“For one week I can handle it fine, but to have it all the time must be so tiring, and it’s tough to be nice to everybody. “When I play in Holland I think I get a little bit close to what Andre Agassi has every week,” he said. “I am pretty popular with the kids in Holland.”While grateful for his talent and the rewards it brings – pounds 392,500 for winning Wimbledon boosted his career prize money to pounds 3.1m – Krajicek does not crave attention. Sometimes I am a little bit sick of tennis, and working out in Austria is one of the best holidays I can get.”He elected to miss the Olympic Games in Atlanta “I thought my schedule was too crowded. Three weeks between Wimbledon and my next event was the minimum. Maybe if the Olympics had been one week later there would have been a good chance.”The 6ft 5in Krajicek did not exactly go unnoticed back home even before he fulfilled his potential at Wimbledon.

The doctor advised me to go cross- country skiing twice a year I also do a lot of running and cycling. But I haven’t been in Holland, so I have no idea.”Based in Monte Carlo, like so many of his fellow professionals, Krajicek will be able to gauge the impact of his success first hand only when he returns to his birthplace “for a few functions” after finishing his business at the US Open.After Wimbledon, he put his rackets away for a fortnight and took his customary break in the Austrian village of Ramsau Dachstein, near Salzburg. “In a way, Wimbledon mucked things up for me a little bit, because I had such a short time for the holidays,” he teased. “I first went to Austria two years ago, after my knee problems. “I think, compared to actors, there is no comparison, no matter which actors you take They are much more famous and much more of a celebrity.

Ashe received only $280 in expenses because he was still an amateur, a second lieutenant in the US Army, “happy to be able to make the payments on my beloved Ford Mustang”.
Until six weeks ago, Okker remained the only Dutchman ever to play in a Grand Slam singles final. Then along came Richard Krajicek with a breathtaking triumph at Wimbledon, where he was not even seeded.The question now is whether the 24-year-old from Rotterdam can go one better than Okker at the US Open, which starts next Monday. Or at least that is one of the questions.”Who is the more popular Dutchman now in the Netherlands between yourself and the actor Jean Claude Van Damme?” an American reporter wanted to know.”Oh, he is Belgian, Jean Claude Van Damme,” Krajicek pointed out gently.The reporter apologised and explained that on visiting Amsterdam he had seen a huge billboard portraying the martial arts star “He is from just south of Holland,” Krajicek said helpfully. The only time the United States championships went Dutch was in 1968, the first year of open tennis. The American Arthur Ashe defeated Tom Okker for the men’s singles title, but the runner-up returned to Amsterdam with the $14,000 prize money. Hurstbourne Priors and Pateley Bridge, alas, were knocked out in the first round.. But the incorporation of the old pavilion’s Lakeland green-slate roof, two ventilation turrets and balcony timber gives it a look that belies its age.Traditional, too, is the three-and-a-half-year-old pavilion at Ripley, near Harrogate.