Casper Ruud is unperturbed by his title haul, which features 10 titles in his trophy cabinet, all of them coming from ATP 250 level.
Casper Ruud's dominance in that tournament category is evident in the stats. In 13 finals, the 24-year-old has clinched the trophy on ten occasions. In fact, last weekend's defeat to Andrey Rublev in Bastad ended his three-year stranglehold at ATP 250 level, where Ruud had never lost a final since 2020.
But the perceived notion by a section of fans who label Ruud as an ATP 250 specialist is out of tune. The Norwegian has a very impressive resume which includes three Grand Slam runner-up finishes - all coming in the past 12 months, and is firmly entrenched in the world's top five.
The world number four has also reached the final in Miami and at the season-ending championships, each time having the misfortune of running into Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, the top two players in the world.
"I’m sitting here with 10 titles and all of them being 250s, I wouldn't say it bothers me. But of course, I want to try to seek a bigger title as well, I'm not going to hide that, of course."
"That's why we're working hard for, to reach, obviously, big finals, but also trying to win them. That's kind of where you're mostly remembered, winning the finals other than losing them. But yeah, I hope it's just a matter of time, I'm going to continue to work hard."
Ruud is currently honoring the post-Wimbledon clay-court doubleheader and is playing in Hamburg this week where he won his opener on Wednesday. The Norwegian has made three visits to the ATP 500 event, with his best result being a semifinal finish in 2020. He lost to Rublev on that occasion too, and the pair could set up a rematch in the final this weekend.
0 Comments