Casper Ruud hasn't been playing good tennis lately but the Norwegian impressed in his first match at the Miami Open.
Playing well here is nothing strange for Ruud because he played in the final last year losing to Carlos Alcaraz. The Norwegian took on a very tricky opponent in Ilya Ivashka but he managed to win in two relatively simple sets.
I want to believe one match will turn it around but there are still a lot of matches to be played with a lot of good players left in the tournament. It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve played a match after taking an early loss in Indian Wells. I worked hard and came into Miami with great memories from last year.
That hard work certainly paid off so far with his level quite a bit over what he showed so far this year. He was quite efficient and used his chances clinically which reminded of the old Ruud who rarely left any chances on the table. His impressive performance was partially inspired by last year due to eerily similar circumstances leading up to the event.
Last year I won’t say I turned around my year here because I won Buenos Aires, but then I had an injury that kept me out for two to three weeks and then I lost early in Indian Wells. When people asked about my expectations I said I just wanted to have a good finish to the hard-court season and I made the final.
The plan is very similar to last year, try and win a few matches and hopefully go as far as he can. It would do wonders for his confidence, particularly after a shaky start to the year.
So I’m just going to try to win some matches again, not think about what [points] I have to defend and just try to get some momentum.
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