Casper Ruud of Norway noted that being number two is not bad as he is proud of what he has been able to achieve in New York.
It was the second grand slam final loss for Ruud in his career but it comes with some other perks. He's number two in the world with a chance to battle for number one and that makes him proud:
“I think it's deserving that after great results, both of us having good
results throughout the year, we are 1 and 2 in the rankings tomorrow," said Ruud adding:
“I'm very proud of being No. 2. In a way it's a good thing because I can still chase the last spot. I'm proud of the match and the two weeks. I gave it my all. I left it all out on the court. Played some phenomenal tennis throughout the two weeks, probably my best tennis ever on this surface.”
The native of Oslo, who lost to Nadal at Roland Garros in June and was playing in his second major final, defeated Karen Khachanov in the semifinals to earn his 44th tour-level victory of the year. The Norwegian is almost certain to compete in the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin (13–20 November) after a strong season that saw him win ATP 250 titles in Buenos Aires, Geneva, and Gstaad.
“He's one of these few rare talents that comes up every now and then in sports… He has shown incredible fighting spirit and will to win. He was down a match point a couple matches ago and was able to turn around and end up winning the tournament…" explained Ruud who added:
“He's riding that wave. At the moment he's the best player in the world in my eyes. He deserves that spot. I'm happy that we played each other in the final and that we played for the title and the world No. 1 spot. His movement is one of his many weapons, of course. It makes us other players feel like you need to paint the lines sort of to be able to hit a winner. Sometimes even that's not enough. He's very fast. He's very quick. He's a great mover. He can get to balls that we've probably never seen before.”
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