![]() “The busty bookseller from Petersfield,” as she was dubbed, prompted England scrum-half Steve Smith to turn to his captain, Bill Beaumont, as players choked on their oranges at half-time, and say, “Don’t look now, Skip, but there’s a bird running about with your arse on her chest.” SPORTING STREAKERSĪsk people for a sporting streakers anecdote and one name reappears time and time again: Erica Roe at Twickenham during a rugby international between England and Australia in 1982. Rupert Bates investigates the world of the sporting streakers. Far more vigorously healthy than a beer fuelled pitch invasion. And if the desire to disrobe proves overwhelming, why not try a spot of wild swimming. The ones you might like to remember, and those you can try to forget. As the Rugby World Cup plays itself out this year we take a look back at those sporting streakers who made their mark. He kills me all the time,” he laughed.Sporting streakers, those men and women who shed their clothes and leap on to the pitch, are a perrenial sporting fixture. “(Ivan) Lendl would be a close match and (Michael) Chang is still so fit, but Goran (Ivanisevic) is the best one, especially on grass. So, yeah, when somebody is ambitious and he’s got the huge game he can do it,” Krajicek said.īut, while Krajicek is aware of his value as a grass-court expert, he knows which of the growing legion of former players turned coaches would win if they held a nostalgic reunion these days. “Stan has a feeling I can add to his game and it’s the only Grand Slam he never made a semi-final. So that was good,” Krajicek grinned.Īlthough Krajicek relishes his trip down memory lane, his immediate concern is helping Wawrinka join him on Wimbledon’s list of champions. There have been two streakers at Wimbledon. Krajicek’s 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the unheralded Washington showcased the best of the Dutchman’s serve and volley game, but was too one-sided to be especially dramatic - making the pre-match sight of a blonde female streaker charging across Centre Court one of the day’s enduring images. Krajicek, pictured here in Melbourne on January 14, 2003, has been retired for 13 years, but will now coach Stan Wawrinka for the latest edition of Wimbledon, the grass-court Grand SlamĪn ill-advised comment that 80 percent of female tennis players were “fat, lazy pigs” had briefly made Krajicek a polarising figure at Wimbledon.īut the storm eventually blew out and five years later Krajicek was soaking up the acclaim of the tennis world after winning the only major final of his career. “There was a little park close to Wimbledon with not great courts. ![]() After 20, 30 minutes on hard courts, I felt like I’m playing good again. Then I read that (Andre) Agassi, when he won Wimbledon, he hardly practised on grass. On grass every day I felt like I was the worst player. “And the other thing was I had no rhythm. ![]() You learn how to fall and roll, because I was afraid to slip and fall,” Krajicek said. My physiotherapist said maybe you should do some karate. One was moving was difficult and I remedied that. “Two things I didn’t like about grass-court tennis. Krajicek’s knowledge of what it takes to succeed at the All England Club persuaded Wawrinka, a two-time Grand Slam champion who has never gone beyond the Wimbledon quarter-finals, to pick the brains of the Dutchman.Īnd Krajicek - the only player to beat the great Sampras at Wimbledon between 19 - has a few counter intuitive methods to suggest as he recalls the secrets of his remarkable 1996 run. “Wow, I feel really old if I think about that. So to guys who just started now at Wimbledon I must be ancient,” Krajicek said. That felt like an unbelievably long time ago. “My first Wimbledon was only 11 years after (Bjorn) Borg won his last Wimbledon. Krajicek has been retired for 13 years but the intervening period hasn’t dulled his love affair with Wimbledon, so it is fitting his new partnership with Wawrinka was arranged just in time for the latest edition of the grass-court Grand Slam.Ī streaker runs across Center Court, just before the men ‘s singles final between unseeded Richard Krajicek of the Netherlands and MaliVai Washington of the United States at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships on July 7th, 1996 Two decades after becoming one of Wimbledon’s most unexpected champions with an astonishing run that included a rout of defending champion Pete Sampras and culminated in a final victory over MaliVai Washington, Krajicek is back at the historic venue as a member of Stan Wawrinka’s coaching team. As Richard Krajicek strolls the grounds of the All England Club, it doesn’t take long for the Dutchman’s thoughts to drift back 20 years, to when he upset Wimbledon’s established order with a combination of karate and streakers.
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