his tennis. I think he improved his serve a little bit. But it's difficult for me to remember how much his tennis has really improved. But he was a fighter already. He's a small guy, but he uses everything he has on the court to win the match. I think that's very good.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, the clay court season is going to be pretty short for me this time because I have a rough schedule now with these two events, then directly Davis Cup, then I go to Asia, Hong Kong, Tokyo. Normally I would have played Monaco, but I skipped that this year. I would have been playing six weeks in a row on four different continents, I think. So then I play Hamburg, Rome. Hamburg is going to be tough because it's slow clay. From then on, I think all the events suit me in a way. I have two fast clay court tournaments, Rome and the French. I've reached the finals in Rome, semifinals in the French. On grass, yeah, I've won a couple of tournaments, and of course the big one in Wimbledon. Yeah, if I keep working hard and adjusting well to the surfaces, thinking well. I think there's no bigger difference than clay and grass. So I think last year I was a little bit slow with changing my attitude from clay to grass. It cost me actually the tournament in Halle, I felt. I played not so smart. Yeah, if I work hard and I think very well when I have to change the surfaces, I can have a pretty good summer.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Well, I used to be like that. I wanted to peak at the Grand Slams. Then suddenly I was losing first, second rounds in the Grand Slams. So I decided maybe it's just better to concentrate on the event I'm playing. So at the moment, of course, you know, the big event coming up is going to be May and June, French Open and Wimbledon. But I think it's important for me to concentrate now next week on Davis Cup and after that the two hard court events in Asia. I don't want to look too much ahead yet. I've seen that works the best for me if I just concentrate on the one event and I play my matches, I do my thing on that event. If I lose or if I finish the tournament somehow, if I win the event, then I concentrate on the next week. I find that's the best way for me to concentrate on the event I'm playing. If I play well, then I have the confidence going into the next maybe Grand Slam.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I go to Halle, yeah, stay in Europe, the mainland.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I think he's played a great part in everything. I think the way I've changed as a person, as a tennis player, also as a person on the court. I've really felt like in the beginning, first two years, I think we started out at player-coach. Then the years after, he was also still a coach, but maybe was like a big brother for me. He helped me and he told me certain things that happened, maybe I reacted the wrong way. Now I think the last couple years, yeah, I think he's maybe my best friend actually. Still we separate the best friend part off the court with the coaching part on the court. Yeah, he's been very loyal and he's been very patient with me. I've had some tough times. He's been very, very patient with me and understanding. I've been going through rough times emotionally, also after Wimbledon, but also before I always -- at least I had things going on in my mind, thinking about I don't know what. Sometimes I'm not giving it a hundred percent in practice, sometimes playing against myself during the match, getting upset on the court. He was telling me about 2000 times not to do that. He kept calm. Sometimes we had a little bit of an argument because it was just too much for him. I have to say 99 out of a hundred times he was right. He made the right choice of sometimes not saying something or sometimes saying something. So, yeah, we really have grown close and he really understands me. Like I said before, he knows when to maybe leave me for a couple minutes to chill out. Yeah, I'm very happy with him. I really feel because we worked so long that we really accomplished this together, what we have accomplished. Basically from the beginning of the career we're together. Yeah, I feel it's a big team effort.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I think he can be. It doesn't happen so often because I've matured so much and I'm much tougher on myself than I was maybe three, four years ago. Yeah, the last 18 months, two years, I've really -- I don't think he too many times had to get upset. The beginning of this year, I was in practice - how do you say - irritated quickly. He said something about that. But in general he doesn't have to say too much about my attitude. We've only been talking tennis. That actually has made life a lot easier. Before, he had to worry about so many things.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: This time it started already like halfway through the game because I give a guy one or two returns. He made three or four with a backhand off a pretty big kick serve, sometimes like 105, 109 even. He was clearly having the timing for it. I was thinking, "I got to do something." I think just before I served, because before you start the point, you don't think about the second serve. You think about hitting an ace, whatever, a big serve. Then I missed my first serve. Then I go, "Okay, I've got to do this. I'm not going to give it to him that easy. I've got to make him think or throw him off guard a little bit." After I missed the first serve, then I thought about it.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: You think about it. That's why I'm with Nike, "Just do it."

RICHARD KRAJICEK: I think first set I didn't start maybe that good. But I have to say in the fourth set, yeah, he was the first guy who could really handle the heavy quick. Thomas Enqvist has a good return, but when I really put in a big kick, he was caught late all the time. Even though he's smaller than Thomas, he was just quick to get behind the ball. He had a good timing for it. First set he also broke me, but I don't really remember what happened. But when he broke me in the fourth set, it was really because he moved well and he really had a good timing for the quick serve.

RICHARD KRAJICEK: Yeah, of course. Looking forward to it (laughter). Definitely. The only advantage is it's indoors, so no sun, no wind. That's also easier to play then. I hope it's going to even out a little bit the conditions with this. The good thing is, when it's indoors, I don't think you can put too much water in it because of the humidity or something. They cannot make the court too slow. It will be interesting. I'm going to need one or two days to get used to the sliding on the clay. Speed-wise it will be okay. I'll still be playing serve and volley a lot, not as much maybe as I did here. It's going to be interesting, a big match for Dutch Davis Cup tennis and Dutch tennis in general. We really want to win. With the quality we have on the team, we want to finally get past the quarterfinal.