Ruud Backs Medvedev Over Disadvantage Comments, Calls Courts 'Little Cage'
ATP
Casper Ruud has supported claims by Daniil Medvedev that varying court sizes at venues can impact performance.
Following a straight-sets fourth-round loss to Aslan Karatsev at the Madrid Open on May 2, Medvedev said he felt disadvantaged against his opponent due to playing on a smaller court. Ultimately, the Russian player argued that the limited space made it harder for him to move and respond to the towering serves from Karatsev.
While the claims may not be a concern for many current players, Casper Ruud has come out in support of Medvedev ahead of the Italian Open. Speaking to the press, ahead of his opening Italian Open game on Friday, Ruud explained that certain playing space sizes can hinder performance.
"Some courts on tour can be smaller or larger than others, not stadium-wise, but on length behind the baseline. So there are a couple of courts that to me can be a little bit small sometimes."- Ruud told reporters
In addition, Ruud expanded on his analysis of court sizes and pointed to the different dimensions of the centre court and court two at the Madrid Open last week. The Norwegian player further sympathised with Medvedev and pointed out that players can feel cramped when trying to manoeuvre around the smaller playing areas compared to the larger ones.
"Just speaking my honesty here, you look at maybe myself or a player like Daniil Medvedev, for example, and last week in Madrid when we played, center court is obviously very big in Madrid, for example, but Court No. 2, if you look at where me and Daniil is returning, we're very close to the line umpire. It can be a little tricky sometimes."
"You feel like you can't hit your ball when you have the line umpire and all these things like just half a meter behind you. You feel sort of like a little in a cage kind of way."
