Casper Ruud advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-final on Wednesday at Roland Garros. It is safe to say the Norwegian did not eat any tomato in the pre-match meal that helped fuel him across the line.

In this edition of ‘Food Court’, Ruud dishes on his favourite meal to cook, his guilty pleasures, why he does not eat tomatoes and more.

Let’s say you have to cook tonight, whether for yourself or for friends. What would you cook and why?
I would go for spaghetti vongole. It’s an Italian pasta dish with clams from the sea. I really like it and it’s not too difficult to make, actually. It sounds a bit fancy, but it’s not difficult at all.

How would you rate your cooking skills? Are you close to a Michelin star?
No, I’m not a Michelin star. I’m far, far away from it. Most days in my year I eat either in restaurants or takeout. [I go to] restaurants obviously when I’m out travelling and when I’m home I try to do some home-made meals, but mostly takeout as well.

What’s your guilty pleasure?
I like Asian food, Asian flavours. Japanese and Thai. I really like pad Thai. I always try to find it whenever I’m travelling around a place that has great pad Thai, which is a quite simple noodle dish. But sushi is also one of my favourites, but I also have to say Italian food is on the top there.

What do you eat right before a match and how many hours before the match do you eat it?
I always eat the same for lunch or dinner before a match. I eat a very simple, plain rice with chicken, some olive oil and salt. It seems like a smart thing to do, it’s quite easy and some good carbohydrates if I have to play a long [match]. It’s not too much flavor obviously, that’s why I add a little bit of salt. Salt is also good for sweating a lot, which I do. I think we found a good way to do it before matches.

I always try to eat around an hour and a half or two hours before the match so that the food has time to sink and I don’t feel heavy or too full when I go out on court. After matches I try to have some protein and some food right away, right after the match.

What do you snack on during a match? Has that changed over the years and if so, what did you used to eat?
I have some bars and some gels and maybe a banana here and there, but not typically. For best-of-five sets yes, I’d consider it more, but not too much I would say.

The thing is that I’m sweating a lot, so when you’re sweating and your body is hot or warm from sweating, you don’t really have the biggest appetite, so I find it quite hard to eat during [a match]. But some bars and some stuff is quite simple. It has changed. Everything has become increasingly more professional for me now than let’s say five years ago.

I’ve been quite good with those routines and I always try to eat healthy or as healthy as I can. Obviously on match days, I try to keep it very simple.

What might you eat during a non-tournament week that you wouldn’t during a tournament?
I think maybe I add a little bit more dessert when I’m not in tournament weeks, but I’m quite a simple guy when it comes to eating. Asian and Italian food is kind of where I spend most of my meals. Obviously sometimes I try to have some American food, especially [in the United States]. I’ll have some burgers or ribs. I always enjoy those things, but not too much. You could [feel] quite heavy from it before a match. 

What is something people might be surprised to hear you enjoy?

I really like mussels and clams, so that’s not something that I think everybody likes. But I’m quite picky at the same time. I don’t eat tomatoes. I don’t find them tasty at all. I know tomato is in a lot of dishes, so that’s a bit unfortunate, but I’m quite picky. I don’t really like mushrooms either. There are some things that I try to stay away from, but I would say mussels and clams are not typical in my family to like, but I do.

What is the best meal from your culture/country?
I would say that we have great salmon, which is kind of our pride. Our salmon is top notch, I think. We don’t have many typical dishes that are honestly too good, but the salmon we take good pride in.

Is there something about your diet that you might not have known as a junior that has really helped you?
I think I try to eat a little bit of green every day, either vegetables or salad. I actually feel it helps your body. It’s easy, but at the same time very important for the body. I didn’t like it too much when I was younger, but luckily I came to like it a little more as I’m getting older. My taste is getting more mature, so it’s easier for me now to eat green stuff.

