Chewing Fat at Wimbledon : Tennis: Krajicek calls female players “fat, lazy pigs” and says they don’t deserve equal prize money while playing fewer sets than men.

How do you start a war between the sexes?

If you’re Dutch player Richard Krajicek, you merely call women players “fat, lazy pigs” who don’t deserve equal prize money with the men.

Yeah, that ought to do it. In fact, it did.

Krajicek, leveled in Wimbledon’s third round by Frenchman Arnaud Boetsch, then leveled his female peers in interviews with Dutch and Italian television.

Fat? Lazy? Pigs? That is what you said, right Richard?

“I said that 80% of the top 100 are fat pigs, but I over-exaggerated a little bit,” Krajicek said. “What I meant to say is that only 75%, yes.”

Martina Navratilova was asked how she felt about Krajicek’s remarks.

“I guess I don’t qualify because my body fat is less than his, but everybody is entitled to his opinion,” she said.

And yet?

“I don’t think I would call my fellow competitors pigs,” answered Navratilova, who jokingly suggested that she has already planned a course of action for the next time she sees Krajicek.

“I’m going to beat him up,” she said.

Krajicek said that Navratilova shouldn’t have taken his remarks personally.

“Why should she?” he asked. “She is not a fat pig. She’s not thick.”

Krajicek said the basis for his critique stems from his belief that female players do not deserve equal prize money--an annual topic of discussion here--because they are not as talented and don’t play best-of-five-sets as the men do in Grand Slam events.

At Wimbledon, the men’s singles champion receives about $470,000 and the women’s singles champion about $425,000, depending on the exchange rate.

The U.S. and Australian Opens are the only Grand Slam tournaments that pay men and women players equally. Krajicek sees no reason for such an arrangement.

“They are always complaining that they should earn the same amount of money, because I mean, we play five sets and they only play three sets.

“Don’t you think it’s ridiculous? I played my match and there’s women’s doubles next to me, a women’s singles finished next to me, and they were starting another match next to me. Do you think they should be paid equally?”

Nathalie Tauziat, who played on Court 2 the day Krajicek played on Court 5, said it was “ridiculous” to worry about his remarks.

“For me, Krajicek is a player like any other player,” Tauziat said.

And besides . . .

“He was on Court 2 today--and he lost against a French player.”

* LENDL ADVANCES

He comes from behind to defeat Stolle in five sets and reach fourth-round matchup with big-serving Ivanisevic. Mary Joe Fernandez injures leg in loss to Frazier. C4.