He Rises to the Problem Every time He Must

By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday June 4, 2024

Paris – Casper Ruud is aware of an ideal deal in regards to the character and skills of Novak Djokovic, and due to that the Norwegian won’t ever underestimate the restoration powers of his quarterfinal opponent.

The two-time Roland-Garros finalist says he is not going to overthink Djokovic’s present damage standing, or the truth that the 24-time main champion has wanted over 9 hours to get via his final two rounds in Paris once they meet within the quarterfinals in what shall be a rematch of final 12 months’s ultimate in Paris.

“I don’t expect him to surrender at all. I have to expect him to be fresh, ready and that it’s going to be a tough match,” Ruud stated on Monday after taking out American Taylor Fritz in 4 units.

“I’m just going to expect him to be fresh, ready in two days. Not think too much if he played 9 hours, 12 hours, or 4 hours in the last couple of days. You know, Novak is Novak. He’s going to be ready no matter what, or at least he’s going to do his best to be ready. Typically he does it really well.”

Ruud says he’ll attempt to use the present state of affairs to spice up his perception, nonetheless.

“I’m going to try to think that I’m 25; he’s 37. Maybe doesn’t mean too much because he’s still in physically great shape, but he’s played a few hours more than me on the way here, and hopefully my matches leading up to it has not been as long as his and I will try if there is any possibility to take advantage of that.”

Novak Second Best Clay Courter of All-Time?

Ruud says that Djokovic’s clay-court prowess can’t be underestimated.

“You can definitely argue that he’s the second-best clay court player of all time,” he stated. “I mean, obviously Borg has more titles here than him, but Novak was always close, he always pretty much reached the final and ended up losing to Rafa. And I lost to him last year in the final.”

The seventh-seeded Norwegian, who leads all ATP gamers in wins on clay for the reason that begin of 2020, says that Djokovic has all of the instruments to make a well-rounded, unstoppable clay-court participant.

“I think that he reads the game unbelievably well. He knows how to use a dropshot well. Obviously he moves great. So it’s tough to hit winners on him.”

And don’t underestimate the Serbian’s physicality, stamina and sturdiness, Ruud says.

“Physically he’s there. He’s strong. He never breaks down in a way. You feel sometimes that he will, but he never does. I think he’s shown that the last two matches playing over four hours and looking kind of down and out but coming back.

“I didn’t see much of what happened today, but I heard that he was down and even down a break in the fourth and came back from there. So he rises to the challenge whenever he needs to.

I mean, he has all the shots. I mean, he doesn’t play as heavy maybe as Rafa and the extreme topspin, but he doesn’t need to. He has other qualities that are almost just as good.”