As an old saying goes: “Like father Like Son”. Casper Ruud (16 °) is the son of Christian Ruud (former world number 39 in 1995) and He followed in his father’s footsteps after starting to play tennis at the age of four.
And the successes of Ruud Jr. do not stop coming. In Bastad, the Norwegian defeated Federico Coria and raised his third ATP title. A unique record in Norwegian men’s tennis as Casper himself is the only player in Norwegian history to lift trophies.
But as a child, despite carrying his racket everywhere, tennis was not always a priority. His father made him play soccer, hockey, and golf. But it was the racket that won. “He was the one who decided at age 11, ‘Okay, this is what I want to do. I like individual sports more than team sports, “Christian told him in an ATP interview.
But tennis may not have come into your life or it may not have been successful. That is why he wrote, in his ATP biography, that if he had not been a tennis player, he would have dedicated himself to being an airplane pilot.
But Ruud’s path was well chosen. After standing out at the youth level (he was No. 1 junior at 17 years old) Casper got into the 100 best players in the world and chose to join the Rafael Nadal academy, where it would be based as of 2020. “They asked me if I wanted to try it and Rafa is one of my biggest idols, so I didn’t see any point in saying no” the Norwegian told him about his arrival at the manacorí academy.
Since he started training there, Ruud won the first ATP title for Norway in Buenos Aires during 2020 and then expanded his showcase with Geneva and Bastad in 2021. He was also a finalist in Houston 2019 and Santiago de Chile 2020.
It is worth noting that his favorite surface is brick dust, in which during 2021 he has already won 21 games won, just two behind the record that Stefanos Tsitsipas has at the top.
Ruud’s next steps will be to consecrate himself in a Grand Slam tournament and enter the Top Ten. There his best performance was shown at the Australian Open 2021 reaching the fourth round when he faced Andrey Rublev but had to withdraw due to physical problems. Regarding the ranking, his success in Bastad ensured him being No. 14 But a new win could catapult him to the Top Ten sooner rather than later.
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