ATP: Casper Ruud is now a top man on the hard court
Until recently, the Norwegian Casper Ruud was still decried as a pure clay court specialist, but the numbers for the 2021 season no longer provide that.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Oct 03, 2021, 08:24 am
Casper Ruud is a really hot stock when it comes to the top world rankings for the next few years. At just 22 years of age, the son of former world-class player Christian Ruud is unstoppable on his way to the top. The current tenth in the world rankings already has five tournament wins on the ATP tour, four of which he was able to record on the credit side this year alone.
The only flaw in the great statistics - the Norwegian celebrated all successes on red ashes. Ruud has had the reputation of being a pure clay court digger since his first notable successes in 2017, when he sensationally reached the semifinals at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro. His first participation in the final at the ATP Tour level took place in 2019 at the clay court event in Houston, where he was defeated by Christian Garin from Chile 6: 7 (4), 6: 4, 3: 6.
Huge break in the statistics
However, all of these facts need to be reassessed with the 2021 season. Why? Let's just look at the numbers: The Scandinavian had a negative balance on the hard courts of the world by the end of 2020 - it was 16:27. And in the games against opponents who were placed within the top 50, it looked a little darker for Ruud, as there were only 2 match successes to celebrate with 14 defeats.
This season everything is different: In total, the young man from Oslo won 16 games on hardcourt, with just five defeats. For the top 50 players, the balance is also positive with 6: 3. Quarter-finals at the ATP Masters 1000 events in Toronto and Cincinnati underpin the Norwegian’s positive development.
#VIDEO#
One thing is already clear: Casper will trump his father in this respect too. Throughout his entire career, the son has been on hard court with a ratio of 29 wins to 32 losses. At the end of his career, Christian Ruud had only won 27 games on hard ground, but had lost 47 power.