Greg Rusedski
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Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British and Canadian former
tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, 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. In 1997, he was the US Open finalist, which led to him receiving the
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year. The ...
and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. Also, he scored 30 wins and 13 losses with the
Great Britain Davis Cup team The Great Britain Davis Cup team has represented the United Kingdom internationally since 1900 in the Davis Cup. Organised by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), it is one of the 50 members of International Tennis Federation's European associatio ...
.


Personal life

Rusedski was born in
Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
, Quebec to a British mother and a father of Polish and Ukrainian descent. 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. Rusedski made the decision for "lifestyle reasons", noting that his girlfriend — who would later become his wife — lived in Britain. 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. They married in a Roman Catholic ceremony at
Douai Abbey Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Upper Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the English county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. Monks from the monastery of St. Edmund's, in Douai, France, came to Woolhampton ...
in
West Berkshire West Berkshire is a local government district in Berkshire, England, administered from Newbury by West Berkshire Council. History The district of Newbury was formed on 1 April 1974, as a merger of the borough of Newbury, Bradfield Rural Dist ...
in December 1999. They have two children: a daughter born in 2006 and a son born in 2009.


Career

Rusedski's first career singles tournament title was at the
Hall of Fame Championship The Infosys Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. National Championships. The ...
in Newport, Rhode Island in 1993. He opted to compete for the United Kingdom rather than Canada from June 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. Rusedski reached the singles final of the US Open in 1997, where he lost to
Pat Rafter Patrick Michael Rafter (born 28 December 1972) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. He reached the top Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking on 26 July 1999. His career highlights include consecutive US Open ...
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 The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year. The ...
and the ITV Sports Champion of the Year Award. In 1998,
Tim Henman Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in th ...
eclipsed Rusedski as the UK number one tennis player. Rusedski, however, won the
Grand Slam Cup The Grand Slam Cup was a tennis tournament held annually at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany from 1990 through 1999. The event was organized by the International Tennis Federation (ITF), which invited the best-performing players in the year's ...
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 Todd Martin (born July 8, 1970) is an American retired tennis player. He reached the men's singles final at the 1994 Australian Open and the 1999 US Open and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4. Playing career Martin was born ...
; 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. 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 Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
. Sampras, however, went on to win the tournament. At Wimbledon in 2003, Rusedski was playing in a second-round match against
Andy Roddick Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals ( Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Ope ...
. 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. Rusedski tested positive for
nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrolon ...
in January 2004, but was cleared of the charges in a hearing on 10 March 2004. Rusedski was defeated in the second round of Wimbledon in 2005 by
Joachim Johansson Joachim Johansson (born 1 July 1982) is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden. He reached the semifinals of the 2004 US Open, won 3 singles titles and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 9 in February 2005. Backg ...
of Sweden. Later that year, he defended his title at the Hall of Fame Championship, defeating
Vince Spadea Vincent Spadea (born July 19, 1974) is a former professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career high tenth position in the ATP Champions Race in April 2003, as well as a career-high 18th ATP ranking in February 2005. He ...
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 The Indianapolis Tennis Championships was an annual men's tennis tournament played in Indianapolis as part of the ATP Tour. Since its inaugural playing in 1987, the tournament was held for one week in July up until its final playing in 2009. Or ...
in Indianapolis, losing to
Taylor Dent Taylor Phillip Dent (born April 24, 1981) is a retired professional tennis player from the United States. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21, winning 4 singles titles. Career Early career and back injury Dent won ATP tit ...
, and the
Canada Masters The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
tournament in Montreal, losing to
Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors. Agassi is the second of five men to ac ...
. 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 No. 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-one spot on 15 May 2006, overtaking Andy Murray by getting to the third round of the
Rome Masters The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
. 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 Jamie Robert Murray, (born 13 February 1986) is a Scottish professional tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles. He is a seven-time Grand Slam doubles champion (five in mixed doubles and two in men's doubles), a Davis Cup win ...
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. Rusedski has stayed involved with professional tennis in his retirement, and currently works for the
Lawn Tennis Association The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the national governing body of tennis in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. Founded in 1888, the LTA promotes all levels of lawn tennis. It believes that tennis can provide "physica ...
as a talent and performance ambassador. Rusedski held the record for fastest serve at 149 miles per hour until Andy Roddick broke it. 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. Because of this, Rusedski quickly retracted his announcement and is still retired.


Rusedski vs. Henman

Rusedski was often overshadowed in the British press by Henman, especially at Wimbledon. 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. 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.


Media career

Rusedski has an active media career, having written columns for '' The Sun'', ''
The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' and ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
''. 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. He has done some acting, appearing in an episode of ''
Agatha Christie's Marple ''Agatha Christie's Marple'' (or simply ''Marple'') is a British ITV television programme loosely based on the books and short stories by British crime novelist Agatha Christie. The title character was played by Geraldine McEwan from the firs ...
'' as a tennis player. 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 game show
Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...
.


Grand Slam tournament finals


Singles: 1 (0–1)


Other significant finals


Grand Slam Cup


Singles: 1 (1–0)


Masters Series


Singles: 2 (1–1)


Career finals


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


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


Singles performance timeline

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.


Top 10 wins


References


External links

* * * *
BBC Sport – Greg Rusedski profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rusedski, Greg 1973 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners British male tennis players British people of Polish descent British people of Ukrainian descent Canadian emigrants to England Canadian male tennis players Canadian people of English descent Canadian people of Polish descent Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Citizens of the United Kingdom through descent Olympic tennis players of Great Britain Tennis commentators Tennis players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Tennis players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Tennis players from Montreal US Open (tennis) junior champions Wimbledon junior champions Grand Slam (tennis) champions in boys' doubles