Rusedski suffered an early exit at Wimbledon

He went out in the first round at Wimbledon, losing to American Vince Spadea, a man who had not won one match on the tour in the whole year.

In the Davis Cup against Ecuador at Wimbledon, he threw away a break of serve in the fifth set to lose to grass court novice Nicolas Lapentti.

He lost in the US Open second round to Cedric Pioline - having led by two sets to love.

There was a confidence-boosting straight sets win over then world number one Marat Safin in Stuttgart, but that was about it.

When he lost in the first round on home soil in Brighton to Paul Goldstein, it was a fitting end to a disastrous year.

Many people have written him off completely. Finishing the year at 64 in the Champions Race, there are those who think his days at the top are behind him.

The broad grin has been wiped from his face because the foot injury means he cannot generate enough power on his serve.

Take the serve away from Rusedski and there is not an awful lot to fall back on.

More misery for Rusedski in 2001?

Like most top players, Rusedski has always been highly-strung and his problems came out in an all-too painful way in Brighton.

When Tim Henman's quarter-final opponent Chris Woodruff pulled out with an injury, Rusedski was asked to play an exhibition match for the benefit of the disappointed crowd.

But given only an hour's notice and with a doubles match in the evening, he refused.

That should have been the end of it, but when someone from the tournament revealed this to the press, Rusedski hit the roof.

Unplayable with form

Henman was asked for his reaction and when he criticised Rusedski, the Canadian-born 27-year-old was embroiled in another damaging row.

And the feelings between the British pair will not have improved following Henman's easy victory over Rusedski in the AAPT Championship in Adelaide at the beginning of the year.

But if Rusedski can put his foot injuries behind him and regain his confidence, there is no reason he cannot do well in the Grand Slams.

When he is in form he is almost unplayable, as Pete Sampras admitted after losing to Rusedski in the Paris Indoor final in 1998.

He has, though, never done particularly well at the Australian Open.

He has made the trip six times and in three of them has gone out in the first round, with his best showings coming in 1995 and 1998, when he reached the third round.