Rusedski out for season

Greg Rusedski is out of action for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on the foot injury which kept him out of Britain's recent Davis Cup tie with Thailand.

Rusedski, who reached the fourth round at Wimbledon this year, sustained the injury during his third-round defeat to Pete Sampras at the US Open in September – after which he unwisely described the American who was to go on to win the title as "a step and a half slow" – and was replaced for the Davis Cup match by the British No 14, Miles Maclagan.

A spokesperson for Rusedski said: "The injury which kept Greg Rusedski out of the recent Davis Cup tie has resulted in surgery. His left foot was operated on in Munich today and this will mean he will not be competing for the rest of the season."

The news means Rusedski will miss the remaining Tennis Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris before the season-ending Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. His spokesperson added: "Greg didn't really have much choice but to stop playing for a few months. He has had the injury since September so he has done well to keep it at bay."

The British No 2 started the season with victory in the Heineken Open in Auckland, and the spokesperson added: "We hope he can start like that again, that's what Greg's intention is. It's early days though – he's not even out of bed at the moment."

Rusedski will need to undergo intensive physiotherapy after the operation and will want to make a reasonably quick recovery since he has ranking points to defend at the beginning of next year, after winning the ATP tournament in Auckland at the beginning of this year and then going on to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

Yet Rusedski has some idea of the problems he may face in his rehabilitation, since he underwent a similar operation on his right foot in 1999. Since then he has also suffered problems with his back which resulted in a change to his service action and, in general, seems to have become more injury prone despite paying great attention to improving his movement on court.