What is your favourite place on Tour for food?
Favourite place for food? Ooh. We are always very well taken care of, we have many options. But I think one of the tournaments that does incredible lunch and dinner is Vienna, the ATP 500 event. There you find very good pasta, a good salad bar, good meat as well if you want to have that. They do a very, very good job and I always enjoy Austrian food with schnitzel and everything. I enjoy being there.

Casper Ruud held off a spirited challenge from #NextGenATP Dane Holger Rune Wednesday night at Roland Garros, extending his best Grand Slam run into the semi-finals. The 23-year-old Norwegian scored a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 victory in the first all-Scandinavian Roland Garros quarter-final — and the first major quarter-final overall for both men.

“These are the matches you dream about playing and hopefully of course even the final, if it’s possible,” Ruud said in an on-court interview, before looking ahead to his Friday semi-final against Marin Cilic. “I have to be really focussed and bring my ‘A’ game in the semi-final because Marin has played great all week and it’s going to be another tough match.”

Ruud started brightly and cruised ahead by a set and a break before his 19-year-old opponent clicked into gear, breaking twice in quick succession to level the match. The Norwegian again went ahead by a mid-set break in the third, but for the second straight set saw his advantage erased in the very next game.  

In the crucial tie-break, the veteran showed why he has won a Tour-leading 64 (now 65) clay-court matches since 2020. Ruud locked down from the baseline and controlled the rallies without overhitting, sealing the deal with his 17th winner of the set. He also had the answer for several Rune drop shots, outfoxing his opponent on a tactic the Dane had used to great success to that point.

The eighth seed continued to pressure Rune in the fourth and made his breakthrough on return in the eighth game — though the Norwegian had to battle through three deuces after his opponent erased a 0/40 deficit. He served out the match with ease, closing the door with his 55th winner. Ruud finished at a pristine plus-31 in the winners-to-errors count, committing just 24 unforced mistakes.

The first-time Slam semi-finalist improved to 4-0 in his ATP Head2Head series against Rune and will now look to make it 3-0 against Cilic in the semi-final. The 20th-seeded Croatian was a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10-2) winner over Andrey Rublev earlier on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Ruud is the first Norwegian man to contest a Grand Slam singles quarter-final, an honour that seemed imminent following his form in recent years, particularly on clay. In addition to having the ATP Tour’s most clay wins since 2020, he’s also won eight tour-level titles in that span, including seven on clay.

If history is to repeat itself this fortnight, Ruud might have another trophy on the way. The winner of the last all-Scandinavian men’s quarter-final, semi-final or final at a major went on to win the title: At the 2002 Australian Open, when eventual champion Thomas Johansson defeated Jonas Bjorkman in an all-Swedish quarter-final.

“A big day for Norwegian tennis,” Ruud said in his post-match interview, “because we have also a female player — Ulrikke Eikeri — who made the final of mixed doubles today. She is even one step further than me. She will play for probably her biggest title of her life tomorrow so I wish her luck.”

Rune was seeking to become the youngest men’s Grand Slam semi-finalist since Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer on his 19th birthday in the 2005 Roland Garros semi-finals. The Dane was the lone unseeded quarter-finalist this fortnight.

Despite the loss, Rune’s quarter-final run — in just his third major appearance — lifted him 12 places to No. 28 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He entered Paris at a career-high of No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after winning his maiden ATP Tour title in Munich on 1 May.

Both Rune and Ruud are former World No. 1 juniors. Rune, the 2019 Roland Garros boys’ singles champ, was hoping to join Ivan Lendl, Mats Wilander and Stan Wawrinka as the only men to sweep the men’s and boys’ titles in the Open Era.

Having charged to the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the loss of just a set, Marin Cilic found a different way to win against Andrey Rublev in Paris on Wednesday afternoon.

The Croatian dug deep to seal a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10-2) victory and reach the semi-finals at the clay-court Grand Slam for the first time. The 33-year-old is just the fifth active player to reach semi-finals of all four Grand Slams, alongside Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.

