‘One match can change everything’ – Resurgent Casper Ruud eyes Roland-Garros redemption in Paris next week

Casper Ruud wants to go one step further at the French Open this year than he did last term, when he was beaten by his idol Rafael Nadal in the final.

Preparation has been far from ideal for Ruud in the run-up to the second Grand Slam of the year, with the world No. 4 enduring a tricky start to the campaign.

He was seeded second at the Australian Open but came up well short when he was eliminated by Jenson Brooksby in the second round, before losing in the round of 32 at both Indian Wells and the Miami Open.

A much-needed boost came at the Estoril Open where he claimed his 10th career title, before another disappointing outing at the Monte Carlo Masters.

After exiting the Barcelona Open in the round of 16 and a first-round disaster in Madrid, he has fought back with an inspired run to the Italian Open semi-final.

“It’s not fun at all,” Ruud admitted to Roland Garros media of his early season slump. “As tennis players we live off trying to win matches, that’s sort of everything we have.

“It’s always like this constant battle to try to win as many matches as possible; you sort of start thinking when you lose more than you would like. ‘What am I doing wrong? How come all these other players are improving and I’m stuck where I am?’ And can’t really get out of these negative thoughts.

“But I think that things can change, for the better or for the worse very quickly. One match can be the solution to everything, it can change a whole year, or maybe one point even. It’s crazy with tennis because the margins are so small.”

After his frustrating start to the year, Ruud has redeemed himself with a last-four tie against Holger Rune in Rome, and if he progresses to the final, will face either Daniil Medvedev or Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I think a great example is Medvedev,” Ruud explained, referring to his own patch of unfortunate form. “In my world and in my head he’s definitely a top-five player in the world. A couple of months ago he was outside the top 10 because he hasn’t felt as well as he maybe would like. He changed things around and now he’s back to where he belongs, and has been on a really good streak in the last couple of months.

“So I think things can change, both for the better and the worse, very quickly, and you just have to live in the moment and enjoy it.

“A few wins here now in Rome could hopefully be a part of some success coming. I have a lot of important weeks coming up for me.

Ruud attended Nadal’s academy in Majorca as a child and idolised the 14-time Roland-Garros champion growing up.

Despite the straight-set defeat, Ruud believes the match was much tighter than the scoreline read, despite coming up against an all-time great in favourable conditions.

“Obviously numbers don’t lie, so you go into a final against a guy who is 13-0 in those situations on that court,” Ruud reflected. “There was hope and there was belief because I knew he had been struggling with his foot a bit, and you never know what can happen overnight or if he’s feeling worse today. Maybe in a way, it’s not so nice to say, but I was hoping that it was bothering him a little bit more than it was.

“Rafa fit on clay, best-of-five sets, very few people have been able to beat him there. So to see like you’re able to beat him straight up, it’s tough, it’s hard to believe because I’ve watched him all my life almost toying with his opponents sometimes at Roland-Garros. So for me to believe I’m just going to go out there and beat him was tough, but there was belief, there was hope, but it was over quite quickly.

“But it was fun, I enjoyed it, I enjoyed the match. Even though it was 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 I think many of the games were closer and I had maybe some small chances in the second set, but I wasn’t able to take them. I think the scoreline maybe lied a little bit but in the end, he deserved to win.

“I was just happy I was going home after a long clay season, which I finished in an unbelievable way for me making the final at Roland-Garros. It was a great time for me in my career and in my life.”

Since Nadal announced he will not compete at Roland-Garros this year because of a lack of fitness, Ruud revealed that he had been in touch with him to let him know he’ll be missed.

“I don’t like to bother him too much by sending him all these texts,” he revealed. “But every now and then I do, just saying that he’s missed, especially during this clay season and at the clay tournaments where he has had so much success.”

Following his defeat to Nadal, Ruud worried that he might be a “one-hit-wonder”, but he quashed that self-criticism and proved himself wrong when he reached the US Open final later in 2022.

Now, as he gears up to the French Open and eyes another Grand Slam final, he believes he has what it takes to go one win further and claim the first major of his career.

“I think, honestly, that I’m a better player this May than last May, or last September, October or whatever you want to call it,” he insisted. “I feel like I’m improving as a player but it’s just the margins are so small at this level these days.

“It’s always like a battle, but the battle is mostly towards yourself and trying to stay positive and knowing that the depth of tennis these days is really big.

“There are not just 10 or 20 guys that can play well, it’s 80 or 100 guys that can really challenge each other and win against each other.

“We saw it the other day with [Carlos] Alcaraz and the Hungarian new kid [Fabian Marozsan], who you’re going to hear more about in the future. You’ve seen it many times recently.

“Making three of the five biggest finals that we have in a year is not something that I expect to do every year, but it was really fun while I did it last year. It gave me more belief in myself that maybe one day I can lift one of these trophies and it’s a good indication that I have the stamina and the mentality to reach far and deep in the biggest tournaments.”