Greg Rusedski

Rusedski was born in Montreal, Quebec, to a British mother and a father 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 Great Britain in 1995.^[4] Rusedski made the decision for "lifestyle reasons", noting that his girlfriend — who later became his wife — lived in Britain.^[5]

Rusedski has been with his wife Lucy Connor since 1991, they met while he was competing in a junior tournament where she was a ball girl.^[6] They married in a Catholic ceremony at Douai Abbey in West Berkshire in December 1999.^[7] They have two children: a daughter born in 2006,^[8] and a son born in 2009.^[9]

Rusedski's first career singles tournament title was at the Hall of Fame Championship in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993. He opted to compete for the United Kingdom rather than Canada from 22 May 1995 onwards, a decision which was received poorly by Canadian fans; it was reported that he was given a "traitor's reception" by the crowd when he competed in his first Canadian Open after the switch.^[10]

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 and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. In 1998, Tim Henman eclipsed Rusedski as the UK number one tennis player. Rusedski, however, won the Grand Slam Cup in 1999.

In the 1999 US Open, Rusedski reached the fourth round where he was eliminated 5–7, 0–6, 7–6 (7–3), 6–4, 6–4, by Todd Martin; Rusedski had a two-sets-to-none advantage and was serving for the match in the third set, then in the fifth set he was up 4–1, but lost 20 of the final 21 points including a stretch of 18 consecutive points.^[11]

In the 2002 US Open, after losing to Pete Sampras in the third round in a grueling 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.^[12] 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 apologized after the match, and Roddick reached the semifinals.^[13][14]

Rusedski tested positive for nandrolone in January 2004, but he was cleared of the charges in a hearing on 10 March 2004.^[15][16]

Rusedski was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005 by Joachim Johansson of Sweden. Later that year, 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 30s. A defeat for Rusedski in the first round of the Challenger event in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, left him ranked 38th, just one place short of regaining the UK top spot. Rusedski reclaimed the UK number-one spot on 15 May 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the Rome Masters. He lost the top UK ranking again 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.^[17] Rusedski has stayed involved with professional tennis in his retirement, and currently works for the Lawn Tennis Association as a talent and performance ambassador.^[18] Rusedski held the record for fastest serve at 149 miles per hour until Andy Roddick broke it.^[19][20]

On 24 January 2009, Rusedski confirmed he had been seeking a return to professional tennis. However, Davis Cup captain John Lloyd turned down his offer to compete in the Davis Cup, and Rusedski was unable to obtain any wild-card tournament entries.^{[21][22][23][24]} Because of this, Rusedski quickly retracted his announcement and is still retired.

Rusedski vs. Henman edit

Rusedski was often overshadowed in the British press by Henman, especially at Wimbledon.^[25] They were generally closely matched over their careers; both reached a highest world ranking of 4. Rusedski won 15 singles titles compared to Henman's eleven, and 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 two Grand Slam quarterfinals in total: at the US Open where he reached the final, and at Wimbledon the same year. 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.

His Davis Cup singles record was 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 US in 1999 and Sweden in 2002). However, as a doubles partnership, Rusedski and Henman won several Davis Cup matches, as well as other tournaments.^{[citation needed]}

Rusedski's final match at a Grand Slam was against Henman, at the 2006 US Open. Henman won 7–6, 6–2, 6–3. Over their careers, in head-to-head encounters, Henman won 8–2.

Rusedski has an active media career, having written columns for The Sun, The Daily Mirror^[26][27] and The Daily Telegraph.^[28] He also works for the television channel British Eurosport providing analysis during the stations' coverage of the Australian Open. He provided 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.^[26] He has done some acting, appearing in an episode of Agatha Christie's Marple as a tennis player.^[29] In 2008, he appeared as a contestant on the reality TV shows Dancing on Ice and Beat the Star. He has appeared in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 game show Countdown.

Singles: 1 (0–1) edit

Result	Year	Championship	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1997	US Open	Hard	Patrick Rafter	3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 5–7

Grand Slam Cup edit

Singles: 1 (1–0) edit

Result	Year	Location	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1999	Munich, Germany	Hard (i)	Tommy Haas	6–3, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5)

Masters Series edit

Singles: 2 (1–1) edit

Result	Year	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Loss	1998	Indian Wells Masters	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	3–6, 7–6(17–15), 6–7(4–7), 4–6
Win	1998	Paris Masters	Carpet (i)	Pete Sampras	6–4, 7–6(7–4), 6–3

