Casper Ruud played a wonderful Roland Garros last year but he really didn't stand a chance in the final against Rafael Nadal.
It was a rather convincing win for Nadal 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 and Ruud never seemed to bother him one bit. It was the first Grand Slam final of the Norwegian's career and while nerves were present, most people expected him to put up a good fight.
He didn't and he admitted that himself more than once, however, he denied losing the match in the locker room as many fans claimed based on the footage from the Netflix's Break Point. Facing Nadal on Chatrier is one of the hardest things in tennis but Ruud was ready for the challenge, even if the end result wasn't what he wanted.
I mean, I've seen it hundreds of times before it wasn't really a surprise. And you know, people saying that, you know, I already lost the match before even going on the court might be true. But you know if I had won, it would be like Casper won because he stayed cool.
Ruud also talked about how the final unfolded behind the scenes. Both him and Nadal were in the gym 30 minutes before the final warming up and the Norwegian felt good about his game and confident in his game. The result on teh court was a thrashing but he doesn't think it's because he did something wrong or because he was looking at Nadal for much of his warm-up.
We were both in the gym for 30 minutes, warming up, running and doing everything. So, I was sweating under my sweater and ready to go so I mean knew it was going to pull it out and do it. Obviously, he killed me and destroyed me but I don't think it was because of those steps in the locker room.
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