Casper Ruud has been a competitor all his life, having fun playing many sports throughout his childhood in Norway. After being exposed to a variety of athletic options, he made the “natural choice” to pursue tennis as a career, with his father Christian Ruud a former pro himself.
Now that the game of tennis has become his job, the Netflix Break Point star is all business.
“I would say that I’m quite professional about things in my career,” he said in a recent interview with the ATP Tour. “I don’t mess around too much. Any time I step on court, whether it’s a practice or a match, I’m all business. Of course I always have fun with it.”
Ruud’s dedication paid off in a big way in 2022, when he rose to a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 2 by winning three titles and reaching finals at Miami, Roland Garros, the US Open and the Nitto ATP Finals.
With nine tour-level trophies, Ruud has gotten used to the winning feeling on the ATP Tour. He won a career-best 57 tour-level matches in 2021 before a 51-win campaign last year.
“If you win it, when the match is over you sort of lose like 10, 20 kilos off your shoulders,” he said. “You can just be yourself, you can let go of all emotions and feelings and know that the rest of the day, I’m going to be a winner.”
While he is now firmly established among the elite in men’s tennis, Ruud remains grounded, appreciating the opportunities he has earned himself on the game’s biggest stages.
He said: “This is what you’ve dreamed of all your life."
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