February 19 2009 10.55 GMT

Rusedski retired: 'You can quote me on this'

One of England's most talented and hard-working tennis players has called a formal halt to the idea that he might be making a comeback to the game. Giving an interview to the Guardian, Rusedski firmly explains that he's done, and that's final:

"It's not happening ever again. I'm done. Sometimes it's better to let things go and so you can quote me on this. I'm not coming back ever again. I'm happy to be officially retired and I can't wait for this thing to be over so I can move on."

Rusedski can consider himself quoted on this, but we had a quick look at the way he announced his retirement last time, which was announced to the BBC after winning a Davis Cup tie, and thought it might be worth quoting him on that too:

"I'm officially retiring on a win today. I'm retired now, I can enjoy life like everybody else. Now it's time to move on."

"I wanted to play one more tie at home," said Rusedski.

"It's been a tough last year and now, with a family, your life changes. I felt like I couldn't do it any more.”

Similar.

In fairness to Rusedski, his words are likely to be true on this occasion, and the decision to come out of retirement was no doubt inspired to a degree by the dearth of options to represent Great Britain in the Davis Cup. His logic, however, leaves a little something to be desired. He explains to the Guardian that his desire arose from competing in a senior tournament:

"I felt great in the best field they'd ever had – with [Pete] Sampras, [John] McEnroe, [Cedric] Pioline, [Guy] Forget, [Stefan] Edberg and [Pat] Cash. I beat Forget, Edberg and Cash and just lost 13-11 in the tie-break to Pioline."

Senior tournaments are crammed with great old players contracted to offer up "comic" interludes while avoiding the necessity of a third set to save their vulnerable bodies. And so, with his final against Pioline locked at 7–6, 6–7, the match was concluded in a "Champions Decider" tie-break – which is not the same as a ­punishing Davis Cup five-setter. Rusedski points out that "Sampras beat [Radek] Stepanek [in an exhibition] a few days before. Stepanek was 26 in the world. Sampras then lost 7–6, 7–6 to Pioline. So if Sampras is beating the world No26, I'm still competitive. With the excitement of Andy Murray – a guy who could become world No1 and win multiple slams – I thought I could benefit the team."

It's a wonderful, if erroneous, sporting syllogism – Sampras beat Stepanek, Pioline beat Sampras and Rusedski by similar amounts, therefore Rusedski is about as good as anyone in the top 100. If only that were how it worked. If it were, Andy Murray would be claiming that having beaten Nadal, the world number 1 on the weekend, that he is the best now. Similarly the Spanish footballer David Villa must have had a similar concern when he suggested that by beating England in a friendly game they would prove that they were worthy European Champions  – was he worried that England would claim they were the best in Europe if they won? And incidentally, just like Sampras vs Stepanek and the Seniors Tournament, that particular game last week was a friendly match. It's good for a little practice, preparation and fun. It's less good as a measuring stick of whether you're competitive with the top 100 players in men's tennis.

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