For the past decade Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer have dominated the entire ATP. Having 56 Grand Slam titles in total, no young player managed to interfere with their legacy.
We have examples of Alexander Zverev, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix Auger-Aliassime who are still young players, but at their age “the big three” already had major Grand Slam titles. In this article, we will talk about Casper Ruud, another one of the most promising tennis players on the planet who was recently knocked out from the 3rd round of the US Open.
A gifted youngster
Norway is a northern country indifferent to tennis. Here in honor of ski sports, even football goes into the background. All the more surprising was the fact that in the cold edges there is a player of insane talent, who is ranked 37 in the ATP.
However, if you look closer to the story and learn the facts, the person of Ruud will stop to cause surprise. Casper seems to have become what he’s been meant to be since he was born.
One family for the whole country
Norway and tennis are almost incompatible. Even if we take the Open era, there were no successful players. Statistics show that only four tennis players have played more than fifty matches in their careers. For a long time, the best was Thorvald Moe, who played in the third round of Wimbledon in 1962 and then made a political career.
He would have stayed the best of all time if it had not been the Ruud family.
Christian Ruud was born in 1972 and eventually became a synonym with the sport in Norway. You say tennis in Norway, you mean Christian Ruud.
Casper’s father became known to the public for the first time after the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Then Christian, appearing in the main draw due to numerous failures, only in five sets lost to the great German player. Boris Becker, of course, was out of shape and for himself acted very poorly, but at the same time, Ruud managed to play fantastically and get fame at home.
The main successes for Ruud came over the next seven years. He reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, the third round of Roland Garros, went into the final of the ATP tournament in Bastad, and briefly even entered the top 40 of the ATP rankings. In addition, he defeated opponents from the Top 10 three times.
Successes that Ruud achieved was enough for the country to quickly start admiring him, as he was the only high-quality tennis player. Even people who were not fond of tennis started watching this sport because of him. Even now, after 19 years Ruud retired, his influence and impact are still visible. Even now one of the biggest industries in the world, that is gradually gaining a foothold in Norway, the gambling industry, is impacted by Ruud. He was often featured at Nyecasino.ninja as a promotional figure and was pivotal in popularizing tennis in the country.
Casper’s birth- inspiration for a historic victory
Without a doubt, Christian gained his main victory in 1999, when at the Australian Open he defeated the third racket of the world Spaniard Alex Corretja.
The recipe was simple – the birth of a son. Casper was born on December 22, 1998.
Christian Ruud retired in 2001. We can say that tennis in Norway has gone on vacation indefinitely…until the appearance of Casper.
Casper Ruud – Norway’s youngest champion
Casper, having an example in the person of his own father, did not think for a long time about the choice in life. Since childhood, he has been on the court and, of course, the best in the country. Ruud had the opportunity to train fully with his father and experienced coaches in Europe.
In 2014, Casper began to break official records. At the age of 15, he became the youngest champion of Norway. He declared that his goal was to sit in the locker room with Federer, Nadal, and other stars and reach at least the top 50 in the ATP rankings, the feat which he has already managed.
Christian Ruud won his first Norwegian championship at the age of 16… The first record was taken.
Gradually, Casper began to advance in the junior rankings, but with the Grand Slam tournaments the thing did not work out the same way. The third round is the maximum in singles at the French Open and US Open.
Repetition of Richard Gasquet’s achievement
At the age of 17, Casper decided to focus on promotion in the ATP rankings and gradually began playing in the Futures Series tournaments. Here he began to literally crumble opponents, making six finals in the first season. It was already great, but Casper managed to make a full voice in 2016 at tournaments of the higher category.
The Norwegian won the title at the clay in Seville on his first attempt. The history of tennis has not known such a thing since 2002 when Richard Gasquet began to climb to the top. That’s how in one season Casper soared into the Top 100 of the ATP.
Playing style
Casper is an attacking tennis player and demonstrates a very spectacular game. The Norwegian already has a killer forehand, due to which he takes away most of the rallies, but the two-handed backhand is still, of course, far from the level of top players. Casper is a very variable player. Despite his young age, he is not afraid to experiment, often uses shortened strokes in his game, and is not averse to holding the ball in long draws. It is important that, despite a certain preference for clay courts, the Norwegian looks decent on fast surfaces.
It can be argued that tennis geography has expanded again with the arrival of Casper. If the Ruud family goes according to plan, the son will very soon bypass the father. And Boris Becker himself declared that everyone should wait because Ruud will definitely become one of the top players soon.