Greg Rusedski

Greg Rusedski

Rusedski in 2014
Full name	Gregory Rusedski
Country (sports)	Great Britain (from 1995) Canada (1991–95)[1]
Residence	London, England, UK
Born	(1973-09-06) 6 September 1973 Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Turned pro	1991
Retired	7 April 2007
Plays	Left-handed (one-handed backhand)
Prize money	$8,944,841
Singles
Career record	436–287 (60.3%)
Career titles	15
Highest ranking	No. 4 (6 October 1997)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	4R (2001)
French Open	4R (1999)
Wimbledon	QF (1997)
US Open	F (1997)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	RR (1997, 1998)
Grand Slam Cup	W (1999)
Olympic Games	3R (1996)
Doubles
Career record	62–53
Career titles	3
Highest ranking	No. 63 (19 June 1995)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (1995)
French Open	1R (2006)
Wimbledon	2R (1994)
US Open	2R (1994)
Team competitions
Davis Cup	World Group 1R (1999)
Last updated on: 29 August 2012.

Gregory "Greg" Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British former tennis player who represented Canada until 1995. Born and raised in Canada, Rusedski turned professional in 1991 and played until his retirement on 7 April 2007, at the age of 33. He was the UK number 1 in 1997 and again in 1999, and reached the ATP ranking of World No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 May 1998 to 21 June 1998.^[2] He reached the US Open final in 1997 and received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award in the same year. Also, he scored 30 wins and 13 losses with the Great Britain Davis Cup team.

Personal life

Rusedski was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to an English mother and a father born in Germany of Polish and Ukrainian descent.^[3] He was a very promising junior player in Canada in the 1980s and subsequently caused some anger in Canada when he decided to adopt British citizenship and play for Britain in 1995.^[4] Rusedski has been with his wife Lucy Connor since 1991, when they met while he was competing in a junior tournament where she was a ball girl.^[5] They married in a Roman Catholic ceremony at Douai Abbey in West Berkshire in December 1999.^[6] They have two children: a daughter born in 2006^[7] and a son born in 2009.^[8] Rusedski is an Arsenal football supporter.^[9]

Career

Rusedski at the 2004 U.S. Open

Rusedski's first career singles tournament title was at the Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993.

Rusedski reached the singles final of the US Open in 1997, where he lost to Pat Rafter in four sets (shortly thereafter reaching his career high rank of World No. 4). He also won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award.

In 1998, Tim Henman eclipsed Rusedski as the UK number 1 tennis player. Rusedski, however, won the Grand Slam Cup in 1999.

Rusedski was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005 by Joachim Johansson of Sweden, 6–7, 6–3, 4–6, 6–7. Following that disappointment, Rusedski had a successful July. He defended his title at the Hall of Fame Championship, defeating Vince Spadea in the final. This was the first time he had successfully defended a title and the third time he had won the championship. He then reached the semifinals at both the RCA Championships in Indianapolis, losing to Taylor Dent, and the Canada Masters tournament in Montreal, losing to Andre Agassi.

Towards the end of 2005, Rusedski's ranking had risen to the high thirties. A poor end to the year by Henman almost allowed Rusedski to overtake him as UK number 1 again. However, a defeat for Rusedski in the first round of the Challenger Event in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, left him ranked 38th, just one place short of regaining the UK top spot. Rusedski finally reclaimed the UK number 1 spot on 15 May 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the Rome Masters Event. But Rusedski lost the top UK rankings after a first-round exit at Wimbledon.

On 7 April 2007, Rusedski officially retired from tennis after partnering with Jamie Murray to a doubles victory over the Netherlands in a Davis Cup match, a result which gave Great Britain a winning 3–0 lead in the tie. He announced his retirement immediately after the win during a live interview with Sue Barker on BBC Television.^[10] Rusedski has stayed involved with professional tennis in his retirement, and currently works for the Lawn Tennis Association as a talent and performance ambassador.^[11] Rusedski held the record for fastest serve at 149 miles per hour until Andy Roddick broke it.^[12][13]

On 25 January 2009, Rusedski announced a shock return to professional tennis. However, he was denied an opportunity to compete in his much-loved Davis Cup.^[14][15][16] Because of this, Rusedski quickly retracted his announcement and is still retired.

Rusedski vs. Henman

Rusedski was often overshadowed in the British press by the more popular Henman, especially at Wimbledon.^[17] It is arguable who had the better playing career. Rusedski won more singles titles than compatriot Henman, with 15 singles titles compared to Henman's 11. Rusedski also reached the final of the US Open in 1997, whereas Henman never made it past the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament. However, Henman reached six Grand Slam semifinals and an additional four quarterfinals, whereas Rusedski reached just two Grand Slam quarterfinals in total: his US Open final performance, and at Wimbledon (also in 1997), a venue where he consistently under-performed. Neither Rusedski nor Henman ever reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Henman reached the semifinals of the French Open, while Rusedski never made it past the fourth round at that tournament.

