Ruud names Federer and Djokovic as second-best clay players behind Nadal

Saturday, 08 April 2023 at 22:30

Updated at Saturday, 08 April 2023 at 22:32

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bySebastian Dahlman

Casper Ruud is what many would consider a clay specialist with the Norwegian enjoying tennis on the red dirt.

It's the surface on which he grew up and where he played his best tennis for much of his career. It's still his best and favourite surface though now he's much more than just a clay player being able to play well on hard courts as well.

Being that familiar with the surface makes Ruud a very good player to provide insight into clay tennis and he did that in a recent episode of Ruud Talk, his podcast with Eurosport. One of the topics was clay prowess and Ruud unsurprisingly picked Rafael Nadal as the best ever on the surface however he also fondly spoke about Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

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Novak and Roger, they are probably the second-best ever clay-court players. It's just that it's never really talked about because Rafa has all these records, so it's tough. But anytime you're playing one of these great guys or great players, it's tough because you feel like it could be dependent on them a little bit more, especially on clay where the ball is a little slower and they have even more time to get the shots.

Federer and Djokovic are indeed very good clay players but their accomplishments on the surface simply don't look as impressive when compared to Nadal. Nothing looks as impressive as Nadal's record on clay as he will be going for a 15th Roland Garros later this year.

Many fans are hoping he gets it because nobody ever won a grand slam that many times and it would be one of those records that could be considered out of reach safely. Nadal recently returned to practice so preparations are underway. Now it's all about staying healthy until the event comes around.