You are living in Holland again. You became father to a daughter.
   You once again get troubled by a knee injury but you also win your
   first Super 9 title. There are players who experience less in 5 year.

    Fortunately that title in Stuttgart took away the attention to my knee a little.
   For me it was also a mental boost before I had to get surgery.
   The way I see it, I've played solid tennis all through the year, with nice results, but
   winning a tournament really gives satisfaction.
   Of course I also think sometimes that I could have ended higher if I hadn't had that
   injury. But I have to be realistic. Because of that knee and because of my mental
   condition I've played less tournaments than I usually do. And that has had a positive
   effect. So, it may sound strange, but that knee has had a positive contribution to
   my results.
   I think I also have the level not to play less good than any other player, except for
   Sampras maybe.
   For this past year I've felt very mature on court. And it wasn't difficult at all to get
   motivated for the training.
 

   Are there also other things that show you have matured?

    At the end of 1996, I was sure I would quit playing tennis a year later. That obviously
   didn't happen. At the end of last year, I've been thinking a lot.
   You see, I only have one life. For me it doesn't work to say that you will just finish
   your career and then do something fun. You have to be able to enjoy yourself at any
   age. I don't mean doing nothing, but doing something that satisfies you.
   In the end I came to the conclusion that tennis gave me that satisfaction at that
   moment. I just didn't like travelling and training that much.
   I do dare to say now that I barely trained in 1996 and so I wasn't fit at all.
   In the period before that, I had worked extremely hard and so I started the year with a
   lot of confidence, but in Australia it already went wrong.
   I got problems with my shoulder, my back, my neck and I could just go on and on
   even though I had done everything to do as well as possible. So the disappointment
   was even bigger and my motivation got down to zero. And during the Italian Open
   I was really nervous and I was on court with cramps in my stomach.
   It sounds weird, but in the year I was least serious about my career and I wasn't
   really motivated, I scored my biggest hit. But that didn't have a positive effect, on
   the contrary. The lack of motivation I was dealing with became even stronger after
   winning the most wanted title because: What was left now?
   So the second half of 1996 was an absolute all time low.
   Fortunately, at the end of that year, I came out positive again after my injury period.
   Besides that tragedy against Rafter in Paris, I found the joy in tennis again.
   So I've brought my career into perspective. At the end of 1996 I knew it couldn't
   go on like this.
   There were also other things in life. If I would quit, I couldn't live that generous with
   my money anymore, but that didn't matter to me. That's when your maturity shows.
   You succeed in changing your attitude. That works because of a lot of different factors
   of which being honest towards yourself is one of the most important things.
 

   Did the birth of Emma have a noticeable effect on your game?

    Her birth won't be the reason why my tennis is going well.
   The phenomenon of becoming a dad does have an influence of course. People, at least
   Daphne and me, have a child because they love each other very much and we wanted
   to add something to that. A process we've been working on for a couple of years.
   Emma was sort of the perfect addition to our relationship. When Daphne got pregnant,
   our life got even more balanced. And that fact definitely didn't have a negative
   influence on my tennis.
   But I can separate these things well. When I play bad I don't think: "Oh well, would I
   care? I have such a nice home situation anyway." No, it is and always will be terrible
   to play bad. But now when I loose I only have one instead of three hours of
   suicidal tendencies. You see, tennis is not the ultimate thing in life. That's happiness.
   And in that, tennis can play a part. A workaholic can also be very happy. Because I have
   a life next to tennis now, I can distance myself from it sooner.
 

   Besides Rohan Goetzke Jan Naaktgeboren also seems to be an important
   factor in your tennis life.

   That is absolutely a fact. And not just because he treats me excellent physically, but he's also
   important in mental respect. Like last year at Wimbledon, when I got in injury in my match
   against Ferreira. I over stretched and then the bones of my lower leg and my upper leg touched
   each other which caused a bleeding in the bone of that lower leg. You couldn't see a
   bruise, but I could really feel it.
   Against Sanguinetti (quarter final) I could hardly stand the pain. Running was ok, but when
   I walked from the chair to the court again, the pain was almost unbearable. Painkillers did
   help a little, but it sure wasn't fun. Still, then I did dare to, and also in my semi final meeting
   with Ivanisevic, give all I had because I knew Jan was there in case something should happen.
   Jan and his wife have become very good friends of ours. This year they went to the US Open
   together with us for the third time. Then Emma could sleep with them if I had to play the
   next day, because at that time, Emma just got the need to turn in her sleep. Especially
   Daphne got nightmares because of that, because research  showed the chance of cot death
   is bigger when kids sleep on their belly. So we put curled up towels next to her, but Emma
   wouldn't take that, with the result that I didn't get a whole lot of sleep.
 

   In the book "Netpost", that you wrote together with Theo Bakker, you show
   yourself in a way that many people don't know from you. For example that you
   have a nice cynical sense of humour and that you are a quite erudite person.
   How come most people have only just found out about that?

