Casper Ruud’s father and coach Christian Ruud in the stands during the tennis final of the Roland-Garros tournament between Casper Ruud and Novak Djokovic from Serbia. Photo: Beate Oma Dahle / NTB
Of NTB | 23.04.2024 06:30:26
Sport: Then Casper Ruud won his biggest title (ATP 500) in his career. Before that, his ten titles had all come at the ATP 250 level.
The triumph over Stefanos Tsitsipas came in Ruud’s eighth final in a tournament above the ATP 250. The previous seven have ended in defeat. And it has become the subject of both factual and unfair criticism in traditional and social media.
For a long time, Ruud has, among other things, been called a “250 merchant”, a “wholesaler” of 250 titles, in social media.
– It’s nice to get it (the 500 title). I don’t like it, the way the media and social media portray it. One would much rather play a Grand Slam final than win two 500 tournaments or one 1000, Christian Ruud tells NTB.
The Norwegian has reached three Grand Slam finals during his career.
– It puts things into perspective. It is extremely good to reach a Grand Slam final, says Ruud.
– He has long had the level to win a 500 or 1000 tournament, says Ruud.
The big finals have contributed to Ruud taking big leaps in the world ranking. The losses in the biggest matches have nevertheless often been the focus, in addition to the fact that the first ten titles came at the 250 level.
– I haven’t paid much attention to it, but the media have been very hung up on it. A Grand Slam final is much better than winning in Barcelona, ​​but not everyone understands that, says father Ruud.
– Then you only look for negative things. I don’t think Casper deserves that. He has had a very good career so far and should be praised for those titles, he says.
– I think he is very excited about it (). I think he is looking forward to it and feels that he has real medal chances, says father Ruud.
First up is the 2nd round of the Madrid Open. There awaits the winner of the showdown between Zhang Zhizhen from China (49 in the world) and Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (66).
A final in one of the four Grand Slam tournaments during a year gives 1200 points in the ranking, which is thus more than a final in the Masters 1000.
Ruud comes to the Masters tournament in Madrid with the most wins of anyone on the ATP tour in 2024. The Norwegian has won 29 matches this year and looks to be in great shape ahead of two Masters tournaments and one of the big goals of the season: the Grand Slam- tournament Roland-Garros. Later this summer, the Olympics also await on the same gravel in Paris.
(© NTB)