'She Looked Devastated': Casper Ruud Explains Classy Message He Sent To Iga Swiatek

Tuesday, 06 May 2025 at 01:35

byJordan Reynolds

Casper Ruud generated much attention by sending a supportive message to Iga Swiatek at the 2025 Madrid Open, and the Norwegian outlined why he decided to do that.

Swiatek suffered a brutal 1-6, 1-6 loss to Coco Gauff in the Madrid Open semifinal. It was an astonishing defeat for the four-time French Open champion and the best female clay-court player in the world over the last five years.

By contrast, Ruud enjoyed the best week of his career at the same tournament. The two-time runner-up at Roland Garros secured a maiden Masters 1000 title by defeating Jack Draper in a thrilling final.

However, Ruud's message to Swiatek occurred before his semifinal against Francisco Cerundolo. His doing it while also attempting to focus on winning a first 1000-level title made it an even classier gesture.

Ruud responded on X (formerly Twitter) to a video of Swiatek with a towel buried over her head during the thrashing by Gauff by saying he loved watching the Pole play, that she inspired many, and that she would come back stronger than ever.

"Hey Iga, keep your head up. Like millions of other people, I love watching you play. Not your day today, but you inspire so many, and you’ll be back stronger than ever!!"

The Norwegian was asked about the gesture in a press conference at the Madrid Open. Ruud said he wanted to cheer Swiatek up and also praised the current standard of the WTA Tour.

“I went online and I saw this video of her where she looked devastated on court…it felt like she needs some support so I just tried my best to cheer her up. I think she’s an incredible player. Not only her, I think the women’s tennis is cool to watch these days - Sabalenka dominating, Iga has won 5 slams in her young career, Coco is there at number 3 and so on."

Those comments are refreshing from Ruud on a few levels. Firstly, his wanting to make someone feel better after a tough loss shows he is one of the nicest players in the game and has empathy for his fellow professionals.

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Secondly, Ruud's comments about how entertaining the WTA Tour is might encourage some who do not watch women's tennis to do so. This is also a nice contrast to the toxic comments about the women's game from many on social media.

Ruud is correct about the great place the WTA Tour is in. Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva, and many others should be at the top of the sport for many years and create epic rivalries.

Sabalenka, who turned 27 on Monday, is the oldest of the quartet of her, Swiatek, Gauff, and Andreeva. Swiatek is 23, Gauff is 21, and Andreeva, who won this year's Dubai Championships and Indian Wells Open, is just 18.

That means those players, despite already being so good, have a lot of time to improve in the future. If they do, they could take women's tennis to a level never seen before in its history and increase viewing figures to unprecedented heights.

By contrast, 44-year-old Venus Williams is near the end of her career, but is not yet retired. The seven-time Grand Slam champion was recently confirmed as a pundit for the upcoming 2025 French Open.