It could be said that he is not the most spectacular player on tour. Perhaps he doesn’t win as many titles as some of his adversaries. Maybe he doesn’t make so many appearances in the trick-shot reels. But there is absolutely no doubt that Casper Ruud is a hugely talented player. The Norwegian comes into his own when spring arrives and he can compete on clay, his favourite surface, despite the fact that in his home country tennis is normally played on cement and indoors.
After coming so close to the top of the world rankings in 2022, when he reached the finals of the French and US Opens, Ruud has become a fixture in the latter rounds of big tournaments. However, in recent months he seems to have lacked inspiration and last week he touched down in the Caja Magica as the ATP world number 15, his worst ranking since 2021.
After a week and a half in the Spanish capital, though, the Norwegian has a smile back on his face. Ruud has awoken from his slumber at the Mutua Madrid Open. In his opener he defeated Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech 6-3, 6-4, before usurping the American Sebastian Korda, 6-3, 6-3, while on Tuesday evening he toppled another US player in Taylor Fritz, 7-5, 6-4. It was a stern test – Fritz was the third seed in the men’s draw and a semi-finalist here last year – and the result proves that the Norwegian can compete with anybody right now.
After three matches without dropping a set at the Mutua Madrid Open, in Thursday’s quarterfinals Ruud will clash with Daniil Medvedev, a player who he has lost to in their last three encounters. However, none of those matches were on clay (1 on grass and 2 on hard court).
“Now I’m playing Daniil. Another tough match”, said the 26-year-old Ruud on Tuesday night in the Caja Magica after his win over Fritz in the Manolo Santana Stadium. “We’ve never played on this surface. I know he beat me on grass and hard court, so I hope to have an advantage on clay. Daniil cannot be underestimated on clay. He won in Rome one year and played great. If he’s playing like that, he’s a very tough competitor on any surface. I’ll try to recover so I can play my best tennis on Thursday”.
Ruud, who is coached by Pedro Clar of the Rafa Nadal Academy, is the player with the most wins (122), finals (16) and titles (11) on the red stuff since 2020. However, his last trophy came over a year ago at the ATP 500 in Barcelona.
