There’s nothing like getting overtaken by your own son.
But Christian Ruud, once Norway’s highest-ranked male tennis player, who once collected wins over the likes of Gustavo Kuerten, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Alex Corretja, and Petr Korda, has only himself to blame.
He was simply too adept a teacher, a motivator.
The Osloite was just 26, in the prime of his career, when he and his wife, Lele, welcomed their son, Casper, into the world in the winter of 1998.
“I was quite young when I became a father,” he said. “I had a lot of energy. I was still playing pro. I wanted to play with my son, so we did a lot of other sports like all the other kids. He did soccer and he did ice hockey and a lot of golf, also. He was introduced to all the sports."
Casper seemed to excel across the board, but by the time he was 11, 12, he decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and concentrate solely on tennis.
“I kind of saw that he had something special in a way,” said Christian. “I didn't feel like we were pushing him. I think he really wanted to see how far he could reach. He was already starting to look at Rafa [Nadal] and he was his idol, so he really was into the tennis world and he wanted to be on that center court one day.
“I cannot say that I remember too many times where I felt we pushed him too hard at all. I think it was always his will to do it, in a way.”
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“I'm not sure if he had a plan with me to be a tennis player or whatever, but he enjoyed doing different sports that contained a ball,” said Casper, now 23 and through to his first-ever US Open semifinal. “Tennis, golf, soccer, whatever it is. It's something that my father enjoyed and he enjoyed taking me to those places where I could do that. I think from a very early age, I enjoyed it, too, and had that sort of competitive mindset that I wanted to be as good as I could be.”
In 2015, when he was 16, Ruud reached the third round of the boys’ singles at Roland Garros and the US Open. By 2016, he was the No. 1 junior in the world, the first Norwegian to get there. Christian would temporarily step aside as his son’s primary coach, and Casper began working under the mentorship of Pedro Rico. But when the Spaniard was unable to continue, Ruud was left looking for a new guide. The natural fit was, of course, his father.
“We looked at some options, but I said, ‘You know, I'm more comfortable with you being around.’ I know that a coach will do so much for you, but when it's the father as well, you feel like you are taken extra care of. I saw that he was doing everything in his power for me to play well,” said Casper, who also trains at Nadal’s academy in Mallorca.
In February 2020 came perhaps Casper’s most momentous achievement: He became No. 1 in his own household, having surpassed Christian’s career-high No. 39. He has since checked off a plethora of homeland firsts: first Norwegian to win at ATP title (Buenos Aires, 2020), first Norwegian to crack the Top 10, first Norwegian to qualify for the year-end ATP Finals, first Norwegian to reach a major final (Roland Garros, 2022), etc.
“I made many mistakes and I did some things right, and I just tried to pass on to Casper the good experiences and the good things that I remember,” said Christian, 50. “I tried to give that to him and tried to help him avoid the bad things or the stupid mistakes I made on my path.”
"Though I'm still pretty young and new in the circuit, I feel like I have been living a professional life already for, you know, 12, 13 years," said Casper. "I was pretty young when I told my father I wanted to be a professional tennis player, and since then we have put in a lot of hours, a lot of work and effort. I’m so happy that it's going well and that we are still a good team."
Now the clay-court-raised Ruud has a chance to not only win the title on a hard court in Flushing Meadows, but to claim the No. 1 world ranking. When he takes the court on Friday for his final-four showdown with 27th seed Karen Khachanov , he won’t be alone.
“We are kind of in this together, in a way,” said Christian.
