Casper Ruud has been one of Jannik Sinner’s many victims during his dominant run ahead of Roland Garros.
Ruud was beaten by Sinner in the Italian Open final, which was the 29th consecutive win for the world number one.
With Carlos Alcaraz currently out of action with a wrist injury, Sinner is the big favourite to win Roland Garros.
Sinner has never won Roland Garros before, and now Ruud has been asked if he thinks the Italian feels as big a favourite for the title as 14-time champion Rafael Nadal was.
Casper Ruud calls Jannik Sinner the ‘ultimate favourite’ at Roland Garros
Ruud has experience of playing Roland Garros with both Nadal and Sinner, including losing in the final against the former in 2022.
As the Norwegian looks to return to the final at the Parisian major this year, Ruud was asked if he thinks Sinner is as big a favourite as Nadal at Roland Garros.
Which player is most likely to stop Jannik Sinner from winning the French Open? 🤔
“It feels similar yes,” Ruud responded in his pre-tournament press conference. “You know, Jannik hasn’t won here 14 times like Rafa did in his career, but he’s definitely the ultimate favourite.
“You know, sweeping the whole clay court season, winning three of three 1000’s, and this is the cherry on top of his career that he needs to feel like he’s already completed and won every big tournament there is.
“So, I’m not sure how he will feel. I can imagine a bit of pressure of course and maybe a bit of nerves, but he is the player to beat for sure and he has a big target on his back, but he has managed that extremely well the last months and years, so I don’t see a reason why he cannot play well here.
“You know, he was one point away last year so definitely is the favourite, but we are all human and everyone who goes up against him will do their best to kind of stop him. But that goes for any player, anyone who plays me will try to beat me and anyone who plays Sascha [Zverev] will try to beat him, so it’s an open tournament and it’s exciting and it will be a good addition of this year’s Roland Garros.”
Casper Ruud pinpoints the three things that Jannik Sinner has improved the most
Ruud is in the opposite half of the draw as Sinner at Roland Garros this year, which will likely be a relief to him as he has lost all 10 sets he has played against the four-time Grand Slam champion.
They played their first match in 2020, and Ruud has explained what he thinks Sinner has improved the most in recent years.
“The thing that makes him so good is that you get no kind of breathing room from any corner, so whether you’re playing a forehand cross-court rally or a backhand cross-court rally, you know that the ball will come at a high pace and typically quite good placed as well, so you know that if you’re not well placed with your own shots then he’s going to be there on top of you and punish you,” said Ruud.
“When you have that in the back of your mind that every shot needs to be close to perfect it can feel extra difficult, that’s just the feeling, you don’t get many short balls against him, he’s defending well.
“When he first arrived on the tour you saw the beautiful clean strike he had already from a young age, but his physicality, his movement and his defensive play has improved I would say the most the last two, three years and that’s why he has taken such a step and kind of dominating at this point as much as he’s doing.
“You don’t really get much from him in defensive positions either, so all in all just a really, really kind of hard player to get anything from when it comes to unforced errors, worse shots, like not as powerful shots they don’t happen often, so when you get them once every while you need to take care of that chance and if you don’t it’s kind of game over.”
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Ruud will not have to worry about Sinner unless he reaches the final at Roland Garros this year, with the likes of Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur all potentially standing in his way.
The 27-year-old will first play Roman Safiullin in his first round match, who Ruud won his only previous match against last year.
