Norway’s Casper Ruud is hoping he will be able to go deeper in the draw at the French Open that he ever has before with the help of a surge in confidence.
The 22-year-old recently broke into the world’s top 20 for the first time in his career following a series of impressive runs on the Tour. At Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte Carlo and Madrid he reached the semi-finals before falling to Andrey Rublev and Matteo Berrettini. He also reached the last four of another event in Munich between those two tournaments.
Amid his surge in success, the former junior world No.1 is emerging as a threat to many of his rivals on the clay. It is for this reason why Ruud has set out a goal of reaching the second week of the upcoming French Open which will start on May 30th. It will be his fourth appearance in the main draw at Roland Garros but he is yet to go beyond the third round.
“I’ve shown myself that I’m up there at the high level of clay court players and I can compete well with pretty much any player on clay,” AFP news agency quoted Ruud as saying on Wednesday in Geneva. “I’ve been winning a lot of good matches against good opponents so it gives me a lot of confidence going into Roland Garros this year and I have to say I’m hoping to be in Paris for the second week of the tournament. That’s my goal for this year.”
Whilst admitting ‘he is not a rock star in Norway yet,’ Ruud is reslishing a surge in his confidence level, as well as an improvement in his returns. He is coached on the Tour by his father Christian who is a former player himself. He also works alongside Pedro Clar Rosselló and Joachim Bjerke.
“This has maybe come even more, the last couple of months: the confidence and self-belief that this position is maybe where I belong and hope to compete and play for many years into the future,” said the world No.21.
“That self-confidence of me belonging in this group of new young guys is something that I’ve gained more and more at least, especially the last couple of months with back-to-back semi finals.”
Ruud is currently playing at the Geneva Open where he is the third seed. He booked his placed in the quarter-finals on Wednesday after defeating Tennys Sandgren 7-5, 6-2 and will next take on Dominik Koepfer. Should Ruud win the tournament this week it will be his second ATP title after Buenos Aires last year.
