‘One match won’t turn my season around’ – Ruud hoping for some Miami momentum

Casper Ruud is hopeful for a good run in Miami, as he achieved last year

Mar 10, 2023; Indian Wells, CA, USA; Casper RUUD (NOR) celebrates after winning a point during his 2nd round match against Diego Schwartzman (ARG) (not pictured) during the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells Tennis Garden (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)

Carrie Dunn

March 25, 2023

After a spectacular 2022, Casper Ruud has had a shaky start to 2023. Out in the second round of the Australian Open, out in the round of 16 in Acapulco, out in the round of 32 in Indian Wells, he is still seeded third in Miami and laid down a marker by beating Ilya Ivashka 6-2, 6-3 on Friday.

The 24-year-old faces 26th seed Botic van de Zandschulp next and knows it will be no easy task – either to get past that particular opponent or to put together a run to the final, as he did last year.

Miami vibes 🤌

2022 runner-up @CasperRuud98 eases past Ivashka 6-2 6-3 in his #MiamiOpen opener! pic.twitter.com/Ie4ErYemeX
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 25, 2023

“I want to believe one match will turn it around but there are still a lot of matches to be played with a lot of good players left in the tournament,” Ruud said to the ATP website. “It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve played a match after taking an early loss in Indian Wells. I worked hard and came into Miami with great memories from last year.”

Ruud: I’m just going to try to win matches

Certainly his statistics against Ivashka looked impressive, dropping six points on his first serve and taking half of his break point opportunities, hitting 21 winners in the process.

But Ruud knows that he was already in decent form going into last year’s Sunshine Double, winning the title in Buenos Aires before picking up an injury that interrupted his streak.

“Last year I won’t say I turned around my year here because I won Buenos Aires, but then I had an injury that kept me out for two to three weeks and then I lost early in Indian Wells,” Ruud said. “When people asked about my expectations I said I just wanted to have a good finish to the hard-court season and I made the final.

“So I’m just going to try to win some matches again, not think about what [points] I have to defend and just try to get some momentum.”