Singles: 27 (15 titles, 12 runners-up) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Opponent	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 1993	Hall of Fame Open, USA	World Series	Grass	Javier Frana	7–5, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–5)
Loss	1–1	Oct 1993	Salem Open, China	World Series	Carpet (i)	Michael Chang	6–7(5–7), 7–6(8–6), 4–6
Win	2–1	Apr 1995	Seoul Open, South Korea	World Series	Hard	Lars Rehmann	6–4, 3–1 ret.
Loss	2–2	May 1995	Delray Beach Open, USA	World Series	Clay	Todd Woodbridge	4–6, 2–6
Win	3–2	Oct 1996	Salem Open, China	World Series	Carpet (i)	Martin Damm	7–6(7–5), 6–4
Loss	3–3	Feb 1997	Zagreb Indoors, Croatia	World Series	Carpet (i)	Goran Ivanišević	6–7(4–7), 6–4, 6–7(6–8)
Loss	3–4	Feb 1997	Pacific Coast Championships, USA	World Series	Hard (i)	Pete Sampras	6–3, 0–5 ret.
Win	4–4	Jun 1997	Nottingham Open, UK	World Series	Grass	Karol Kučera	6–4, 7–5
Loss	4–5	Sep 1997	US Open, USA	Grand Slam	Hard	Patrick Rafter	3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 5–7
Win	5–5	Oct 1997	Swiss Indoors, Switzerland	World Series	Carpet (i)	Mark Philippoussis	6–3, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–3)
Loss	5–6	Oct 1997	Vienna Open, Austria	Champ. Series	Carpet (i)	Goran Ivanišević	6–4, 7–6(7–4), 6–7(4–7), 2–6, 3–6
Loss	5–7	Feb 1998	Zagreb Indoors, Croatia	World Series	Carpet (i)	Goran Ivanišević	6–7(3–7), 6–7(5–7)
Win	6–7	Feb 1998	ECC Antwerp, Belgium	Champ. Series	Hard (i)	Marc Rosset	7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–1, 6–4
Loss	6–8	Mar 1998	Indian Wells Masters, USA	Super 9	Hard	Marcelo Ríos	3–6, 7–6(17–15), 6–7(4–7), 4–6
Loss	6–9	Oct 1998	Grand Prix de Toulouse, France	World Series	Hard (i)	Jan Siemerink	4–6, 4–6
Win	7–9	Nov 1998	Paris Masters, France	Super 9	Carpet (i)	Pete Sampras	6–4, 7–6(7–4), 6–3
Loss	7–10	Feb 1999	London Indoor, UK	Champ. Series	Carpet (i)	Richard Krajicek	6–7(6–8), 7–6(7–5), 5–7
Loss	7–11	Aug 1999	U.S. Pro Tennis Championships, USA	World Series	Hard	Marat Safin	4–6, 6–7(11–13)
Win	8–11	Oct 1999	Grand Slam Cup, Germany	Grand Slam Cup	Hard (i)	Tommy Haas	6–3, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 7–6(7–5)
Win	9–11	Oct 1999	Vienna Open, Austria	Champ. Series	Carpet (i)	Nicolas Kiefer	6–7(5–7), 2–6, 6–3, 7–5, 6–4
Win	10–11	Mar 2001	Pacific Coast Championships, USA	International	Hard (i)	Andre Agassi	6–3, 6–4
Win	11–11	Jan 2002	Auckland Open, New Zealand	International	Hard	Jérôme Golmard	6–7(0–7), 6–4, 7–5
Win	12–11	Aug 2002	Indianapolis Tennis Championships, USA	Intl. Gold	Hard	Félix Mantilla	6–7(6–8), 6–4, 6–4
Win	13–11	Jun 2003	Nottingham Open, UK (2)	International	Grass	Mardy Fish	6–3, 6–2
Win	14–11	Jul 2004	Hall of Fame Open, USA (2)	International	Grass	Alexander Popp	7–6(7–5), 7–6(7–2)
Loss	14–12	Oct 2004	Kremlin Cup, Russia	International	Carpet (i)	Nikolay Davydenko	6–3, 3–6, 5–7
Win	15–12	Jul 2005	Hall of Fame Open, USA (3)	International	Grass	Vince Spadea	7–6(7–3), 2–6, 6–4

Doubles: 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups) edit

Result	W–L	Date	Tournament	Tier	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Win	1–0	Jul 1994	Hall of Fame Open, USA	World Series	Grass	Alex Antonitsch	Kent Kinnear David Wheaton	6–4, 3–6, 6–4
Loss	1–1	Oct 1994	Vienna Open, Austria	World Series	Carpet (i)	Alex Antonitsch	Mike Bauer David Rikl	6–7, 4–6
Loss	1–2	Mar 1995	Copenhagen Open, Denmark	World Series	Carpet (i)	Guillaume Raoux	Mark Keil Peter Nyborg	7–6, 4–6, 6–7
Win	2–2	Sep 1996	Bournemouth International, UK	World Series	Clay	Marc-Kevin Goellner	Rodolphe Gilbert Nuno Marques	6–3, 7–6
Win	3–2	Feb 1999	London Indoor, UK	Champ. Series	Carpet (i)	Tim Henman	Byron Black Wayne Ferreira	6–3, 7–6(8–6)

Country Tournament	Canada				United Kingdom											Total
	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	Q3	1R	2R	4R	2R	QF	1R	4R	1R	4R	4R	2R	2R	2R	1R	0 / 14	21–14	60.00
US Open	Q1	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 championships
Tennis Masters Cup	Did not qualify					RR	RR	Did not qualify								0 / 2	2–2	50.00
Grand Slam Cup	Did not qualify					SF	DNQ	W	Not Held							1 / 2	6–1	85.71
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 May 1995, and competed for Great Britain from 22 May 1995 onwards.

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 IMDb