Cash wins serve-and-volley showdown;Krajicek: ‘Murray’s game is bigger than he realises’

Added on: December 1, 2011

Pat Cash won a classic clash of the serve and volleyers as he defeated fellow Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek in the first match of the Legend’s group at the AEGON Masters Tennis. The Australian, who now resides in London, won 6-7, 6-4, 10-6 against Krajicek, who talked about how difficult it is to serve and volley these days.

Having narrowly lost the first set to the big serving Dutchman in a tie-break, Cash dug deep and managed to level the match. Cash, a winner of the Royal Albert Hall title in 2000, played attacking tennis to secure the match-determining decider.

Victory for the Australian prepares him nicely for his next match, tomorrow evening’s highly anticipated battle against John McEnroe. However, before they meet, Krajicek will face talented Frenchman Henri Laconte, who completes the four-man legend’s field.

Krajicek, who was the only player to beat Pete Sampras in a Wimbledon singles match during an eight-year period from 1993 to 2001, can understand why serve and volley tennis is rarely used these days on the ATP World Tour.

“It’s much more difficult to serve and volley now because you play on different surfaces, and the game has changed,” he said. “It’s always nice to see different styles of play but I can’t think of too many serve and volley players at the moment, apart from the likes of Michael Llodra and Mardy Fish.”
Krajicek On Murray

The former world number four also backed Britain’s Andy Murray to win his first Grand Slam title next year, paying tribute to his ‘big game’.

“He can put a lot of pressure on opponents from the back of the court and he has the skill to come in after a shot. I don’t think Andy needs to be a serve and volley player but I don’t think he realises how big his game is. He’s had a pretty good year, winning three tournaments in a row in Asia, and if Roger Federer hadn’t finished the way he did then Andy would have ended the year as world number three.”

“I predicted this year that he was going to win his first Grand Slam title so I’ll predict it again – he will win his first slam next year! I think he’s going to win a few, and he might be a bit like Ivan Lendl and take a while to win that first one, but once he does he can go on from there. The way he played against Rafael Nadal in the first set of their semifinal at Wimbledon this year is as good as anybody I’ve seen play.”

Elsewhere, in the Champions tournament, Thomas Enqvist shocked the defending champion Goran Ivanisevic 4-6, 6-2, 10-6 (Champions’ Tie-Break), and Tim Henman saw off Younes El Aynaoui 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 (Champions’ Tie-Break).

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