Casper Ruud
Casper Ruud (born 22 December 1998) is a Norwegian professional tennis player. He is the first Norwegian to win an ATP title (having won seven, six of which were on clay courts) and to reach an ATP Tour Masters 1000 final. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 7 on 4 April 2022, making him the highest ranked Norwegian player in history (surpassing his father, Christian Ruud). He also has a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 133, achieved on 12 July 2021. Ruud is considered one of the most promising young players of  his generation, and among the best currently active clay-court players in the world. Career. Junior tennis. Ruud reached the third round of the 2015 French Open boys' singles event, losing to Corentin Denolly. He also reached the third round of the 2015 US Open boys' singles and the second round of the 2015 Wimbledon boys' singles, his best singles performances in the respective competitions in Junior Grand Slams. In the 2015 Wimbledon Boys' Doubles, Ruud made it to the semifinals together with partner Miomir Kecmanović, before losing to eventual champions Lý Hoàng Nam and Sumit Nagal. They were eliminated  in the first round of the 2015 US Open Boys' Doubles. In 2016, Ruud and Kecmanović reached the semifinals of the 2016 French Open Boys' Doubles before losing to Youssef Hossam and Jurabek Karimov. 2016: Junior No. 1, professional & top 250 debut. Ruud started the year as the world No. 1 ranked Junior player on January 4, making him the first Norwegian to do so. For the 2016 season, Ruud set his goals on playing Futures tournaments to play more senior tennis and start climbing the ATP Rankings. In February, he played his first Futures final, a final he ended  up winning against Carlos Taberner in Paguera, Spain. He has since played four more finals, winning one of them against Mikael Torpegaard in Kaarina, Finland in August. In September, 2016, in his first ever ATP Challenger tournament, Ruud managed to win the Copa Sevilla after beating Taro Daniel in the final. By winning on his debut Ruud became the fourth-youngest to ever do so. In the tournament, he recorded his first wins over players ranked in the top 150. He knocked-out top seed Iñigo Cervantes in the quarterfinals, who at the time was ranked No. 75 in the  ATP Rankings. Due to his win in his Challenger debut, Ruud received a wildcard to the 2016 Chengdu Open, his first ATP World Tour 250 series tournament. Ruud lost to Viktor Troicki in the first round. Ruud also qualified for the ITF Junior Masters, where he reached the final, losing to Hong Seong-chan. Ruud finished 2016 with a career high ranking of No. 225 in the ATP rankings. 2017: ATP 500 semifinals, Masters 1000 debut, top 150. After impressing in 2016 and climbing the ATP Ranking, Ruud lost in the third and final qualifying round of the 2017 Australian  Open to Reilly Opelka. Ruud then received a wildcard into the ATP 500 event 2017 Rio Open where he defeated Rogério Dutra Silva, Roberto Carballés Baena, and Thiago Monteiro to advance to his first ATP level semifinal. This made him the youngest to make an ATP 500 semifinal since Borna Ćorić at the 2014 Swiss Indoors. Ruud was defeated by Pablo Carreño Busta in the semifinals but reached a career-high ranking of No. 133. Ruud received a wildcard into the 2017 Miami Open, marking his first appearance at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament. 2018: Major debuts. In 2018, Ruud  qualified for his first Grand Slam at the 2018 Australian Open after going through the qualifying competition. This made him the first Norwegian to qualify for a Grand Slam main draw in 17 years. He won in the first round against Quentin Halys before losing to Diego Schwartzman in the second round. He would lose to Schwartzman again at the Rio Open. Later on in the season he showed continuous good form and reached two ATP Challenger finals in two weeks. The first one he lost against Italian Gianluigi Quinzi in Francavilla al Mare and then he lost to Pedro  Sousa in the Braga Open two weeks later. A few weeks later Ruud continued his good form and qualified for the main draw of the French Open for the first time after going through the qualifiers without losing a set. In the first round he defeated Jordan Thompson to match his achievement at the Australian Open. He lost to Albert Ramos Viñolas in the second round. In July he achieved the biggest win of his career thus far when he beat defending champion and former world number 3, David Ferrer in straight sets at the 2018 Swedish Open. Later that  year Ruud qualified for the US Open for the first time, going through the qualifiers without dropping a set. He lost to Guido Pella in the first round. After struggling with finding consistency in his form after the summer, Ruud finished off the 2018 season by reaching the semi final of three consecutive Challenger Tournaments, which brought him close to his career high ATP Ranking going into a new season at No. 112. 