Rusedski's Davis Cup singles record was also considerably poorer than Henman's. In Great Britain's two key Davis Cup ties in the World Group knockout stage, Rusedski lost all four singles rubbers, despite home advantage (against the USA in 1999 and Sweden in 2002). Rusedski and Henman were, however, a formidable doubles partnership, winning tournaments together, and vital matches in Davis Cup.

Henman shares a birthday with Rusedski; Henman is exactly a year younger.

It was perhaps fitting that Rusedski's final match at a Major was against his old rival and compatriot Tim Henman, at the 2006 US Open. After a competitive first set, where Rusedski was edged out by Henman in a tie-break, Henman dispatched his opponent, 7–6, 6–2, 6–3. This did turn out to be Rusedski's final match in a major, and it was against a man with whom he not only competed on a tennis court, but also off it for the affection of his home fans. In their head-to-head encounters, Henman won 8–2.

Controversies

In the 2002 US Open, after losing to Pete Sampras in the third round after a gruelling five-set match, Rusedski described Sampras as "a half-step slow" and predicted that Sampras would lose his fourth-round match to young German star Tommy Haas.^[18] Sampras, however, went on to win the tournament.

At Wimbledon in 2003, Rusedski was playing in a second round match against Andy Roddick. Roddick had won the first two sets but Rusedski was 5-2 up in the third set. During a point on Roddick's service game, a member of the crowd loudly called one of Roddick's shots long, causing Rusedski to stop playing the point as he believed it was a line judge. The umpire ruled that the ball was good and that, as Roddick's next shot landed in court, Roddick was awarded the point. Rusedski, believing the point should have been replayed, launched into a long and expletive-riddled tirade at the umpire and, never regaining his composure, went on to lose the next five games without reply to concede the match. Rusedski apologised after the match and Roddick reached the semi-finals.^[19][20]

Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone in January 2004, but was cleared of the charges in a hearing on 10 March 2004.^[21][22]

Media career

Rusedski has an active media career, having written columns for The Sun, The Daily Mirror^[23] and The Daily Telegraph. He also works for the television channel British Eurosport providing analysis during the stations coverage of the Australian Open. He provides commentary and analysis for Sky Sports for their coverage of the US Open and ATP World Tour Events, and for the BBC's coverage of Wimbledon.^[23] He has done some acting, appearing in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple as a tennis player.^[24] In 2008, he appeared as a contestant on the reality TV shows Dancing On Ice and Beat the Star. He has also appeared in "dictionary corner" on the Channel 4 "letters and numbers" game show Countdown.

Major finals

Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (0–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1997	US Open	Hard	Patrick Rafter	3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 5–7

Masters Series finals

Singles: 2 (1–1)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Runner-up	1998	Indian Wells	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	3–6, 7–6(17–15), 6–7(4–7), 4–6
Winner	1998	Paris	Carpet	Pete Sampras	6–4, 7–6(7–4), 6–3

Career finals

Singles: 27 (15–12)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	11 July 1993	Newport, USA	Grass	Javier Frana	7–5, 6–7, 7–6
Runner-up	1.	25 October 1993	Beijing, China	Carpet	Michael Chang	6–7, 7–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	30 April 1995	Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Lars Rehmann	6–4, 3–1, ret.
Runner-up	2.	22 May 1995	Coral Springs, USA	Clay	Todd Woodbridge	4–6, 2–6
Winner	3.	13 October 1996	Beijing, China	Hard	Martin Damm	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	3 February 1997	Zagreb, Croatia	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	6–7, 6–4, 6–7
Runner-up	4.	17 February 1997	San Jose, USA	Hard (i)	Pete Sampras	6–3, 0–5, ret.
Winner	4.	22 June 1997	Nottingham, UK	Grass	Karol Kučera	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	5.	8 September 1997	US Open, New York City, USA	Hard	Patrick Rafter	3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Winner	5.	5 October 1997	Basel, Switzerland	Carpet	Mark Philippoussis	6–3, 7–6, 7–6
Runner-up	6.	13 October 1997	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	6–3, 7–6, 6–7, 2–6, 3–6
Runner-up	7.	9 February 1998	Split, Croatia	Carpet	Goran Ivanišević	6–7, 6–7
Winner	6.	22 February 1998	Antwerp, Belgium	Hard	Marc Rosset	7–6, 3–6, 6–1, 6–4
Runner-up	8.	16 March 1998	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	3–6, 7–6, 6–7, 4–6
Runner-up	9.	5 October 1998	Toulouse, France	Hard (i)	Jan Siemerink	4–6, 4–6
Winner	7.	8 November 1998	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Pete Sampras	6–4, 7–6, 6–3
Runner-up	10.	1 March 1999	London, UK	Carpet	Richard Krajicek	6–7, 7–6, 5–7
Runner-up	11.	30 August 1999	Boston, USA	Hard	Marat Safin	4–6, 6–7
Winner	8.	3 October 1999	Grand Slam Cup, Munich, Germany	Carpet	Tommy Haas	6–3, 6–4, 6–7, 7–6
Winner	9.	17 October 1999	Vienna, Austria	Carpet	Nicolas Kiefer	6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4
Winner	10.	4 March 2001	San José, USA	Hard	Andre Agassi	6–3, 6–4
Winner	11.	13 January 2002	Auckland, New Zealand	Hard	Jérôme Golmard	6–7, 6–4, 7–5
Winner	12.	18 August 2002	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Félix Mantilla	6–7, 6–4, 6–4
Winner	13.	22 June 2003	Nottingham, UK	Grass	Mardy Fish	6–3, 6–2
Winner	14	11 July 2004	Newport, USA	Grass	Alexander Popp	7–6, 7–6
Runner-up	12.	18 October 2004	Moscow, Russia	Carpet	Nikolay Davydenko	6–3, 3–6, 5–7
Winner	15.	10 July 2005	Newport, USA	Grass	Vincent Spadea	7–6, 2–6, 6–4

