G'day everyone,

We're back in Washington this week for the Legg Mason Classic and looking to have a good run before the 2 Masters Series tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati.
It's always nice to come back to somewhere where you've played well and won the title before (2004). I play the winner of Falla and Lu in the 2nd rd. I've taken a wildcard into the doubles with my coach Heals this week, it will be a bit of fun and also give me some more matches on the hardcourts before the US Open. We play Knowle/Ram in the 1st rd.

Bec and I had our 5th Wedding Anniversary on the 21st of July. It was fantastic to be able to spend the day with her and the kids. I feel very lucky to be married to Bec, someone who I get along with so well and love sharing everything with. She's such a great wife and an awesome hands on mother. We're still amazed at how quickly it's gone and can't believe Mia will be 5 yrs old at the end of the year.

Look forward to keeping you posted throughout the US summer.

Rusty

G'day,

It's been great being able to have some quality family time since finishing at Wimbledon and I have enjoyed spending all my time with Bec, Mia & Cruz away from the tennis courts. However it is once again business as usual, having arrived in Atlanta for their tournament starting tomorrow.

I play my first round against the winner of Lacko and a qualifier,probably Wednesday or Thursday. Heals and I have been training in the heat for the last week and preparing for the American swing towards the US Open in NYC.

At this stage my schedule will be Atlanta, a week off, Washington,Toronto, Cincinnati, a week off then the US Open. The US summer is always a gruelling time as it can get extremely hot and you have to back up for a lot of matches. My game suits the US hardcourts well, therefore I am hoping for a good run.

Speak soon,

Rusty

G'day everyone,

Well the clay court swing is over and it's straight onto the grass.

I felt like I hit the ball better as the clay season went on. At the start in Houston and Barcelona it was really hard to have too expectations after coming back from hip and knee surgery. My movement got better every week and by the French Open I felt like I was back moving the way I need to. It was rough drawing Rafa in the 3rd rd but there were a lot of positives that Heals and I could take out of that match.

It's been nice to get back on the grass courts again, it's such a shame that there's only a couple of tournaments on grass throughout the year. I'm starting this year in Halle, Germany. I've heard a lot of good things about this tournament and it was a good chance for me to try something different. I've drawn my good mate Peter Luczak in the 1st rd, we were actually hitting together right before the draw came out. We're also playing doubles together this week, which should be a bit of fun.

Lastly I would like to congratulate my great mate Tyson Edwards who played his 321st and last AFL football match this week. He announced he's retirement last week and the win for the Crows against the Dockers was the perfect send off that he absolutely deserved. He's been such a great role model for young footballers and a amazing leader of the Adelaide Football Club.

Chat again soon,

Rusty

Well I'm back in Europe after a successful return to Australia where we were able to overcome a spirited Japanese Davis Cup team. It was a win that we needed and we really prepared well as a team and put in the hard yards on the practice court. I felt I played pretty solid throughout the weekend and it was nice to combine with Handles and finish off the tie on Saturday afternoon. Carsten played well in both his singles matches especially considering that he hadn't played too many big matches on clay. And Luch was the best team man that any team could ask for, he was fantastic in getting the boys ready for the challenge.

After we got the job done on the court and were 3-0 up the whole team were lucky enough to go and watch the Brisbane Lions take on the Fremantle Dockers at the Gabba. It was great to get to see another AFL match live. It's one of the things I miss most about travelling so much throughout the year. It was also nice being able to celebrate the win as a team.

I'd like to publicly thank Brett White who laid a fantastic clay court and put in a lot of long hours to get it right. In my opinion it was as good a temporary clay court as you'll find anyone in the world.

So that win now leaves us one win away from getting back in the world group, where I believe we belong. We've drawn Belgium at home in September. It won't be easy but I believe we have the team to pull together and get the job done.

This week I'm in Dusseldorf finishing off my preparations for the French open. It's kinda like a mini Davis Cup here where you play for your country but there's not quite the same amount of pressure. Its great to have all the boys here from the Davis Cup team in Brisbane. We all really enjoy each other's company and are very close as a team, which is important when playing in a team competition like this week and the Davis Cup. The four of us being together is very similar to the camaraderie of Australian players on the tour many years ago, which is of benefit to all the player's performances. Heals will be the captain here this week and sitting on the side of the court so it will be good to work on a few things before Roland Garros.   

Catch up soon,

Rusty

Well it's been a bloody long trip to get back to Australia to start preparing for the Davis Cup tie against Japan which gets underway next friday.

It's always a huge honour to play for your country and hopefully this will be another step towards getting back to the world group next year. One thing is for sure though, we won't be taking the Japanese team lightly at all. I know as well as anyone that anything can happen in Davis Cup and you have to plan on playing 3 tough days of 5 set matches.

I look forward to playing with Luch, Carsten and Handles this week and pulling together as a team. Luch is at a career high ranking and he loves playing on the dirt. He's also had some good solid wins, qualifying for 2 masters tournaments in the last month.

For me it's gonna be good to get a tough, grinding week of hitting in on the clay before really testing my body over 5 sets under the pressure of Davis Cup. Hopefully it will help in my preparations for Roland Garros and Wimbledon.

On another note, I'm really hoping my Crows can pull through this week in the footy. It's been a tough start to the season but hopefully we can turn it around against our main rivals, Port Adelaide Power.

Cheers

Rusty