Last year Greg Rusedski was the darling of Great Britain, a
Wimbledon quarterfinalist with a massive serve who made it to
the U.S. Open final. This year he seemed a good bet to become
the first Union Jack in 62 years to raise the trophy on Centre
Court. Instead, Rusedski's '98 Wimbledon was an embarrassment.
First, after he strained a ligament in his left ankle on June 12
and kept everyone, including his coach, Tony Pickard, guessing
whether he would play Wimbledon, Rusedski hobbled onto the court
for his first-round match against Australian qualifier Mark
Draper and played like a man on stilts, finally forfeiting while
trailing 4-6, 6-2, 5-4. Afterward, with a grin on his face,
Rusedski revealed that Pickard, the esteemed mentor of Stefan
Edberg, no longer wanted to work with him. "The timing of it is
a little suspect," Rusedski said. "But I guess that just shows a
person's true colors."
Pickard, credited with Rusedski's rise this year from No. 10 to
No. 4, retorted that Rusedski ignored his advice to get
treatment from a tour trainer and to skip Wimbledon. Instead,
the player placed his leg and game in the hands of his
physiotherapist, Reza Daneshmand, and didn't speak to Pickard in
the two days before the tournament began. "There was a total
breakdown in communication," Pickard said last Thursday. "Unless
there's complete trust, it stops working."
It has stopped before with Rusedski. Just before playing the
U.S. Open final, he fired his then coach, Brian Teacher, and
hired Pickard. In the following months Rusedski talked about how
much his new coach had taught him. But not last week. "The
player always makes it," Rusedski said. "The coach can help, but
it's the player at the end of the day."
True colors, indeed.
Issue date: July 6, 1998
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