Richard Krajicek

Richard Peter Stanislav Krajicek (b. December 6, 1971, in Rotterdam, Netherlands) is a former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for winning the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1996.

The son of Czech immigrants in Holland, Krajicek began playing tennis at the age of four. As a youngster he won the Dutch 12-under and 14-under National Championships twice each. He turned professional in 1989, and in 1991 won his first top-level singles title at Hong Kong, and his first tour doubles title in Hilversum.

In 1992, he reached his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open, but then had to withdraw from his semi-final match due to a shoulder injury. The following year, he reached the semi-finals at the French Open where he lost in four sets to the defending champion Jim Courier.

Coming into Wimbledon in 1996, Krajicek had never previously progressed beyond the fourth round, and had lost in the first round in the two previous years. He was a player with undoubted potential, but was not considered to be one of the strongest contenders to win 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 one) Thomas Muster pulled out shortly before the tournament due to injury, Krajicek was given Muster's place in the draw.

He beat former champion Michael Stich in the fourth round, and then met Sampras in the quarter-finals. Krajicek shocked the tennis world by defeating Sampras in straight sets 7-5, 7-6, 6-4, becoming the only player to beat Sampras in a Wimbledon singles match in the eight-year period from 1993-2000. He then beat Australia's Jason Stoltenberg in the semi-finals, and went on to face American MaliVai Washington in the final. He won the final in straight sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 to become the first Dutchman to win Wimbledon.

Krajicek's victory over Sampras proved to be no fluke. He amassed a 6-4 record against the American tennis legend. The big-serving Dutchman is the only prominent tennis player of his generation to have a career winning record against Sampras.

In 1998, Krajicek was in the Wimbledon semi-finals again, where he lost to Goran Ivani?evi? in a marathon match 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-7, 15-13. His final attempt at winning a second Wimbledon title was in 2002, when he lost in the quarter-finals to Xavier Malisse. 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 number 4 in 1999.

In 1999, Krajicek married Daphne Deckers, a Dutch fashion model, writer and actress who appeared in the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies.

His younger sister Michaella Krajicek was ranked the world no. 1 junior tennis player in 2004, and entered the top 100 on the professional tour in 2005 at the age of 16.

* Site about Richard and his sister Michaella Krajicek
* Official ATP Profile


Krajicek, Richard
Krajicek, Richard
Krajicek, Richard
Krajicek, Richard

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