2019: Top 100, NextGen ATP Finals. In the 2019 season, Ruud lost in the first qualifying round at the Australian Open, but qualified for the 2019 Rio  Open, and won against Carlos Berlocq and fifth seed João Sousa before losing to Laslo Đere in two sets. The result saw him climb to a tied career high ranking of 108. The following week he reached the semi-final of the 2019 Brasil Open, beating Thiago Monteiro, top seed João Sousa and Hugo Dellien before losing to Christian Garín in two sets. The result meant that Ruud climbed inside the top 100 on the ATP Ranking for the first time of his career the following week with a ranking of No. 94 becoming the first Norwegian to do so  since his father, Christian Ruud, in December 1994. In April, at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, Ruud reached his first ever ATP Tour level final. In the final he lost to Cristian Garín, though his result meant that he copied his father Christian Ruud in reaching the final of an ATP Tour event, being the only two Norwegians to do so. At the 2019 Italian Open, Ruud won his first match in an ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournament. After coming through the qualifiers he went on to beat Dan Evans and Nick Kyrgios before losing in the third  round to Juan Martín del Potro in straight sets. At the 2019 French Open Ruud beat Ernests Gulbis and 29th seed Matteo Berrettini before losing in straight sets against Roger Federer in the third round. Ruud also reached the second round at the doubles event alongside Miomir Kecmanović after knocking out former winners and 12th seed Ivan Dodig and Édouard Roger-Vasselin before losing in three sets to Federico Delbonis and Guillermo Durán. In July, Ruud played his first Wimbledon Championships at the 2019 Wimbledon, losing in the first round to 9th seed John Isner. At the 2019 Generali Open  Kitzbühel Ruud made it to the semifinals after beating Pablo Carreño Busta, Matthias Bachinger and Pablo Cuevas before losing to Albert Ramos Viñolas. At the 2019 US Open Ruud once again teamed up with Miomir Kecmanović in doubles. They made it to the third round after eliminating third seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus in the second round. At the 2019 St. Petersburg Open Ruud made the quarterfinals before losing in three sets to Borna Ćorić. After his best season so far Ruud qualified for the 2019 Next Generation ATP Finals where he got knocked out in the round robin . 2020: First ATP title, historic career-high ranking and top 25. At the 2020 ATP Cup Ruud lead Norway to a 2–1 victory over the US in the first round robin match after beating John Isner in three tight sets before teaming up with Viktor Durasovic to beat Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in doubles. In the second round robin singles match Ruud beat world no. 12 Fabio Fognini in straight sets. In February Ruud made his way to the final of the 2020 Argentina Open where he defeated Pedro Sousa in the final, thus becoming the first tennis player  from Norway to win an ATP Tour title and also appear in more than one ATP Tour final. At the same time he surpassed his father Christian's ranking of No. 39 on the ATP ranking, setting a new record as the highest ranked Norwegian player in ATP history with a ranking of No. 34 the following week on 17 February 2020. Two weeks after his first title Ruud reached his second final in a month of 2020 Chile Open but lost in three sets against Thiago Seyboth Wild. At the 2020 US Open, he reached the third round after  defeating Mackenzie McDonald in a five set match in the first round. He then faced Emil Ruusuvuori in the second round, who retired in the third set. Ruud moved to the third round but was defeated in straight sets by Matteo Berrettini. At the 2020 Italian Open, Ruud notched four match wins, including a quarterfinal victory over top 10 player Matteo Berrettini, to reach that tournament's semifinals as the first ever Norwegian, once again surpassing a record of his father Christian Ruud who reached the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo in 1997. Casper then lost in two sets to Novak  Djokovic in the semifinals. The result sent him up to a new career high of No. 30 the following week. Another semi-final at the 2020 Hamburg European Open the following week sent him up to No. 25 in the rankings. At the 2020 French Open Ruud once again reached the 3rd round where was then beaten by Dominic Thiem. 2021: Five titles, Historic top 10 and ATP Finals debuts. At the 2021 Australian Open Ruud progressed to the fourth round in a Grand Slam for the first time. He beat Jordan Thompson, Tommy Paul and Radu Albot before retiring  against Andrey Rublev after losing the first two sets. The result equalled his father's best placement at the Australian Open and at a Grand Slam. Ruud reentered the top 25 to a career high ranking of No. 24 on 22 February 2021. A few weeks later he reached the quarterfinals at Acapulco but once again withdrew due to injury before his match against Alexander Zverev started. On his debut at the 2021 Monte-Carlo Masters Ruud recorded his second top-10 win after beating Diego Schwartzman in straight sets in the second round. He then defeated Pablo Carreño Busta and  defending champion Fabio Fognini