Cilic’s thrilling victory elevates him to No. 17 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings, six spots higher than where he began the tournament. The Croatian, a former World No. 3, was last ranked in the Top 20 in August 2019.

Although Cilic saw a match point opportunity slip away when Rublev was serving at 4-5, 30/40 in the fifth set, the 20th seed regained his composure to claim the final-set tie-break 10/2 in spectacular style as he stepped into court to strike a series of searing winners.

“It comes from being me,” said Cilic when asked about his aggressive approach to the tie-break in his on-court interview. “I played that kind of tennis the whole match, and especially the fifth set was an incredible battle. Andrey played incredibly well, and it was an incredible fair-play performance on the court.

“A lot of heart, and one had to go down. Today was my day, but Andrey also played an incredible match.”

Despite dropping a tight first set to one of the biggest ball-strikers on the ATP Tour, it was Cilic whose power-hitting came good as he manoeuvred Rublev around Court Philippe Chatrier to great effect. The Croatian fired 88 winners including 33 aces on the way to a four-hour, 10-minute victory.

“Andrey plays a difficult game,” said Cilic. “Serves big, hits big. You don’t have many chances and you have to keep up with your level and I did that. Unfortunately, I lost that fourth set. I felt I was close to get the break maybe, but Andrey played really well and when you play this long it’s always going to be a little bit up and down during the match.”

The win backs up Cilic’s stunning quarter-final victory over World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev. The Croatian’s opponent in the last four will be the winner of Wednesday’s night session quarter-final between Casper Ruud and Holger Rune.

Rublev made the early running on Court Philippe Chatrier, carving out three break points in the seventh game and two in the ninth. Cilic gave the seventh seed no chance to convert as he consistently found huge serves at key moments, but Rublev continued to hit aggressively with his return and the pressure told. Rublev broke for 6-5 and made no mistake behind serve to win his first set in five Grand Slam quarter-final appearances.

Despite the early setback, the Cilic serve continued to fire and an early break was enough to earn the Croatian the second set. The 20th seed frequently found acute angles with his groundstrokes to keep Rublev on the move, and Cilic clinched another crucial solitary break for 4-3 in the third after targeting the Rublev second serve.

Although he frequently struggled to find his free-flowing best, the composed Rublev stuck with Cilic and took his chance to break in the eighth game of the fourth set and force a decider. A tight fifth set saw few chances until Cilic missed a forehand into the net on match point at 5-4, but the Croatian made no mistake in the tie-break.

Cilic arrived at Roland Garros with a 4-4 match record for the European clay-court season, but the 2014 US Open champion has excelled in Paris, defeating Attila Balazs, Marton Fucsovics, Gilles Simon, Medvedev and Rublev to charge to the last four.

Following Novak Djokovic’s loss to Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros quarter-finals, Alexander Zverev now controls his destiny in the battle for No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

If the German wins Roland Garros, on 6 June he will become the 28th player to reach the top of the men’s tennis mountain. He next plays 13-time champion Nadal in the semi-finals.

If Zverev does not lift his first Grand Slam trophy on Sunday, Djokovic will remain in top spot for a record-extending 373rd week on 6 June. Zverev would climb to a career-high No. 2 next week if he loses in the final, and remain World No. 3 if he falls to Nadal.

Potential Pepperstone ATP Rankings Points (6 June) Based On RG Result

However, Zverev is guaranteed to ascend to at least a career-high No. 2 on 13 June, when past Roland Garros points (from 2020-21) fall off players’ Pepperstone ATP Rankings, regardless of his performance the rest of the tournament. Djokovic will fall to No. 3 that day, when the 2,000 points he earned in Paris last year drop.

If Zverev does not triumph in Paris, Daniil Medvedev will begin his second stint at World No. 1. He previously held top spot for three weeks earlier this year.

Potential Pepperstone ATP Rankings Points (13 June) Based On RG Result

The week of 13 June will mark the first week since 10 November 2003 that at least one member of the ‘Big Four’ — Djokovic, Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray — will not be in the top two of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.