Brit tennis player sues publication for calling him 'world's worst'

London, Feb. 25 (ANI): A 23-year-old British tennis player has sued the Daily Telegraph for labelling him as "the world's worst tennis pro," saying that the newspaper has ruined his professional reputation.

Robert Dee has already secured more than 30 apologies and tens of thousands of pounds in damages from various media organisations that made similar statements about him.

But the Telegraph refused to back down over two articles on the front page and in the sports section on 23 April 2008 under the headlines "World's worst -tennis pro wins at last" and "A British sensation - the world's worst".

The offending stories said Dee did not win a single match during his first three years on the professional circuit but finally ended this "dismal run" by beating an unranked 17-year-old in Spain in April 2008.

One article, claiming Dee had lost 54 matches in a row, compared him to the ski jumper Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards and Eric the Eel, the Equatorial Guinea swimmer who struggled at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The newspaper, which is ready to call high-profile -witnesses, including Boris Becker and John Lloyd, insisted that Dee did indeed hold the dubious honour of having had the world's worst losing run in professional tennis.

A Guatemalan player had also lost 54 consecutive matches, but unlike Dee, had once managed to actually win a set, but Dee lost 108 sets in a row.

But Dee argues that as he did not have a world ranking in 2008, he cannot have been deemed the world's worst.

He adds that the Telegraph articles not only ridiculed and embarrassed him, but could deter people from employing him as a professional coach.

The BBC, Daily Mail, Guardian and Sun were among the news organisations that apologised to Dee, avoiding litigation. (ANI)