Casper Ruud's beleaguered season will see him finish the year outside the world's Top 10 in a dramatic turnaround of his ranking status.
A year ago, Ruud was on the verge of the World No. 1 ranking when he reached his second Grand Slam final at the US Open. He lost the decisive match against Carlos Alcaraz in New York and missed out on tennis' highest honor.
This week, his stuttering 2023 campaign hit another low. For just the second time this year, Ruud lost his first match at an ATP event, falling to a 7-5, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo in Bercy.
Ruud, who entered the Paris Masters ranked at No. 8, will now leave the world's Top 10 next week for the first time since August 2021.
His 61% win rate (36-23) this season, is his lowest since 2019. He had an outside chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals at the start of the week, but has now lost ground in the race and is out of contention. This is a big disappointment for the Norwegian who reached the championship match at last year's season finale.
Ruud had averaged three titles in each of the last two seasons, but has only one trophy to show his efforts, and which came at the ATP 250 event in Estoril.
The 24-year-old has not attained success beyond this level, coming up short in his three Grand Slam final appearances, most recently at this year's Roland Garros.
Ruud is scheduled to play in Metz next week in which he is the second seed. The ATP 250 event will now act as the final tournament of his season. But it wouldn't come as a surprise if he winds up his campaign after that defeat to Cerundolo, considering he cannot qualify for the ATP Finals.
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