to reach his second Masters 1000 semifinal, where he lost to Andrey Rublev. At the 2021 BMW Open Ruud reached the semifinals before losing in straight sets to Nikoloz Basilashvili. At the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open in another debut, Ruud recorded his first top 5-win in the third round after defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in straight sets. He went on to record a straight sets victory in the quarterfinals over Alexander Bublik to reach his third straight ATP Masters 1000 semifinal on clay. In the semifinal he lost to Matteo Berrettini. As a result of his  performance in Madrid, Ruud entered the top 20 for the first time in his career, rising to a new career high ranking of No. 16 on 10 May 2021. At the 2021 Geneva Open, Ruud reached his fourth consecutive semifinal on the ATP Tour and then reached his first final of the year and 4th final in his career after defeating Pablo Andújar in straight sets. He defeated Denis Shapovalov in straight sets to win his second ATP title. At the 2021 Wimbledon Championships Ruud and his partner André Göransson made the quarterfinals of the Men's Doubles tournament. As  a result he climbed to a career-high in doubles of world No. 133 on 12 July 2021. At the 2021 Swedish Open, Ruud won his second title of the year and third in total after beating Federico Coria in the final. The following week, Ruud won his third title of 2021, with victory at the Swiss Open, beating Hugo Gaston in the final. Ruud would then claim victory a week later in Kitzbühel, defeating Pedro Martínez in the final, to win his fourth title of the season and fifth of his career. As a result, Ruud moved up to  a new career high ranking of No. 12 on 2 August 2021. He became the first ATP player since Andy Murray in October 2011 to win three titles in as many weeks. His winning streak ended at the 2021 Canada Masters after he was defeated in the quarterfinals by Stefanos Tsitsipas. As a result he reached a career-high ranking in singles of World No. 11 on 16 August 2021. The following week he reached another Masters 1000 quarterfinal at the 2021 Cincinnati Masters but lost to Alexander Zverev in straight sets. On 13 September, Ruud reached the No. 10  ranking in the world, becoming a top 10 player for the first time and the first Norwegian player to accomplish this feat. At 22, he was also the youngest player in the Top 10. At the end of September, Ruud was selected to play the 2021 Laver Cup for team Europe. He won the first match of the tournament against Reilly Opelka in a tournament team Europe went on to win 14–1. At the start of October, Ruud won his first ever hardcourt tournament and his fifth tour-leading tournament of the year at the 2021 San Diego Open. He  defeated Andy Murray, Lorenzo Sonego, Grigor Dimitrov and in the final Cameron Norrie 6–0, 6–2 in 62 minutes. Ruud began his Rolex Paris Masters run by defeating Alexander Bublik in straight sets, the second set he won 6-0. His third round victory over Marcos Giron confirmed Ruud’s spot at the ATP Finals, where he made his debut at the year end championships. At the 2021 ATP Finals Ruud reached the semifinals after losing to Novak Djokovic before beating Cameron Norrie and Andrey Rublev in the round robin. In the semifinal Ruud lost in straight sets to Daniil Medvedev . Ruud finished the year as world number 8 on the rankings. 2022: Seventh ATP Title, First Masters 1000 final. Ruud did not participate in 2022 Australian Open due to an injury. Shortly after his recovery, he entered into the 2022 Argentina Open in which he eventually defeated Diego Schwartzman in the final and clinched his seventh career ATP singles title. He reached his fourth Masters 1000 semifinal at the 2022 Miami Open by defeating Henri Laaksonen, Alexander Bublik, Cameron Norrie, and later earning his first win against world number 4 Alexander Zverev in the quarterfinal. Ruud then defeated Francisco Cerúndolo  in the semifinals to advance to his first Masters 1000 Final. In the final, he lost to 18 year-old Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets. Following this result, Ruud reached a career high ranking of No. 7 in the World on 4 April 2022. National representation. Davis Cup. He became a part of the Norwegian Davis Cup team in 2015, and together with countryman Viktor Durasovic promoted Norway from "Group Three Europe Zone" to "Group Two Europe/Africa Zone". In the 2016 Davis Cup, Ruud and Durasovic lost 3–2 to Lithuania in the first round. In the play-offs they  beat Luxembourg 3–2 to stay in the "Group Two Europe/Africa Zone". Norway remained in Group Two Europe/Africa Zone in 2017 and 2018 before they in 2019 won their tie against Georgia securing them a place in the play off for World Group I as a result of the changes in the Davis Cup format. They won the play off against Barbados and qualified for the World Group I. Personal life. Ruud is the son of former pro-tennis player Christian Ruud. He has two sisters. He grew up in Snarøya in Bærum, with Rafael Nadal as his tennis  idol. Performance timelines. Singles. "Current through the 2022 Australian Open."