A link to an interview in Dutch with Marco van Basten and Richard Krajicek in which the guy with the 6-4 H2H record against vintage Sampras says he couldn't imagine winning many games, let alone matches against Federer had they met in his prime.

http://goroger.net/video/video/bastenkrajicek070212talk.html

Nick Thanks: Great stuff...I will use it to have some fun at the BBC... roflmao roflmao

Ciao :rolleyes:

I liked Richard Krajicek. An underrated player IMO. He could play good and effective tennis on every surface, regularly reaching the QF or SF stage at each of the slams. He also won titles on every surface. He was phenomenal during Wimbledon in 1996 and thoroughly deserved his title. His main problem was that he was injury prone.

True. A great player and now looks like a great tennis analyst.

This is what Krajicek said yesterday in the Independent newpaper. http://sport.independent.co.uk/tennis/article2283978.ece

Tenez, have you checked out any of the matches yet?

That was the best part of the interview,"HE MAKES RODDICK SERVE LOOK SHITTY".He knows that Federer would really annhilate his serve.Which brings back into debate what would he,at his peak now,do to Petes Serve?

Good article nonetheless!

Thanks for finding that Laurie!

This is the Federer passage:

If you were at your peak today how would you fare against Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal?

I think I would give Nadal trouble. The clay-courters never liked to play me because I kept the rallies short and they never had any rhythm. Maybe my serve-and-volley game could give Roger trouble. I used to beat Pete Sampras all the time by coming into the net. But the thing with Roger is that he makes Andy Roddick's serve look shitty. He gets all of his serves back. If he can get his serve back, he could get mine back. And if I don't have my serve, I am nothing.

(I'm not trying to suggest that people here can't find the interview on their own! However, by reproducing this sentence, it prevents anyone quoting sentences out of context which has happened here in the past. As they used to say in exam papers: please discuss!)

Hi Laurie. No I haven't but if he rains tonight, I will instead of playing the game myself.

I sent you a mail on the other board.

Cheers

Cheers, I've just sent a reply.

These two are probably the greatest sportsmen in the last 25 years in Holland. It's funny (and charming) to see both men consider Federer to perform at a level much better than they did.
I wouldn't be surprised Van Basten wil stutter a bit once he'll meet Federer :blush: I mean; Van Basten!

This extract from later on in the Independent interview proves that Krajicek's no stranger to making mistakes when being interviewed. In a few years time, I expect him to retract these comments about Federer in a similar fashion.

Not the best example to support you there, W_A. It sounds kind of like he's saying, "Yes, I meant it, but I should have been more politically correct and called them 'unfit', instead of 'fat pigs.'"

If he meant it, he'd have repeated the sentiment. The way I see it is, he's admitted to going OTT before, so it's likely that he's done so again with that '6 games' comment. I reckon it'd be more like... 12? ;)

:shrug: Maybe. Reads to me more like he's saying he's not really willing to back off the sentiment he originally expressed, that the women were unfit, but he took enough flack about the "fat pigs" comment in the past, that he's not going there again. He did repeat the sentiment; just rephrased.

Yes I find him quite honest about it. "I don't remember whether I meant it or not"....but he sincerely apologies for the term used.

Article in the Independent, 2012:

Interviewer: You once claimed you wouldn't have taken more than 6 games off Federer. <stifled laughter> Was that what you really believed?

Krajicek: It's a long time ago so I don't know if I really believed it or not. It was a bad statement to make. It was disrespectful to myself. It followed a stream of hyperbolic drivel from Marco (van Basten) and I felt I had to say something equally nice. I could have said he was a marginally better player, but to compare anyone from the Sampras era with the likes of Ljubicic and Blake is terrible. I should not have said anything of the sort.

Provide with the link!

roflmao

If Krajicek came out of retirement now to play a one-off match against Federer, he's right, he would win less than 6 games. However a Krajicek at the height of his powers, whilst he would still lose to Federer, would give him a much tougher challenge than the likes of Roddick and Hewitt in my opinion. In addition to his booming serve he had good groundstrokes which were underrated.

And Nick,Im still waiting with bated breath for it like Im sure many others are!

roflmao