Greg Rusedski

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Greg Rusedski
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Residence London, UK
Date of birth September 6, 1973 (1973-09-06) (age 34)
Place of birth Montreal, Canada
Height 6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight 200 lb (90 kg)
Turned pro 1991
Retired 7th April 2007
Plays Left-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money US$8,944,841
Singles
Career record: 436 - 287
Career titles: 15
Highest ranking: 4 (October 6, 1997)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open 4r (2001)
French Open 4r (1999)
Wimbledon QF (1997)
US Open F (1997)
Doubles
Career record: 62 - 53
Career titles: 3
Highest ranking: 63 (June 19, 1995)

Infobox last updated on: April 7, 2007.

Gregory "Greg" Rusedski (born September 6, 1973, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada) is a former British tennis player who turned professional in 1991, and played until his retirement on April 7, 2007, at the age of 33.

Rusedski was born in Canada to a British mother and a German-born father of Polish-Ukrainian descent[1]. 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.[2] Rusedski has been with Lucy Connor for 15 years; they married in a Roman Catholic ceremony at Douai Abbey in England in 1999. Together they have a daughter, Scarlett Mary, born January 27, 2006.

Rusedski's highest ranking on the ATP was World Number 4.

Contents

[edit] Career

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 U.S. 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. Throughout the very successful 1997/8 period he was coached by Tony Pickard.

In 1998, Tim Henman eclipsed Rusedski as Britain's number one 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 7–6(10), 3–6, 6–4, 7–6(5). Following that disappointment, Rusedski had a successful July. He successfully 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 British number one again. But 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 British top spot. Rusedski finally reclaimed the British number one spot on May 15, 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the Rome Masters Event. But Rusedski lost the top British ranking after a first round exit at Wimbledon.

On April 7, 2007, Rusedski officially retired from tennis after partnering 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.[3] Rusdeski plans to stay in involved with professional tennis in his retirement, and has expressed an interest in working with the Davis Cup team and British junior players.[4] At one point Rusedski held the record for fastest serve in the world at 149 miles per hours; however, Andy Roddick currently hold this record.

[edit] Rusedski vs. Henman

Rusedski has won more singles titles than compatriot Tim Henman, with 15 singles titles compared to Henman's 11; however, Rusedski has never made it past the fourth round of the French Open or the Australian Open.

Rusedski has often been seen as being often overshadowed in the press by the popular Henman, especially at Wimbledon.[5]

[edit] Controversies

Rusedski's career has featured some controversies. His temper has got him into trouble on several occasions. For example, at the 1999 U.S. Open, Rusedski's temper caused him to squander a lead against Todd Martin and lose the fourth round match; notable about that match was Rusedski losing 14-plus consecutive points during the fifth set. Rusedski had made derogatory comments about Henman after a loss to his fellow Briton during the 2002 season. In the 2002 U.S. Open of that year, after being dispatched by Pete Sampras in the fourth round after a gruelling 5-set match, Rusedski made unsportsmanlike comments, calling Sampras "a half-step slow", and predicted that Sampras would lose his quarterfinal to young German star Tommy Haas. Sampras however went on to win the tournament. In the 2003 Wimbledon tournament, Rusedski swore at the umpire in the second round after not being allowed to replay a point after fan interference, losing his temper and ultimately losing the match to Andy Roddick, 7–6, 7–6, 7–5.

Greg Rusedski was plagued by injuries in the last few seasons of his career. He also tested positive for nandrolone in January 2004, but was cleared of the charges in a hearing on March 10, 2004.

[edit] Grand Slam singles finals

[edit] Runner-up (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1997 U.S. Open Flag of Australia Patrick Rafter 6–3, 6–2, 4–6, 7–5

[edit] Masters Series singles finals

[edit] Win (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1998 Paris Flag of the United States Pete Sampras 6–3, 7–6, 6–4

[edit] Runner-up (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
1998 Indian Wells Flag of Chile Marcelo Ríos 6–3, 6–7(15), 7–6(4), 6–4

[edit] ATP Tour titles (18)

