"Always favourite in every tournament" - Ruud on Djokovic ahead of ATP Finals
ATP
Casper Ruud admitted that he sees Novak Djokovic as a favorite for every event that the Serbian enters ahead of the 2022 ATP Finals.
Ruud and Djokovic will both compete at the year-end event in 2022, and they will both be among the favorites. The Serbian player will meet Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the red group.
Ruud, on the other hand, will be in the green group with Rafael Nadal, Taylor Fritz, and Felix Auger-Aliassime. The top two players from each group will advance to the semi-finals of the 2022 ATP Finals, and that's where Ruud and Djokovic could meet.
Ruud spoke about the 21-time Grand Slam champion ahead of the event in an episode of 'Ruud Talk,' which he has in collaboration with Eurosport.
"I think tennis-wise he's played great. He's just been very unfortunate with the situation and how things have played out due to points, not being able to enter many countries, which has hurt him a lot on the rankings."
"But to me he will always be one of the best, if not the best player out there and always the favourite in pretty much every tournament he shows up to. I think he has shown that this year."
Ruud is aware of everything that Djokovic managed to win in 2022. That's why he sees the experienced Serbian as a favorite at any event that he enters.
"He won Wimbledon, he won these two tournaments a couple of weeks ago, and in Rome. Tennis wise, I think he has done great only playing, I don't know, eight, nine tournaments. He's close to top five in the world."
"Let's see how next year plays out. I hope that he can be able to enter these countries again and that he can play a full year. In my eyes, he's pretty much always a favourite to win, except for maybe Roland Garros where the King Rafa is always going to be the favourite there."
"But on hard courts, grass, he's always up there being one of the favourites to win the tournaments and he said he wants to show the young guys that he's still there, he's still present."
