Casper Ruud admits that his approach to the off-season at the end of last year is something he is unlikely to repeat following a series of disappointing results on the Tour.
The world No.4 ended his 2022 campaign at the ATP Finals last November where he reached the final before losing to Novak Djokovic. Shortly afterwards, he embarked upon a Tour of South America where he played a series of exhibition matches against Rafael Nadal before travelling to the Middle East for further events. Instead of having a solid training block at the end of last year, Ruud opted to do so during February after the Australian Open.
However, things haven’t gone to plan for the Norwegian who is yet to win back-to-back matches this season. Including the ATP Cup, he has won just four out of nine matches played with his biggest win being over world No.38 Diego Schwartzman in Indian Wells. To put this into perspective, during the first three months of 2022 he produced a total of 12 wins against just three losses.
“My season is not naturally going as I would like,” Ruud admitted during media day at the Estoril Open. “If that was because of my second pre-season in February and the fact that I played all those exhibitions with Nadal, I can’t say for sure. We will never know.’
“I don’t think I’ll do what I did in 2022 again in 2023 but it hasn’t been easy to manage my schedule because I’ve been playing the ATP Finals and then the United Cup, it starts too soon for me. It’s less than a month (between those events) and I can’t miss that competition (United Cup). My other teammates depend on me and if I don’t go, they can’t play.”
The 24-year-old is hoping to regain his momentum on the clay which is a surface he has achieved numerous successes on. Eight out of his nine Tour titles won have been on the dirt with the only exception being the 2021 San Diego Open. He has also registered more wins at the French Open (13) than any other Grand Slam event and was runner-up to Nadal last year.
“I hope to have a good tournament and good weeks on clay,” he said. “It wasn’t the ideal start to the year, so I have to level up if I want to stay where I am in the rankings. I hope this tournament is part of the success.”
Ruud is the top seed at the Estoril Open which will officially get underway on Monday. Also featured in this year’s tournament are Hubert Hurkacz, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Roberto Bautista Agut and reigning champion Sebastian Baez.
Granted a bye in the first round, Ruud will start his campaign against veteran player Joao Sousa or Giulio Zeppieri. He could then face Baez in the quarter-finals followed by either Agut or Ben Shelton.
“The conditions are more similar to what we see in Rome, Madrid and southern Europe. The courts are similar and I always wanted to play here,” Ruud commented on the ATP 250 event.
“For me, it was great that they switched it to the week before Monte Carlo because it’s nice to have a week of matches before that big event.’
“I’m very motivated and happy to be here. It’s my favourite part of the season. I haven’t played like this (on the clay) since July. I must be rusty but I have a few days to prepare and I’m excited.”
In the ATP race to Turin, Ruud is currently in 83rd position.
