Casper Ruud acknowledges Novak Djokovic’s and Roger Federer’s ill luck at Roland Garros because of Rafael Nadal

Casper Ruud believes competition has got a better chance on other surfaces compared to clay against Rafael Nadal.

Casper Ruud acknowledges Novak Djokovic’s and Roger Federer’s ill luck at Roland Garros because of Rafael Nadal

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Casper Ruud and Roger Federer

The Big Three are widely recognized for their prowess on the courts across the world. However, each player has his favorite surface on which he has excelled. Roger Federer was an excellent grass-court player and he won the Wimbledon eight times in his career. Novak Djokovic is brilliant on hard court and has won the Australian Open 10 times.

But no player can boast domination in a tournament like Rafael Nadal. Rafael Nadal is known for his excellent records on the clay surface and is honored with the sobriquet “King of Clay” and has 14 French Open titles to his name. However, according to Casper Ruud this does not diminish the excellence of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on clay one bit.

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He thinks The Big Three are some of the greatest players and playing against them is always difficult no matter what the surface. He also believes that when a player is up against any one of them in a tournament, then he is at their mercy.

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“Novak and Roger, they are probably the second-best ever clay-court players. It’s just that it’s never really talked about because Rafa has all these records, so it’s tough. But anytime you’re playing one of these great guys or great players, it’s tough because you feel like it could be dependent on them a little bit more, especially on clay where the ball is a little slower and they have even more time to get the shots,” the current World No.5 in his podcast Ruud Talk said.

The Norwegian also elaborated on how compared to clay, players have better chances to win against Rafael Nadal on other surfaces.

“You feel like maybe if you play Rafa on grass or whatever, Rafa has obviously won Wimbledon twice, so he is really good on grass, but you feel like, you can at least go out there and smack some winners and make him uncomfortable,”Casper Ruud continued.

Casper Ruud is currently participating in the Estoril Open and in its semi-final round will take on Quentin Halys.

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Casper Ruud wants one-serve rule to become norm in the tennis tournaments

Casper Ruud serve (Image Credit: The Indian Express)
Casper Ruud serve (Image Credit: The Indian Express)

The current World No.5 wants to see some changes in the format of the sport so that it can become more interesting for the fans. One of those changes include ‘One serve rule’ to be implemented for tennis tournaments. According to him, this will help to rekindle the interest of the audience in the sport.

“Playing with one serve. It wouldn’t be easy, but it’s a rule that could be changed. This is something that obviously won’t happen, but if that could change, I’d like to see us play a few single serve tournaments and see what happens. I have the impression that we would have more exchanges. Sometimes, especially on a fast court, it’s very easy to hold serve and there are no fun rallies,” Casper Ruud had said thus in his pre-tournament conference at the Indian Wells Open 2023.

“I think that’s funny, even if it doesn’t make it the right answer. There are people who think it’s fun to see straight serves and more direct rallies, just like for other players it’s more comfortable and easier to play long rallies quickly,” he had further added.

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