Casper Ruud is not enjoying life on the ATP Tour right now, as he's set to drop to his lowest ranking in over a year after another early exit.
Ruud played in the US Open final last year, which means he was defending many points at this year's event. Losing early would have been catastrophic for the Norwegian, and that's exactly what happened.
He faced Zhizhen Zhang, a tricky player who is capable of generating a lot of power in his shots, and that gave Ruud a lot of trouble. Some might say the Chinese player utilized a toilet break to get it done, but even if Ruud complained about it to the umpire, the Norwegian still lost the other two sets.
He essentially has only himself to blame, and the consequences will include a significant drop in the ATP Rankings, one that will send him to his lowest in over a year.
For much of the past year, Ruud was inside the Top 5. He jumped from 7 to 5 last year after the US Open run and has stayed in the Top 5 since then. With this loss, Ruud is likely to drop down to number 9 on the ranking, which is his lowest rank in quite a while.
He was number 10 in May of last year, and this will be the lowest he's ranked since May of last year. It comes after a string of bad performances that started early in the year after his controversial off-season approach.
He won't be doing that this year, certainly, and it's just been a weird year. He's shown frustration many times this year and even after this most recent loss to Zhang. There are only a few things he can do: work harder, and hopefully, things will turn around. He's capable of it and eventually will get back to it.
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