Greg Rusedski was gearing up for a crunch fourth-round US Open contest back in 1997 before tragedy struck, which left the whole of Britain mourning.
It had just gone 10pm in New York when Rusedski received a phone call in his his hotel room telling him to put the news on, with American news networks reporting that Princess Diana had been involved in a serious car crash in Paris.
With his huge US Open match on the horizon, Rusedski was left fearing the worst as he went to sleep in his hotel before the news of her sudden death was confirmed just before midnight.
The whole of Britain was in a state of shock, and Rusedski has since revealed that he nearly pulled out of the Grand Slam following the heartbreaking news before he was urged not to following a chat with his wife.
And it was a decision that paid off for him as he would go onto make the US Open final - his best Grand Slam run ever with his second best coming at Wimbledon just months before as he made the quarter finals.
Rusedski, who was born in Canada to a British mother and a father of Polish and Ukrainian descent before adopting British citizenship in 1995, told the Daily Mail : "There was a discussion about whether I should pull out and I talked it through with Lucy.
"In the end we decided it was right to play and I would wear a black ribbon on my sleeve as a mark of respect. Of course the tragedy was very upsetting and you could not help think of Diana's young children, but it was my choice to continue."
While talk back home was dominated by Princess Diana's passing, Rusedski managed to stay strong and reached the quarters at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set after beating Czech Daniel Vacek in the fourth round.
Rusedski, who credited his previous strong form for his excellent showing at the 1997 US Open, added: "The whole atmosphere was very surreal but one thing I was always good at in my career was compartmentalising, and that served me well."
Rusedski would go onto beat recent Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek in the last-eight before overcoming Jonas Bjorkman in five sets to progress to his first and only Grand Slam final.
In the showpiece final, the Brit couldn't see off Australian Patrick Rafter, who would also go onto win the 1998 US Open.
