World No. 38 Rusedski believes anything is possible

London: Greg Rusedski is hoping to take a leaf out of Goran Ivanisevic’s fairytale book and create his own entry in the annals of Wimbledon. The Croatian, the 2001 Wimbledon champion, turned out to be the poster-boy of all dreamers in the sport when he won the ultimate prize in grasscourt tennis while ranked 125th in the world.

Ivanisevic’s miraculous run to the title four years ago, after he had turned up at the tournament with a troublesome shoulder and by virtue of a wild card, has given Rusedski reason to believe that he could become the first British man to win the Wimbledon crown since Fred Perry in 1936.

“What we all play for and we hope for is a magical two weeks somewhere,” Rusedski said at the Stella Artois championships on Wednesday after stringing together back-to-back victories for the first time in an ATP event since last November.

At 31, Rusedski acknowledged that his days at the top of the game were numbered but having hauled himself back to 38th in the rankings after slumping to 166 less than a year ago, he believes anything is possible. With little more than a week to go before the All England Club opens for business, a good run at the Stella could push the him into the seedings.

Should he manage to achieve his goal of getting into the top-32, Rusedski knows he will be able to avoid any of the pre-tournament favourites for at least the opening two rounds.

“The more matches I can get at this tournament, the better off I’m going to be. I’m just happy,” said Rusedski. “You need a little bit of luck in the opening stages with the draw and getting seeded would definitely help for a possibility of getting into the second week.”

Rusedski has also drawn inspiration from Andre Agassi. The American defied the odds to drag himself back up the rankings from 141 in 1997 and in 2003 he become the oldest player to claim the top spot, aged 33. Two years on, the American remains among the world’s top-10.

Rusedski feels the American and Ivanisevic have proved that people should not be written off before time. “I guess I’m more a dreamy sort of person, more like Ivanisevic ? (ranked) 125 coming out of the blue and surprising us all. I’m trying to say I kind of like Goran’s story a little better.” (Reuters)