Ruud’s long road to his biggest title: “The wait has been worth it” | ATP Tour

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Ruud’s long road to his biggest title: “The wait has been worth it”

The Norwegian reflects after conquering Madrid

May 04, 2025

Again and again, Casper Ruud had positioned himself to achieve glory in the most important events in the world. The Norwegian had reached two Grand Slam finals, two matches for the ATP Masters 1000 championship, and in the Nitto ATP Finals. On each occasion, he fell short.

Not Sunday. Not in Mutua Madrid Open, where finally the 26 -year -old jump. Ruud beat Jack Draper in a close game to three sets to win the greatest trophy of his career so far.

“My record in large finals is still bad, it is 1-6,” Ruud said. “I have been in many incredible positions throughout my career, and I have been able to experience great things and, unfortunately, I have been in the losing spectrum of many of those games, but nothing happens.”

“In many ways, my career has gone better than perhaps possible sometimes. Of course I always dreamed of winning tournaments like this, Grand Slams or becoming the number 1 in the world, and I have been quite close.”

Better Plays of the Final:

Ruud made it clear that he has not lost any advantage. His opponents in those finals were Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I have simply played against opponents who were better than me, and I have tried to learn from it, and I think that another chance will be presented and maybe you can take advantage of it. I suppose that was the key to today’s victory,” Ruud said. “Jack is an incredible player and will continue to improve. After the previous six defeats, I knew that if I did not give my best, I had nothing to do on the court; that was the mentality.”

It was the first Lexus ATP Head2head between Ruud and Draper, and both reached the final with different levels of impulse. Ruud began his mutual Madrid Open in the 24th position of the race to Turin, while Draper was more confident than ever, partly the product of his first triumph at Masters 1000 level in Indian Wells.

“If you analyze my year, I have had a really good tournament, that of Dallas, where I reached the final, and apart from that, I have suffered defeats earlier than expected, even more defeats I expected,” Ruud said. “But it’s a long season, and I tried to reflect on it. It’s like a marathon, not a sprint, as the saying goes.”

“The whipped earth season is … I love it, but it’s not so long. So I lost before what I wanted in Montecarlo and Barcelona, ​​and tournaments, weeks, happen, and if you don’t do it well, you feel you need to do it well now.”

Ruud suffered early eliminations in Montecarlo and Barcelona for their level, winning only three games in both events. But he has been working hard after the scenes to reverse the situation.

“From Roland Garros last year, I have had many months of difficulties and few good results, so the wait has been worth it,” Ruud said. “I think I have accepted that I had to go back one or two steps in my game and in my feelings on the track to be able to advance two or three more steps. Here in Madrid I feel that I have advanced four steps, which is a great feeling.”

Now Ruud is fifth in the live race and arrives with confidence to another 1000 Masters in Rome. The whipped land has long been the Paradise of the Norwegian, and with a trophy of the Magic Fund, it seems ready to face the rest of the season on the surface.

“I will enjoy tonight and prepare my best for Rome in the next few days. After Rome, I am registered for Geneva, and then we will see how it is in Paris,” Ruud said. “But there are still very exciting weeks, and I suppose that a victory here will also show the other players that I am here to try to do it well for the rest of the beaten earth season.”