[edit] Singles (15)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. July 1993 Newport, U.S. Grass Flag of Argentina Javier Frana 7–5, 6–7, 7–6
2. April 1995 Seoul, South Korea Hard Flag of Germany Lars Rehmann 6–4, 3–1
3. Oct 1996 Beijing, China Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Martin Damm 7–6, 6–4
4. June 1997 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Flag of Slovakia Karol Kučera 6–4, 7–5
5. Oct 1997 Basel, Switzerland Carpet Flag of Australia Mark Philippoussis 6–3, 7–6, 7–6
6. Feb 1998 Antwerp, Belgium Hard Flag of Switzerland Marc Rosset 7–6, 3–6, 6–1, 6–4
7. Oct 1998 Paris, France Carpet (I) Flag of the United States Pete Sampras 6–4, 7–6, 6–3
8. Sep 1999 Grand Slam Cup, Germany Carpet Flag of Germany Tommy Haas 6–3, 6–4, 6–7, 7–6
9. Oct 1999 Vienna, Austria Carpet Flag of Germany Nicolas Kiefer 6–7, 2–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4
10. Feb 2001 San José, USA Hard Flag of the United States Andre Agassi 6–3, 6–4
11. Jan 2002 Auckland, New Zealand Hard Flag of France Jérôme Golmard 6–7, 6–4, 7–5
12. Aug 2002 Indianapolis, USA Hard Flag of Spain Félix Mantilla 6–7, 6–4, 6–4
13. June 2003 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Flag of the United States Mardy Fish 6–3, 6–2
14 July 2004 Newport, USA Grass Flag of Germany Alexander Popp 7–6, 7–6
15. July 2005 Newport, USA Grass Flag of the United States Vincent Spadea 7–6, 2–6, 6–4

[edit] Doubles (2)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. 1996 Bournemouth, Great Britain Hard Flag of Germany Marc-Kevin Goellner Flag of France Rodolphe Gilbert and Flag of Portugal Nuno Marques 6–3 7–6
2. 1999 London, Great Britain Carpet Flag of the United Kingdom Tim Henman Flag of Zimbabwe Byron Black and Flag of South Africa Wayne Ferreira 6–3 7–6

[edit] ATP Tour runner-ups (14)

[edit] Singles (12)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 25 October 1993 Beijing, China Carpet Flag of the United States Michael Chang 7–6, 6–7, 6–4
2. 22 May 1995 Coral Springs, U.S. Clay Flag of Australia Todd Woodbridge 6–4, 6–2
3. 3 February 1997 Zagreb, Croatia Carpet Flag of Croatia Goran Ivanišević 7–6, 4–6, 7–6
4. 17 February 1997 San Jose, U.S. Hard (i) Flag of the United States Pete Sampras 3–6, 5–0, ret.
5. 8 September 1997 U.S. Open, New York Hard Flag of Australia Patrick Rafter 6–3, 6–2, 4–6, 7–5
6. 13 October 1997 Vienna, Austria Carpet Flag of Croatia Goran Ivanišević 3–6, 6–7, 7–6, 6–2, 6–3
7. 9 February 1998 Split, Croatia Carpet Flag of Croatia Goran Ivanišević 7–6, 7–6
8. 16 March 1998 Indian Wells, U.S. Hard Flag of Chile Marcelo Ríos 6–3, 6–7, 7–6, 6–4
9. 5 October 1998 Toulouse, France Hard (i) Flag of the Netherlands Jan Siemerink 6–4, 6–4
10. 1 March 1999 London, England Carpet Flag of the Netherlands Richard Krajicek 7–6, 6–7, 7–5
11. 30 August 1999 Boston, U.S. Hard Flag of Russia Marat Safin 6–4, 7–6
12. 18 October 2004 Moscow, Russia Carpet Flag of Russia Nikolay Davydenko 3–6, 6–3, 7–5

[edit] Doubles (2)

[edit] Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993
Australian Open - 2R 1R - 3R 4R - 2R 3R 1R 1R 3R 1R -
French Open 1R 1R - 1R - 2R 1R 4R 1R 1R 2R - 3R -
Wimbledon 1R 2R 2R 2R 4R 4R 1R 4R 1R QF 2R 4R 2R 1R
US Open 1R 1R 1R 1R 3R 3R 2R 4R 3R F 1R 1R 1R -

[edit] Media career

Rusedski has written a column for tabloid newspaper The Sun. He has also worked for the television channel British Eurosport, including providing analysis during the station's coverage of the Australian Open in 2003 and 2007; as well as the 2007 French Open. During the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, Rusedski carried out the roles of both commentator and analyst for the BBC. He also has done some acting, appearing in an episode of Miss Marple as a tennis star-turned-murderer. In 2008, he appeared as a contestant on the Reality TV show Dancing On Ice.

[edit] References

[edit] External links