An interesting interview in yesterday's Times (behind a paywall). He comes across as a very pleasant & level-headed young man, who is clearly unimpressed with Nick Kyrgios ( ):
Ruud is mild-mannered on and off the court, but has attracted the ire of Nick Kyrgios, in a feud that began after their match at the 2019 Italian Open. Kyrgios forfeited the deciding set after throwing a tantrum, prompting Ruud to brand the Australian "an idiot on the court". Kyrgios retaliated, tweeting that he would "rather watch paint dry then watch [Ruud] play tennis, boring".
"I try not to waste my energy on being negative or showing frustration, because in this game it's only about a couple points here and there in many matches," Ruud says now. "I would rather my energy be fully focused on those most important points. Some people might think it's boring and that's fine, they don't need to watch me. I know I don't have the big flashy game with tweeners [when a player hits the ball between their legs] and the drop shots. [But] that's the way I prefer to play the game. It is good to have different types of players, it brings excitement. A lot of people love watching [Kyrgios] and other players that show emotions, then you have Federer, or Bjorn Borg back in the day, who are very quiet. I guess people enjoy watching them too. I'm more on the cold and calm side."
Because I like family connections (and believe the LTA are short-sighted in not taking it into accout), just to add that Casper's father is Christian Ruud, former pro tennis player who got to ATP 39
There was a feature about Casper (and the relationship with his dad, and other stuff) on the ATP site some while back:
(SC, don't you think this should maybe go in the special section entitled 'Individual Player Threads' ? It's where all the other single player threads are)
(SC, don't you think this should maybe go in the special section entitled 'Individual Player Threads' ? It's where all the other single player threads are)
I posted it in here because, with the arguable exception of the thread devoted to Aljaz Bedene, all the others relate to British players.