“I’m honored to play with Rafa”, Casper Ruud excited to play with Rafael Nadal in Latin America after a great season

Norwegian world No.3 Casper Ruud is scheduled to play with Spanish world No.2 Rafael Nadal in an exhibition series in Latin America. The US Open Finalist will fly together with the Spaniard to the Latin American continent and the series starts in Argentina on November 23.

After a loss to Serbian World No.5 Novak Djokovic in ATP Finals, Turin to end the season and talking to the press, The Norwegian said that he is still excited to fly with his idol Rafael Nadal after a demanding season. In his words, “It’s something that I was honored to be invited to the Latin American tour with Rafa. I’m not going to say it’s going to be very demanding. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Let’s see when I get back. I still will have many days to recover from the jet lag and whatever.“

World No.3 then described the traveling difficulties a professional tennis player has to endure throughout his career. He also touched upon what his calendar usually looks like. As quoted by him, “I guess we are more used to it than maybe other people, to travel around, fly a lot. The jet lag is luckily easier going there, but when you get back is where it sort of kills you.

Luckily, I’ll be in good time to have some good practice days and relax a little bit before we head to Australia. But let’s see how the body reacts to it. I found it difficult coming from the States to Europe, then I had Laver Cup, and Davis Cup, then straight to Asia which I found very difficult. Hopefully, I can have learned something from that trip“

Continuing his train of thought, The Norwegian talked about the amount of relaxing time he will get before the next season. “I think I’ll just be very happy in a way when this tournament is over and the Latin American tour is over because I can just breathe out and be a normal person for a couple of weeks before a new season awaits. I think I should be fine. I sleep quite well at night, so I think it should be fine.“

Related: Casper Ruud believes he needs to take lessons from Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on stepping up his game when needed to win big titles 

Casper Ruud and Rafael Nadal’s Latin American Tour Schedule

World No.2 and 3 will fly first to Argentina where they will play their first match in Buenos Aries on November 23. After a day of traveling, day 2 is scheduled to be in chile. Santiago is the chosen city in Chile for their event on November 25. Argentine former US Open champion Gabriela Sabatini and Gisela Dulko will be also joining them in some part of the tour for playing the mixed doubles event.

From November 26 to 27, the events are scheduled to be in Bogota, Columbia, and Quito, Ecuador. Brazil comes next in the tour where they will play in Belo Horizonte on November 29. The tour will finally end in Mexico City on December 1.

Both tennis stars consider this event as extra special because normal tennis tournaments are conducted very less in this part of the world comparatively. It will be a great opportunity for Latin American tennis fans to see their stars playing in front of them and will increase the popularity of the sport.

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