The Hindu : Krajicek calls it a day

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Krajicek calls it a day

ROSMALEN (Netherlands) JUNE 19. Former Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek announced his retirement from tennis on Thursday, saying that continuing pain in his right elbow had made it impossible for him to compete at the highest level.

At a news conference at the Ordina Open, the 32-year-old said he decided to stop playing tennis for good after a painful exit in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday. Despite extensive medical treatment and cortisone shots, he said the pain made it difficult to function in daily life.

``I want to have the feeling that I can win,'' he said, holding back tears.

``But if my arm starts to hurt after a few service games, that's not realistic. That's why I've decided to stop.

``I achieved more and reached higher in the world ranks than I had ever dreamed as a child,'' he said.

Krajicek, born in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, played tennis for 25 years, fourteen of them professionally. He picked up his first racket when he was three and started taking lessons at five.

He won 17 ATP tournaments, with career earnings of more than $10 million, and reached fourth place in world rankings.

``But for all the success, I paid a high price,'' he said. ``Three knee operations, one elbow operation, one foot operation, and countless months and even years of rehabilitation. But despite all the problems, I returned again and again because my heart was with tennis.''

He was sidelined for more than a year following elbow surgery in March 2001 and missed another four months with a foot injury at the end of last year.

After Tuesday's loss to Oliver Mutis in Rosmalen, Krajicek pulled out of Wimbledon, complaining of pain in the right elbow.

Krajicek had won the Ordina tournament twice, including his first grasscourt championship in 1993.

Krajicek said he had hoped to compete one last time at Wimbledon, where he won his career's greatest victory in 1996, but that he had ``lost the fight for my health.''

``It's a great sorrow to me that I wasn't granted even my final goal,'' he said.

Krajicek, married with three children, will spend the next few weeks on vacation with his family, but said that after it would be hard adjusting to life without the game.

He said he would focus his energy on his tennis foundation, which funds tennis and soccer programmes for poor children, and his role as director of the ABN Amro tennis tournament in Rotterdam.

``Tennis is all I ever wanted to do,'' he said.

``The competition, the battle on the court, was the most beautiful thing in the world.''

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