   A combination of maturing and having more confidence in people and in myself.
   I have appeared on a show of Paul de Leeuw and I wouldn't have dared to do that before.
   I don't have that fear anymore. I also won't try to be extra funny there, like you see some
   other people do sometimes.
   I am also less suspicious towards the press than I used to be. I've had a very strange sort
   of relation with them of course. I used to feel cheated and I would react against that.
   I became more closed. But now I will just go up to this person I don't agree with.
   I don't avoid the confrontation anymore. Without a doubt my relationship with Daphne and
   the balance in my life have a lot to do with that. Or maybe conversely, you can also say that,
   because I have changed, there's more balance.
 

   You also write that this year at the centre court of Wimbledon, you felt what kind
   of impact that title has had on you for the first time. But you had also played
   there the year before, right?

   In '97 I was defending my title and in the first round I was only thinking about not losing that.
   Later on, that loss against Henman came. But this year, in the first round against Steven,
   it was different.
   When I entered that centre court, I suddenly felt that impact. "Damn, I stood there as a winner",
   is what went through my mind. It was like someone gave me a pat on the back.
   Maybe it also had something to do with the fact that I, at that moment, felt like I could win
   a grand slam again. Also in mental respect. I kind of got rid off the amazement of the title
   in '96.
 

   You say Rohan is, for a big part, responsible for your personal development
   of the past year.

   That's not an exaggerated observation. He's the one who stood by me for all those years.
   I'm happy now with the person that I am. It feels like the circle around me has become
   very nice. On the court, but also in my personal life, you can't underestimate Rohan's
   influence. He's always been very patient with me. He chose the right moments to talk.
   In the past, when I was being unkind towards a waiter or waitress at a restaurant, he'd often
   wait till the next day, when I had cooled off, to give me his criticism.
   Also, he mostly would find the right moment after a weak match.
 

   This year, you continued playing a couple of times, even though you were injured.
   As a reason you'd say you didn't want the press the chance to write that Krajicek
   had given up once again. That doesn't sound like you have a lot of
   self confidence. Who cares what the press writes? Isn't your body much more
   important?

   The press for a large part decides which opinion is being formed about me. It's just very
   annoying to get confronted over and over again with your injury history and the times I had
   to withdraw.
   Of course I can understand the attention for a knee injury, but the way in which they
   keep looking back on my injuries is, in my opinion, greatly exaggerated.
   There are players who lose and then afterwards say they were injured. I'm just not like that.
   After I have finished a match, I will never complain about that. Agassi and Becker do do that,
   and they also withdraw from a tournament quite often, but they don't have that image.
   Litmanen ( Jari, soccer player) hardly plays in the base anymore, but also doesn't have the
   the image to be injured very often.
   In Cincinnati I finished playing a match ( against Spadea) even though I was injured. And
   I was aware of what I was doing. I knew that, when I'd give up, the American press and after
   that, the Dutch press, would come with those familiar questions again.
   I just have that image and it seems to me like it's very difficult to get rid off that.
   I had told myself, right before the US Open, not to give a lot of attention to my knee.
   But in the first round already, the questions at the press conferences of the Dutch media were
   only about that subject. Over and over again I had to answer the same question: "When
   would I get knee surgery? "
   Every time I thought I had made it all clear, there was another question about that subject.
   The body is inextricable bound up with the mind. When the mind can't take all that
   whining, you just take the decision to continue playing, even though that really doesn't
   make any sense.
   Against Rosset in Bercy ,at the score of 4-4 in the second set, when I got a knee injury,
   I should have hit 8 balls into the fence, instead of continuing to play ( Krajicek gave up
   at 5-2 in his advantage, because he knew he wouldn't be able to play the next round).
   I've played 62 matches this year, and had to give up three of them. That's not that much,
   but I still have that image.
 

   But when you've done everything you can, then the opinion of the press doesn't
   matter anymore, does it? Then it becomes their problem.

   I am not a robot and don't have ice water in my veins.
   I already don't mind as much as I used to, when they write negative stuff about me.
   I'd rather concentrate on my tennis instead of wasting energy on stuff that's not important.
   In the book "Netpost" I also wrote that it's not difficult to stand above certain levels, because
   you just can't stand under certain levels.
   When you get injured during a match, and a player himself can feel that the best, you have to
   make a decision. And sometimes you just don't feel like having another one of those
   discussions with the press about this subject.
   When I give up, like I did against Johansson, it is normal that they start about it. But when I
   am being honest and I tell them that the surgery will take place this year, and that they will
   be the first to hear the date, then I think you can presume the subject is closed then.
 

   In this issue, a Dutch coach ( Alex Reijnders, coach of Haarhuis, Eltingh and       
   Schalken ) says he wouldn't be surprised if you become the new number 1
   next year, when you don't get any injuries. Do you also feel like that,
   or do you feel like you first would have to change or improve something then?

   I have no idea about what I would have to change. The next two years will become the
   years of the truth. I feel very motivated. I feel fit physically , also during training.
   I see that knee as a construction fault, that has been taken care of now.
   As far as tennis goes, I can put up a fight with everybody and that's why I give myself a
   good chance to improve my best position ever. And so the next two years will become
   very interesting. Can I get higher or will that top 5 (april '97) be the limit.
   If that would be the case, I'm obviously not eligible in mental respect to get higher.
   In those two years I will really get the chance to find out when I've reached my ceiling.
   When that later on turns out to be 1 grand Slam title and the 5th position on the ranking,
   then I will also accept that.
 
 
 
 

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