Casper Ruud is embracing being the underdog heading into his second consecutive Roland Garros final.
The Norwegian cruised into the Roland Garros final after a 6-3 6-3 6-0 demolition job of Alexander Zverev.
Ruud was too clinical for the German as he broke on six occasions to seal a place in his third Grand Slam final.
Speaking in his on-court interview, Ruud admitted he was pleased to reach a second Roland Garros final, “I just went out there and tried to play without too many feelings, without trying to think too much,” Ruud was quoted by BBC Sport as saying.
“Towards the end of the tournament, everyone has done so well. I’m trying to play without pressure, and not too much emotion and today I just played really well from the beginning to the last point. Everything was going my way and I’m very happy to win this match.
“I didn’t come into Roland Garros thinking I was the favourite to reach the final. Not at all. I was going one match at a time. I would obviously love to be back in the final and always thinking I would love to defend this finals spot from last year, and here we are.
“It’s been two fun weeks in in Paris, and hopefully third time will be the charm for me.”
It’s been an incredible turnaround for Ruud who was struggling for form heading into the second Grand Slam of the season.
However the Norwegian is now into a second consecutive Roland Garros final and after the match praised his father for contributing heavily to his success, “I think I owe almost almost all my success to him. We had a very good goal, since I was this tall and told him I wanted to become a professional,” Ruud said about his father Cristian, who was a former ATP player himself.
“He has taken these words very seriously and pushed me every day and been around me every day since I was 12 years old. Without him I don’t think I would be where I am today. Also my mother. Without them I would not be here today. It has been very good to have support from my family and everyone else around me.”
Now Ruud will play one of the greatest players of all-time in the form of Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.
After playing Rafael Nadal last year, Ruud has said that he will enjoy the occasion and is embracing being the underdog, “It’s going to be tough,” Ruud spoke of facing Djokovic.
“Last year was against Rafa, this year against Novak so what do you say? It’s two of the toughest players in the history, I’m going to be the underdog, so try to play without feelings, try to enjoy and smile as much as I can.
“Novak is going for his 23rd [Grand Slam title], I am going for my first – it’s a big difference but I will give it my all and I hope we can have a good match.”
Heading into the match Djokovic has a 4-0 winning head-to-head record but they have never played a best of five set match.
