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  • Rusedski making a comeback to the tour

    1/25/09 2:06 AM | David Cox
    Rusedski making a comeback to the tour 35-year-old Greg Rusedski is attempting to make a comeback after nearly two years off the tour. The former US Open finalist retired in April 2007, but he is desperate to return to Davis Cup action.

    The tennis world thought it had seen the last of Greg Rusedski as a player when he took his final bow during Britain's 5-0 hammering of Holland in April 2007. Riddled by a multitude of injuries and unable to hold down a place in the top 100, or even pick up regular wins in challengers, Rusedski decided it was time to call it a day. However, it seems his post-retirement life as a LTA coach and BBC commentator hasn't quite sapped the competitive bug.

    Rusedski's primary motivation for his return is the Davis Cup, an environment he's always relished and with Britain desperately short of any singles back up for Andy Murray with no other players in the world's top 150, Rusedski decided to make a bid for the second singles spot against the Ukraine in March.

    However despite Rusedski's enviable 30-13 win-loss record in the competition, team captain John Lloyd decided to turn down Rusedski's request to be involved against the Ukraine as he wants to give some of the younger players a chance to see if they can step up to the mark. Lloyd has left the door tantalizingly ajar for Rusedski to be involved in a possible World Group playoff in September providing he can prove form and fitness.

    Including Rusedski again would be a controversial move as he'll be 36 by then and definitely not a long-term solution. But the cupboard is very, very bare and if no one stakes their claim to be a permanent fixture in the side in the Ukraine side, Lloyd may have no other option. Even with Murray, Britain's chances of ending their 20 year old World Group win drought are very slim.

    Rusedski has applied for several ATP wildcards over the next couple of months. He can almost certainly get ones into Queens, Eastbourne, and Wimbledon over the summer, but he needs matches before then. As a former champion in San Jose, there might be a chance of a wildcard there and possibly a qualifying/main draw one in Indian Wells, where he set the serve speed record in 1999, but it's difficult to know how the tournament directors on the European circuit of Zagreb, Rotterdam, and Marseille will respond.

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