Ruud Reflects On ‘Phenomenal Two Weeks’

When the music stopped on Arthur Ashe Stadium Sunday night, there was only one chair for a new World No. 1: Carlos Alcaraz.

But being No. 2 isn’t bad.

Tempering the disappointment of coming up short in his second Grand Slam final of the year, Norway’s Casper Ruud said that he would also leave New York with plenty to be proud of, not least his new career-high mark in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

“I think it’s deserving that after great results, both of us having good results throughout the year, we are 1 and 2 in the rankings tomorrow,” the 23-year-old said. “I’m very proud of being No. 2. In a way it’s a good thing because I can still chase the last spot.

“I’m proud of the match and the two weeks. I gave it my all. I left it all out on the court. Played some phenomenal tennis throughout the two weeks, probably my best tennis ever on this surface.”

The Oslo native, who was competing in his second major final after losing to Nadal at Roland Garros in June, captured his 44th tour-level win of the season when he downed Karen Khachanov in the semi-finals.

 After a strong season, including ATP 250 titles in Buenos Aires, Geneva and Gstaad, the Norwegian is a virtual lock to make a second consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin (13-20 November), where he will hope to get a chance to avenge his defeat to Alcaraz, who likely will be one of his chief rivals for the next decade.

1 & 2 pic.twitter.com/dWvrrzbcNu

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 12, 2022

“He’s one of these few rare talents that comes up every now and then in sports… He has shown incredible fighting spirit and will to win. He was down a match point a couple matches ago and was able to turn around and end up winning the tournament…

“He’s riding that wave. At the moment he’s the best player in the world in my eyes. He deserves that spot. I’m happy that we played each other in the final and that we played for the title and the world No. 1 spot.

“His movement is one of his many weapons, of course. It makes us other players feel like you need to paint the lines sort of to be able to hit a winner. Sometimes even that’s not enough.

“He’s very fast. He’s very quick. He’s a great mover. He can get to balls that we’ve probably never seen before.”

Sunday’s final was the second-youngest US Open men’s singles final (Sampras-Agassi in 1990) and the youngest Grand Slam men’s singles final in more than 20 years (Hewitt-Nalbandian 2002 Wimbledon). And New York fans weren’t shy in showing their appreciation for the quality of play during the entertaining final and their delight in seeing the game’s fresh young stars take centre stage.

“It was a lot of fun, exchanges and rallies. I was able to win a couple of those,” said Ruud, who is coached by his father and former pro Christian Ruud. “It was better atmosphere. I think also hopefully a more fun match to watch for the crowd.

“The crowd there in New York have been amazing. They treat all the players well. Even though I lost, I still felt like a champion during these two weeks. Still do in a way.”