30th April 1998- Greg Out Again
Again Greg lost a first round match on Clay, this time to the German Oliver Gross ranked 123rd in the world. A straight sets victory for Gross, including a love second set, means Greg again failed to get to grips with the red stuff...
27th April - Gross Misjudgement?
Greg has been drawn to play 123rd ranked Olivier Gross in the first round of this weeks tournament in Munich. As a bizarre twist of rules and rankings unfolded it became apparent that Greg will be seeded first for this tournament. Surely it's crazy to suggest that he is the player most likely to win here, when he struggles every time he plays on the surface. Equally unlikely is the seeding of Tim Henman at Fourth, another clay court struggler. I haven't yet seen the draw but surely there are some good clay court players entered who merit a higher seeding than these two. (I must apologise for being unpatriotic for once, but I really feel the clay court season just isn't going to spark into life for the Brits!)
22nd April - Becker hands out the Full Monte
Greg lost his second round match today on the Clay Courts of the Monte Carlo Country Club to German star Boris Becker. Greg will have to wait a while to record his first ever clay court victory after going down in three sets.
Greg is though staying in the city this week in an attempt to get good practice in for next week.
18th April - Monte Carlo
Greg will be competing in his first ATP Tour event for three weeks at Monte Carlo. Seeded 3 he receives a bye in the first round, and is drawn to meet Becker or Siemerink. On a hard court this would be a tough draw for Greg, but one he would be expected to get through. Personally though I have no idea how any of these three players, including Rusedski, will fare on Clay. Any one got any comments on how they think he might perform on the "horrible red muck" (my words) drop me a line...
14th April - No News
Thanks everyone for the questionnaires, and the visits. Sorry for the complete lack of news recently, but that's because there is none. Greg has had two weeks with no tournament play and his ranking is unchanged. Assuming he is playing next week, normal daily service will resume... on the weekend.
5th April - Greg puts on a Performance
Greg completed his Davis Cup task comfortably this afternoon beating Andrei Medvedev in straight sets in a match that was taken in the most lighthearted manner. Tim Henman completed a 5-0 whitewash straight afterwards, despite losing a set to Rybalko.
It was Greg's match though that entertained the capacity crowd. Throughout the match the players exchanged friendly quips, with Greg at one point attempting to return serve with his racket handle. The exhibition style continued, with the result of the match irrelevant.
Serving at 5-2 in the second set, Medvedev bet Greg a fiver that he would break his serve. Much to the delight of the crowd, Greg doubled faulted. At 0-15 Greg bet him 6 pounds that he wouldn't. Duly Medvedev passed him down the line. The stakes gradually rose and with the crowd and both players in hysterics Greg duly lost his serve to love. At the change-round Greg dug around in his bag and produced a crisp 20 pound note which he gave to the Ukranian. (Who then proceded to offer it to the umpire as a bribe!). Anyway humour aside, the match was completed with a final score of 6-1 6-4 and the team await Thursday's draw.
As yet I am very hazy about Greg's future plans, the only two tournaments's I know he has confirmed are Hamburg and Queens.
4th April - Deadly Duo Do it Again
In a surprise move Davis Cup Captain David Lloyd through together Henman and Rusedski, to claim the doubles match which would seal the tie. They duly performed their task and finished the match in straight sets 6-4,7-5,7-6.
It was the first Greg had played doubles since late last year when he partnered Tim to a victory also over the Ukraine. Despite their recent run-ins the two performed well as a team, and appeared quite relaxed together all afternoon. Greg to his own admission didn't play well, saying afterwards he "has now remembered why he doesn't play doubles". The team are now in the hat for the promotion ties. The draw is made on Thursday and a home draw would see us in with a good chance of promotion to the world group - the top level of team tennis.
4th April - GB go 2-0 up
Great Britain are 2-0 up in their Davis Cup clash with Ukraine. Rusedski kicked it off with a convincing straight sets win over Rybalko, before Tim Henman finished it with a 5-set tussle over Medvedev. Cheered on by a noisy, but fair, 3500 strong crowd in Newcastle both players performed well. This should turn out to be a match winning lead considering that this was the reverse singles. For the remaining schedule see the last report below.
2nd April - Davis Cup Draw
Greg Rusedski will be first on court in tomorrow's Davis Cup clash with the Ukraine at Newcastle's Telewest Arena. He play's 'A Rybalko' in a match which should give us the lead. But then this is Davis Cup so who knows.... Victory in this tie would put GB through to a World Group Play Off in September. (One match away from the 'Premier League'!).
Next on court are Tim Henman and Andrei Medvedev in what would appear to be a crucial rubber. Tim and Greg have reportedly settled their off-court row, and both have made polite statements to that effect. Tim emphasising what a great boost it is to the team to have a player of Greg's standing in the squad.
The interesting tactical decision made by David Lloyd is the double's pairing. In our last Davis Cup match (away to the Ukraine!) he played Tim & Greg together. This time he opts for Tim and Doubles Specialist Neil Broad. Neil is a player, who although silver medallist with Tim in Atlanta, never really received the recognition he deserved. For many years his doubles ranking has been on a par with Greg & Tim's current Singles placings.
Andrew Richardson completes the team, but probabaly won't have a chance to carry on from his superb victory at Crystal Palace over Byron Black. Should either of the final rubbers be dead, he may well be called upon to stand-in and gain some essential experience. He is currently ranked in the 140's.
Friday 2pm : RUSEDSKI vs Rybalko
HENMAN vs Medvedev
(Coverage on BBC2 from 4.45pm)
Sat 3.45pm: BROAD/HENMAN vs Medvedev/Poliakov
(Coverage on BBC2 from 4.20pm)
Sunday 12pm : RUSEDSKI v Medvedev
HENMAN v Rybalko
(Coverage on BBC from 1.35pm and 4.45pm)