I think the problem is probably more than 12 months old already, but the 
pain first came in Halle.
Because they wanted to slow down the grass court tennis, they played with
extra heavy balls thereand maybe you will hit the ball just a bit wrong, and 
because the ball is so heavy then, you can just get a bit injured and it's a bit
cold and these muscles, the tendons aren't warm enough yet and you hit the
ball in the wrong way, then you get a small injury and that becomes bigger
and bigger if you continue playing tennis.

And then you're at the start of the new tennis season, the first big 
tournament, and you already have to cancel again. You must be fed up with
that.

Yes, of course that is annoying. After Vienna I already had my doubts 
about whether I should continue playing or not. If I wouldn't play after
Vienna, I think that was somewhere at the beginning of October, I still 
had no guarantee that I could play in Australia. So I thought: "I will
just play those tournaments. I'll see how it goes."
Well, the first tournament was still ok, but I Stuttgart I just couldn't
really do it anymore.

Krajicek started training again on tuesday. Tomorrow the doctor will take 
look at his elbow again and decide whether he can step up the training-
intensity.

So far it's going well. I've been training for 20 minutes for the fourth
consecutive day, forehand, backhand, volley, I didn't train the serve yet, 
and the tempo is not that high yet. Today the tempo is a lot higher than it
was on the first day though, and yeah, it's going well.
No pain so far, and I haven't had that for a long time, that I didn't feel
anything while warming up.

It's important that you become fit again soon. Especially for yourself, but there's also a Davis Cup meeting coming up. How do you look at that?

That's the second big tournament of the year of course. I hope I can play 
in Milan. That is of essential importance to be able to play Davis Cup.
I can't just go to the Davis Cup cold, without any tournament preparation.
So yeah, Milan on the 29th of January is a tournament I would really like
to play and then that would be the preparation for the Davis Cup where 
we would really like to do well, with the sort of old team, for the last 
time.

What do you set as a condition for yourself then: That you will just be
able to play again, or that you will also play well?

Yeah, well. I've been able to just play during all the other years, and now 
it just has to be good.

Krajicek wants to be good, because the Netherlands will have to play 
against DC champion Spain. Not an easy job. Espeecially not if Krajicek
would be missing.
Besides, all Dutch players stuck out their neck because they didn't want
Michiel Schapers anymore as team captain, but Tjerk Bogstra.

The reason why we didn't want to go on with Michiel anymore, is that we
want to stand there in an optimal way and that we also want to be 
completely satisfied with our captain. 
And then all the responsibility lies with us. And yeah, it would be a 
shame if I really couldn't play.

So, why did you choose Bogstra?

Haarhuis (Paul) couldn't become our captain, even though that was the 
first name, but he is still playing, so it's impossible to combine that.
And we just know Tjerk. First of all, he doesn't have a double job. He is
not a private coach of anyone (used to be private coach of Jan Siemerink)
and he isn't a team captain in a sort of way yet, so he is totally 
independant.
All the players know him of other tournaments. Everyone has trained
with him a couple of times already. He is just the ideal captain for such a
short term. You see, if it would be someone for a couple of years, then you
could say, maybe it's someone we need to get used to, but we don't have
to get used to Tjerk. We know exactly what we have with him.

The year 2000 was not the most happy tennis year in Krajicek's career.
That's why Krajicek hopes he can get back with a strong performance
in the new year.

First of all, I want to get rid off this injury and for now that's the most
important. I know that, when I'm fit, I also enjoy it.
The last couple of months I didn't really enjoy playing tennis of course,
I've had a lot of pain, so I want to get rid of that and then I just want to
play well. 
The most important is to be fit physically and the rest of my tennis is
just good.

Do you set goals for yourself then? Last year you didn't win a tournament 
for the first time since 1991. So, do you set new goals for yourself then
for this year?

No, it would be nice to win a tournament, of course as soon as possible.
But I will first wait and see how I am feeling physically, and I know that,
when I am feeling well physically, I can train optimal, I can play more
matches and then the results will also come. And if they don't come,
I might have to ask myself why that is. Maybe I'm also getting a bit older.
Not like I feel old though.

You will become 30 this year.

Yeah, but for now I still feel that when I'm fit, I still belong to the
best players in the world. 

Being fit, but especially to stay fit. That's extremely important to Krajicek.
In the past, he already threatened to quit if he would get injured again or
if he would have to undergo surgery again.

I feel like I've been saying that for a while already. Also to myself. I 
wouldn't undergo another surgery, but I haven't been playing tennis for
about 9 or 10 weeks now, and then I just feel like, if I would have had
to undergo surgery again, I probably still would have done it again.
You can probably compare it to giving birth. You seem to have so much
pain and then you think: "I never want to have a child again", and after
a while you forget about it.
So it seems like I just forget the rehabilitation again and the urge to play
tennis is just biger than the worries I have about rehabilitation.