‘It is a big confidence-booster ahead of Roland Garros, was inspired by Roger Federer,’ Casper Ruud reflects on his win at Geneva
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Casper Ruud
Third seed Casper Ruud won his first title of the year this week in Geneva as he defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov in straight sets 7-6(6),6-4 in the final on Saturday. The Norwegian superstar did not concede a single break point to the second seed to prevail in the battle of the 22-year-olds.
Ruud was convincing throughout the week and just dropped one set. He will carry immense confidence going to the French Open. He reflected on his performance and its impact on his confidence.
In the post match press conference, Ruud said: “It feels great that I’ve been playing well lately and reaching the later stages in my past tournaments. It is a big confidence-booster ahead of Roland Garros… It was a close match today and it could have gone either way.”
Ruud also said that he is inspired by Federer’s serve and not notes from the Swiss himself. “I was inspired by Roger Federer. He’s not the tallest guy, but he always had a big serve. He rotates with his head and it almost looks like he can see the ball at impact. I looked up to him.”
‘It feels as good to win today as it did in Buenos Aires’: Casper Ruud
This was Ruud’s second title of his career. He had earlier won his first title in Buenos Aires last year. He compared his win at Geneva with his triumph in Argentina in 2020.
“It was a tough first set, it was very close,” Ruud said. “We were both serving great so there weren’t that many rallies after the serve on both sides because of the high level. But in the tie-break there were some rallies here and there… Happily for me I won the first set, and I think that gave me a little bit of confidence to calm down a little bit – not to relax, but to play more freely.”
“It feels as good to win today as it did in Buenos Aires [in 2020]. I was more mature this week, knowing that I won a title before. It’s something else to do it the second time, but it’s the same great winning taste and winning feeling.”
Ruud is currently ranked 22nd in the world. He will move up 6 places in the ATP Rankings next week to the No.16 spot.
Also read: ‘Two titles in one day, not bad!,’ Coco Gauff thrilled about her dream week in Parma
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Lakshya Chopra
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