1 Response to ao92courier_krajicek

1. Voo de Mar says:

   January 25, 2025 at 4:52 pm

   “Jim is a good player,” Krajicek said. “Because I couldn’t play 100%, it would be almost impossible to beat him, and I could have made (my shoulder) worse. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make. It was the chance of a lifetime to play the semifinals in a Grand Slam. I don’t know if this will ever happen again. I hope it will. This is the worst possible way to go out.”
   Krajicek [45] withdrew from the semifinal due to tendinitis in his shoulder. It was the first case in the Open Era that a player decided not to enter the court in the last four of a major because of an injury, and also a sign of the times – the beginning of the 90s was featured by emergence of players with booming serves, Krajicek belonged to them, and paid the price for his big serving. At the Aussie Open ’92 he not only played five singles matches including two five-setters, he also won four doubles matches alongside Jan Siemerink. The Dutch pair led 6-4, 1:3 in the semifinal when the shoulder pain was unbearable and Krajicek forced to retire. The following day he was supposed to face Courier [2], but he unfortunately didn’t recover… The young Dutchman needed just one week to come back to the tour, and soon afterwards he played against Courier twice: losing 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 in the Stuttgart second round as well as in the Tokyo final two months later. Krajicek reaches his second major semifinal the following year (French Open) and that time he’s fit enough to play against Courier despite similarly difficult five rounds before (he doesn’t play doubles in that edition though). Krajicek became the first player from the Netherlands to reach the Slam semifinals since Tom Okker at Wimbledon 1978.

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