27th January 1998 - Forthcoming Tournaments
It is not clear at the moment whether Greg will apply for a wild card for the Croatian Open next week. It was initially planned that next week would be a break, but since his early exit from the Australian Open reports suggest he could be reconsidering.(Tim Henman likewise has been successful in applying for a wild card). His entries for Antwerp and London have been confirmed.
26th January - Greg Dumped out on Saturday
Saturday morning and Greg was dumped out of the Australian Open by Todd Woodbridge in straight sets. Although playing well, Greg missed opportunities to get into the match both in the first set tiebreak, and at a break up in the second. The first set was surely crucial and Greg lost the tiebreak 7-5, the final point of which involved a cruel netcord, and a broken string for the Aussie. The only consolation for Greg must surely be the absence of so many seeds in the last 16.
22nd January - Second Round Winner
Greg went comfortably through to the third round last night. He was beating Jonathan Stark when his opponent was forced to retire with a knee injury. In the match that was billed as 'The Battle of the Coaches', Brian Teacher failed to exact any revenge for the way he felt Greg handled the situation after last years US Open.
It's probably a bad idea to point this out, but there are no seeds standing between Greg and a place in the Semi Finals.(Both Chang and Keurten lost their 2nd round ties.)
20th January - David beaten by Goliath?
Greg cruised to a comfortable win over the qualifier David Witt. A score of 7-6 6-3 6-4 accurately represented a close first set. After that though Rusedski went up a gear, serving 27 aces on the way. He commented afterwards that he was pleased his serve had returned to it's usual high quality.
In the next round he plays American Jonathan Stark, in a re-run of the Wimbledon epic last year. This match is scheduled for Thursday.
19th January
Greg Rusedski's first round opponent is David Witt, the player who beat
Britain's Andrew Richardson in the final round of qualifying. Greg's match is scheduled
for Tuesday, at 10.45 am local time on Centre Court.
16th January - Aussie Draw revealed
At the same time as Greg was beating Thomas Muster in Melbourne, the Officials at the Australian Open were revealing the draw for the forthcoming tournament. Here's how it looks for Greg..
Rusedski v Qualifier Stark v C Costa Woodbridge v De Wulf Ruud v Qualifier
Not the best possible section - but not bad either. For the full draw see the Australian Open site. It would be interesting to see Greg play Jonathan Stark in a re-run of that Wimbledon epic. The first seed Greg would have to play is Guga Kuerten - assuming he comes through his section of 8. After that in the Last Eight a possible meeting with Henman, Ivanisevic or Chang. We'll have to wait and see.
Although not a Tim Henman site we have to applaud his victory over Patrick Rafter. Superb... While we're on the subject of other players, take a look at the Ladies Draw. Here are some possible SECOND round matches...
Martina Hingis v Anna Kournikova Irena Spirlea or Serena Williams v Venus Williams Mirjana Lucic v Iva Majoli
15th January - Gunned down by Pistol Pete
Greg got beaten by Pete Sampras in the Exhibition event at Melbourne. Although
not really a surprise it does mean Greg has lost his last three matches. Hopefully he will
turn it around in his last match there against Thomas Muster. In the next day or so the
Australian Open
draw will be made, check their
site for general news. I will bring you Greg's draw as soon as possible.
14th January
Overnight Greg lost in the Melbourne exhibition event 7-5 6-4 to Mark Philloupoussis, he will though be cheered to realise he is seeded 5th for the Australian Open. For full men's seeding list see the Rankings page. More surprising than Greg's defeat was the fact that Sampras lost to Guga Kuerton, only a day after Hingis lost to Williams. Is the power base shifting - the next two weeks should tell...
12th January - Greg Out of Doha
Saturday morning saw Greg lose in three sets to Santoro. Although this result surely rates as a shock, Greg was still upbeat and said he had learnt a lot in the past week. It still seems strange to report a Brit losing to a player in the top 30 as a shock. Santoro went on to lose to Petr Korda in the Final yesterday.
Greg has now flown to Melbourne to compete in an 8 man exhibition event this week. The main talking point of the week though will surely be the confirmation of the seedings and draw for the forthcoming Australian Open. Keep in touch with this site to see how it all affects Greg....
Sorry this file should continue back into 1997 but it seems to have been lost. My apologies.