![]() ![]() ![]() Krajicek has always had a big serve, averaging 118 miles an hour (189 kilometers an hour) in the final with 14 aces, but recently he added a strong return and the patience to pass from the baseline. It took the 6-foot-5-inch (1.96-meter) Krajicek 93 minutes to apply the same formula he had used against the 1991 champion Michael Stich and Sampras in earlier rounds. "For the fortnight, I was the second-best player in the world." "It's great when you can come into a tournament when everyone's there, all of the great players, and you're still standing at the end," said Washington, ranked 20th in the world when the tournament began. Washington, who had lost six of his nine Wimbledon matches before this year, was the first African-American finalist at Wimbledon since Ashe beat Jimmy Connors in 1975. Though Krajicek was ranked 13th in the world - and will move into the Top 10 this week - he was not seeded among the top 16 because he had lost his opening match at Wimbledon each of the last two years. Krajicek joined Becker, who was 17 when he won in 1985, as the only unseeded Wimbledon titlists. Between them, Krajicek and Washington had 13 career titles - one-third as many as Pete Sampras, the three-time defending champion knocked out by Krajicek last week - and neither had any prospects of winning when the world's greatest tennis tournament began two weeks ago. Krajicek's parents had him registered with the Dutch tennis federation by the time he was 6. Meanwhile Washington was pretending to toss his runners-up plate like a Frisbee and flashing his chest like the streaker who four hours earlier had helped start their match on the right foot. As they say here, cheers!Īrt Spander has earned a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.Later, while posing for photographers, Krajicek was trying to hold the trophy as if it were a baby when the lid fell off. It’s the trivial in which England loves to dwell.Ī well-struck backhand doesn’t mean much, but a streaker and a grunter are just what the country, and tabloids, ordered. And if the tour has allowed her to do such noise, it’s…” But that’s the way she’s (been) playing for a long time. “Personally,” said Dementieva of the grunting, “I think it’s a little too much. You got some.”Īnd after the match, we got Dementieva, another Russian, complaining about the sounds Sharapova makes with each swing of the racket, sounds which led to the confrontation with the man from the Daily Mail. Hey, you guys wanted some entertainment during a women’s match. But she has lived in Florida more than a decade and speaks perfect English. “I try not to let things distract me,” said Sharapova, who was champion two years ago. Nothing quite as dramatic Tuesday at the All-England Club. She even briefly grabbed the flagpole before police grabbed her. Andrews as Tiger Woods was winning the 2000 British Open. The 1996 final between Richard Krajicek and MalaVai Washington was delayed when a young lady, Melissa Johnson, wearing only a maid’s apron, sprinted past as the two contestants posed for a prematch photo.Īs if to prove nothing is sacred, a woman, Jacqui Salmond, wearing glasses - and nothing else - ran from the crowd alongside the 18th green at St. People have raced nude across Wimbledon’s green grass a number of times. If baseball were played in England, somebody would streak that. The question only comes up at Wimbledon, where you guys have all your Suns and the Daily Mails and all that.”Īnd where, invariably we have streakers because there’s something in the British psyche that makes people take off their clothes and interfere with a sporting event no matter what, tennis, golf, soccer, even cricket. You know I always have the same answer to this question. They wanted to know if Maria’s grunting on each shot was louder than in previous matches, a query presented by a reporter from one of the tabloids, of course, the Daily Mail. Even more bizarre that it took 10 seconds for security to come out. ![]() “I knew the question was going to come,” Sharapova said. They wanted to know Sharapova’s reaction when during the second set of her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Elena Dementieva a male streaker leaped from the stands and did cartwheels until a red blanket was wrapped around him, and he was led away. The four winners were the four top seeds, No.1, Amelie Mauresmo No.2, Kim Clijsters No.3 Justine Henin-Hardenne No.4 Sharapova, a rare situation when that occurs.īut do you think the journalists in attendance were interested? Or cared about the quality of play? Please. No Americans as you’re aware, but that’s besides the point. The Wimbledon women’s quarterfinals were held Tuesday. Maybe it’s driving on the left side of the road.Maybe it’s nearly 2,000 years of never being invaded. ![]()
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