WHAT HAPPENED: Casper Ruud is growing accustomed to big leaps.
Since his father, former world No. 39 Christian Ruud, first put a racquet in his hand, the Norwegian has been soaring as an athlete and as a competitor. He would go on to become the world’s top-ranked junior; eclipse Christian’s career-high ranking; win an ATP title, the first from his homeland to do so; and crack the Top 10, then the Top 5, all by the time he was 23.
Now the world No. 7 Ruud has an opportunity to make the biggest jump to No. 1 in the history of the men’s rankings. On Friday afternoon in Flushing Meadows, the Oslo-born baseliner advanced to his second major final of 2022, defeating No. 27 seed Karen Khachanov, 7-6(5), 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, at the 2022 US Open.
The 2022 Roland Garros runner-up will assume the top ranking if he wins the title in New York, or if 19-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz loses his semifinal against American Frances Tiafoe. It would make him the first Norwegian No. 1, and only the fourth Scandinavian to reach the pinnacle of the sport after Swedes Björn Borg, Mats Wilander, and Stefan Edberg.
That’s some pretty good company.
“This match today was another great match from my side,” said Ruud, who also claimed his only other encounter with Khachanov, an opening-round, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 three-setter in Rome two years ago. “I think we were both a bit nervous in the beginning, some break back and forth. You have to take into account that this match is probably the biggest match for both of our careers. Of course, there will always be some nerves, but I was fortunate to win that first set, which calmed my nerves a little bit. I played phenomenal in the second and the fourth.”
Khachanov, who has now lost his last 19 matches against Top-10 competition, erased an early 0-2 deficit in the opener to force a tiebreak. But on his third set point in the breaker, Ruud would gut out an epic 55-shot exchange—the longest of the match—to pull ahead.
Ruud would carry that momentum into the second set, out to a commanding 5-1 advantage.
Khachanov, longshot coming into the tournament, did his best to get back into this meeting of first-time US Open semifinalists. With Ruud serving to stay in the set at 5-6, 15-40, he was presented with his fifth break point of the match, and made the most of the opportunity.
With Khachanov serving at 1-all, 15-40 in the fourth set, Ruud would pull away for good, smacking a running forehand pass for his fifth break of the contest. An overhead put-away would give the Norwegian an insurance break for 4-1.
If there were nerves, the steely Ruud rarely showed them.
“Tennis is a psychological game, as well as it is physical,” he said. “Sometimes, I guess, we are trying to act like we have good posture, but on the inside we probably feel different. There is a bit of acting, as well, in sports. I don’t know how I’m able to do it. “
WHAT IT MEANS: It’s a testament to Ruud’s steadiness, his fight, that he now owns 44 match wins on the year, tied with Brit Cameron Norrie for third overall on the ATP Tour. It’s all but forgotten that he rolled his ankle one day prior to the Australian Open, and was forced to sit out the year’s first Slam, that 40-hour flight Down Under all for naught. But it came together for him on the European clay, when he played his way into the Roland Garros final. Despite a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 loss to Clay King Rafael Nadal in the title match, Ruud acquired some serious self-belief.
“During Paris, something clicked, and I feel like this year, I have sort of figured out the better way how to play five sets, knowing that it's very different from playing best-of-three sets, and it often becomes much longer matches and a lot of back and forth,” he said. “Also, knowing that you can sort of let one set go every once in a while to save some energy for the rest of the sets. I think I matured and learned how to play five sets better than I did last year.”
That mindset certainly aided him in the third round, where he needed five sets to get past American Tommy Paul, 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-0. And it’s sure to help him in the final, regardless of whom he plays. He’s 0-2 in head-to-heads against Alcaraz, but has yet to face Tiafoe.
MATCH POINT: Regardless of his US Open finish, Ruud will achieve new career-high ranking on Monday (No. 3, No. 2, or No. 1).