Doubles: 5 (3–2)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score in the final
Winner	1.	7 July 1994	Newport, USA	Grass	Alex Antonitsch	Kent Kinnear David Wheaton	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
Runner-up	1.	17 October 1994	Vienna, Austria	Hard (i)	Alex Antonitsch	Mike Bauer David Rikl	7–6, 6–4
Runner-up	2.	12 March 1995	Copenhagen, Denmark	Hard (i)	Guillaume Raoux	Mark Keil Peter Nyborg	6–7, 6–4, 7–6
Winner	2.	9 September 1996	Bournemouth, UK	Hard	Marc-Kevin Goellner	Rodolphe Gilbert Nuno Marques	6–3, 7–6
Winner	3.	1 March 1999	London, UK	Carpet	Tim Henman	Byron Black Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 7–6

Singles performance timeline

	Canada				United Kingdom
Tournament	1992	1993	1994	19952	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	SR	W–L	Win %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open	A	A	1R	3R	1R	1R	3R	2R	A	4R	3R	A	1R	2R	A	0 / 10	11–10	47.62
French Open	A	A	3R	A	2R	1R	1R	4R	1R	2R	A	1R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 11	7–11	38.89
Wimbledon	LQ	1R	2R	4R	2R	QF	1R	4R	1R	4R	4R	2R	2R	2R	1R	0 / 14	21–14	60.00
US Open	LQ	A	1R	1R	1R	F	3R	4R	2R	3R	3R	1R	1R	1R	1R	0 / 13	16–13	55.17
Win–Loss	0–0	0–1	3–4	5–3	2–4	10–4	4–4	10–4	1–3	9–4	7–3	1–3	1–4	2–4	0–3	0 / 48	55–48	54.37
Year End Championship
Tennis Masters Cup	Did Not Qualify					RR	RR	Did Not Qualify								0 / 2	2–2	50.00
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters	A	1R	1R	A	1R	A	F	3R	2R	1R	2R	A	A	2R	1R	0 / 10	9–10	47.37
Miami Masters	A	A	1R	A	2R	A	4R	4R	4R	2R	2R	A	A	2R	2R	0 / 9	11–9	55.00
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	A	A	A	A	2R	2R	1R	1R	A	A	A	1R	1R	0 / 6	0–6	0.00
Hamburg Masters	A	A	1R	A	A	A	3R	1R	A	1R	A	A	A	2R	1R	0 / 6	2–6	25.00
Rome Masters	A	A	1R	A	1R	1R	1R	2R	1R	2R	1R	A	A	1R	3R	0 / 10	4–10	28.57
Canada Masters	3R	2R	1R	1R	A	A	A	A	A	1R	1R	2R	A	SF	1R	0 / 9	8–9	47.06
Cincinnati Masters	A	A	2R	2R	2R	1R	A	A	A	QF	2R	2R	3R	2R	1R	0 / 10	11–10	52.38
Madrid Masters1	A	A	A	2R	2R	2R	QF	SF	QF	1R	A	A	A	1R	A	0 / 8	9–8	52.94
Paris Masters	A	A	A	A	A	QF	W	2R	1R	1R	A	A	A	2R	A	1 / 6	8–5	61.54
Win–Loss	2–1	1–2	1–6	2–3	3–5	2–4	14–6	7–7	6–6	5–9	3–5	2–2	2–1	9–9	3–7	1 / 74	62–73	45.93
Career Statistics
Titles–Finals	0–0	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–6	2–5	2–4	0–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	15 / 27	15–12	55.56
Year End Ranking	161	50	114	37	48	6	9	13	69	31	31	119	46	37	191

¹ This event was held in Stockholm through 1994, Essen in 1995, and Stuttgart from 1996 through 2001.

² Rusedski was granted British citizenship in June 1995.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greg Rusedski.

• Official website
• Greg Rusedski at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Greg Rusedski at the International Tennis Federation
• Greg Rusedski at the Davis Cup
• BBC Sport – Greg Rusedski profile
• Greg Rusedski at the Internet Movie Database