Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Krajicek to meet Philippoussis in battle of rehabilitated big servers

John Roberts
Saturday 29 June 2002 00:00 BST
Comments

Richard Krajicek's wife, Daphne Deckers, had a bit part in the 1997 James Bond film, "Tomorrow Never Dies." Her 30-year-old husband is currently revising the script.

The tall, affable Dutchman came into our lives in 1996, when neither Pete Sampras nor a streaking waitress could stop him from winning the men's singles title. Having come close to ending his career because of an elbow injury, Krajicek is about to go into the fourth round on Monday as the only former men's champion left in the draw.

"I thought if I won two matches here, it would be good," he said. "Then I'd get a beating by Andre [Agassi], and I could go home happy." Agassi, the third seed, was the one who got the beating, from Paradorn Srichaphan, of Thailand, in the second round. Yesterday, the big-serving Krajicek took the measure of Srichaphan, and defeated him, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The only moment of alarm for Krajicek's supporters on Court One was when he called for the trainer, Bill Norris, during a change-over in the second set. Removing his shoes and socks to reveal bandaged big toes, Krajicek asked Norris to soothe them with a spray.

Enter Mark Philippoussis. Last year, the Australian with a game made for grass, was hitting balls from a wheelchair in the hope of making a comeback following a third operation on his left knee. In order to return to Wimbledon, the 25-year-old was given a wild card like you-know-who from Croatia last year. Yesterday, Philippoussis, who continues to have injections in his knee, recovered after an edgy start to his third-round match against Nicolas Kiefer and overcame the German, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

The twist in the story is that the rehabilitated Krajicek and Philippoussis will duel for a place in the quarter-finals. This may not be a pretty sight. "I'm not going to stay back on my first or second serve, and neither is he," said Krajicek, who has won three of their five previous matches, none of which were on grass. "The only thing that would help would be if we both return the serve, get a volley, have a second shot, and maybe one more shot after that. That's probably going to be it."

Philippoussis envisioned a similar scenario. "Being a past champion here, Richard loves the tournament and he's a great player on the grass," he said. "One good thing, he's going to be serve-volleying first and second serve, so I can expect that.

"Like I said so many times, it doesn't really worry me who's on the other end. As long as I do the right thing on my part and concentrate on my serves and make him play on his serves, I'm going to be dangerous."

Given their medical history, Philippoussis and Krajicek were asked if the fact that they would be playing against each other here was a testament to surgical science or personal determination.

"Obviously Richard has worked hard to get back from where he was," Philippoussis said. "But once you're out there playing those matches, it all comes back to you quickly. That's how it felt for me. But I don't think we'll be thinking about that. It's the fourth round, it's the second week, and it's Wimbledon."

Had doctors told him he might have pain in the knee in later life? Philippoussis smiled and said: "No. I'm sure I'll still be sky-diving at the age of 50."

Krajicek ascribed his recovery to a combination of medical science and personal resilience. "It's nice to live in these times of surgical knowledge," he said. "Maybe in another 10, 20 or 30 years it will be like Star Trek: they go over you with this little metal thing, and you're healthy. That would be nice."

Life has changed for Krajicek since Daphne cheered his Wimbledon triumph from the players' guest box in 1996. They married in 1999, and have two children, Emma and Alec. "It's good to play tournaments again, because I can sleep," Krajicek joked. "But having children is nice. My wife arrived yesterday, and it was nice to hear the stories. Like my four-year-old daughter is explaining to my two-year-old son that I'm not a real dad, I'm the tennis dad who's on TV. 'There's another one we have at home'."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in