Ruud hopes to secure spot in ATP Finals after some “good slaps in the face” in 2023
In an interview to be released on the UTS website, Casper Ruud says the 2023 season was mostly “irritating” but he’s “still alive” to defend his ATP Finals spot
Casper Ruud, 2023 | © Zuma / Panoramic
Casper Ruud, No 8 seed at the Rolex Paris Masters this week, is bracing himself for a challenging tournament. The Norwegian faces a potential first round match against local hero Gaël Monfils, before possible clashes against the on-fire Hubert Hurkacz and world No 3 Daniil Medvedev if both make it as far as the quarter-finals.
“But I’m still there, I’m still alive, I’m No 8 at the rankings and hopefully it will be the case next week also,” he said in Paris in an interview that will be released on the UTS website, one month after Ruud, known as The Iceman, was stopped at the round robin stage in Frankfurt.
Deep run needed in Paris for Ruud
Currently ranked No 11 in the live singles race, Ruud needs to make a deep run in Paris, ideally reaching at least the final, to have a serious chance to make the ATP Finals in Turin again, where he reached the final in 2022.
With only 90 points to defend this week, he’ll be hoping for Holger Rune (2022 winner) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (2022 semi-finalist) to lose early, as well as short runs for Alexander Zverev (0 point to defend) and Taylor Fritz or Hubert Hurkacz (45).
“Last year was incredible for me, finishing at the third spot at the ATP rankings, with a career high at No 2,” Ruud said. “This year has been challenging in many ways. When you have this ranking you have more expectations on yourself, you think you have chance to play the final or win the trophy every tournament you play.
“When you lose early you’re like, ‘What’s going on? Am I worse? Are other players much better?’ It was a season to try to gain experience from competing as a top three or top five member.
“In a way, it was good to have a couple of slaps in the face to make you realise that everything is not going to go smoothly all the time. You have to work hard for that and of course I gave my best. It’s irritating, frustrating, annoying when you’re on the court and you don’t succeed as you want. But let’s see what happens in Paris. It’s not the end of the world. It’s an opportunity you are given to look back, reflect and try to learn from it, grow from it, to become a better player and what went wrong.”
Ruud reflects on tough run of form since US Open
Recent weeks have not been the greatest for Ruud, with early losses against world No 79 Marco Giron (Tokyo), world No 91 Fabian Marozsan (Shanghai), world No 75 Zhizhen Zhang (US Open) and world No 70 Marc Purcell (Cincinnati).
“At this stage it’s hard to say what was learned because we are still in the season, there is still one more tournament, so it’s not easy to reflect on everything until the season is done,” the Norwegian said. “Competing against so many good players out there when you are the favourite most of the time, it’s something I need to work on for the next season. Physically it’s a long season, you need to be ready for many tough tournaments.”
But Ruud is keeping things in perspective, and is still confident of the achievements under his belt in 2023.
“There were two weeks I felt really great, at Roland-Garros. I was able to defend my final spot. Coming up to the tournament, I was not looking forward to do this, and then I played one match after the other and I believed more and more that what happened last year was not a one hit wonder. Even if I couldn’t defend the US Open final, this Roland-Garros might have been very important for my career and to build the future.”
This week at the Rolex Paris Masters could well be another important moment in the career of Casper Ruud, as he looks to solidify his position as a top eight player and secure his spot at the ATP Finals in Turin.
