Ace Rusedski stretches skills to a yoga retreat
From deuce to juice, from rackets to reiki! Greg rusedski, born in montreal to a father with a Polish surname, and of Ukrainian descent, became the British No. 1, armed with what was then the fastest serve in the world — a chalkflaring 149 mph.
But the affable rusedski, 46, who won 15 singles titles and was ranked No. 4 in world tennis, is now channelling his firepower into tensionbusting techniques rather than backhand smashes.
I can disclose that he and his wife, Lucy, whom he married just over two decades ago, have applied to use their idyllic Grade II-listed farmhouse West Sussex farmhouse near the village of Kirdford as a part-time ‘wellness retreat’ for those frazzled by city life — which would currently seem to be pretty well anyone in a city anywhere in the UK.
Greg and Lucy — who has worked as a therapist in the NHS — have approached the project with consummate professionalism. Emphasising that each retreat would, at most, be for 12 guests, who would ‘partake in yoga, creative arts and group work’, they explain that they intend to ‘run one- to two-day residential workshops and programmes to incorporate teambuilding and executive coaching to develop confidence and self- esteem’. But despite their attention to detail, the couple, who will remain in residence during each retreat, have provoked a neighbour to object.
‘I am very concerned that this commercial business will bring extra traffic and noise,’ she writes, adding that, as there are ‘several residences with children’ and the road is ‘very narrow’ and lacks footpaths, ‘this could be dangerous’.
The rusedskis are familiar with such challenges. Four years ago they lost a decade long battle to install a tennis court on their land.
A decision which perhaps propelled Greg to seek the embrace of ‘wellness’.
The council is expected to rule the proposal in — or out — next month.