If the 2024 US Open was a dramatic war movie, right now would be the montage scene where Casper Ruud puts on his helmet, straps on his armor and clutches his weapon. Cue the inspirational cinematic battle music.
After surviving three grueling rounds of play in Flushing Meadows, Ruud now steels himself for battle in the second week of the Open, where the competition is relentless and the victory is sweet. On Sunday, he’ll fight for a spot in the quarterfinals against what might be his toughest test yet in No. 12 Taylor Fritz.
There’s a lot on the line here for the 25-year-old Norwegian, who hopes to recapture the success of years past. Ruud has reached the final stage of Grand Slam championships three times, including at the 2022 US Open, only to fall short in each of his attempts. He hopes that this year, it’s his turn to come out victorious.
In his maiden Grand Slam final, which came at 2022 Roland Garros, he lost to Rafael Nadal. That same year, he made it all the way to the US Open final and appeared poised and ready to claim his first major title, only to have that opportunity stolen away by then-19-year-old upstart Carlos Alcaraz. At the 2023 Roland Garros, Ruud’s third Slam final, Novak Djokovic took home the crown.
Surely, it’s music to Ruud’s ears that he now finds himself in a US Open draw that no longer features any of those three names. However, another dangerous threat still lurks in the not-too-distant future. If the higher seeds hold, Ruud could have a quarterfinal meeting with Alexander Zverev, the man who ended the Norwegian’s run in the Roland Garros semifinals just a few months ago.
But let’s not look too far ahead just yet. Ruud still has a tall hurdle to clear in fourth-round opponent Fritz.
The road to this stage certainly wasn’t easy for the No. 8 seed, especially considering the five-set slugfest in the previous round with Shang Juncheng (also known by his nickname Jerry) that extended Ruud’s total time on court this week to nearly nine hours.
It was the kind of test Ruud expects to encounter as a top seed in a major, where the stakes are high and the competition doesn’t pull punches.
“Obviously it's tough in the first rounds of a Slam when you're high-seeded and whoever you play kind of can play freely with their shoulders down and nothing to lose really,” Ruud said. “The pressure is obviously on the seeded one. You feel a little more pressure and you have everything to lose against someone who can play freely and can play aggressive.”
The pressure in Sunday’s Round of 16 match will hit a bit different when he faces off with an in-form Fritz. Though Ruud owns a 2-0 head-to-head advantage, Fritz has the fresher legs, having only spent six hours on court after three rounds and not yet dropping a set.
But if we’re talking about physicality, Ruud feels confident he has what it takes to endure the rigors of a best-of-five contest. He’s already proven his mettle once, coming back from a two-set deficit to beat Shang and send a message to opponents that he’s not one to go away easily.
“I won't play perfect every match but I can be somewhat of a tough player to beat, in a way, if I'm physically ready and mentally also prepared for battle, which I think every five-setter is,” Ruud said. “I think the mindset is more to try to make it tough for the opponent to beat me in the best-of-five-set match other than playing flawless for three perfect sets. It's not always how it goes.
“A match is going to go up and down, you will face breakpoints, you might get broken, you might break back and so on. The most important is obviously to get through the first rounds and be physically fit.”
Ruud has certainly done exactly that, and now in the second week of a major, he will go to work knowing that the competition may be heating up, but he has been in the finalist’s circle before. Though the 25-year-old is still waiting to taste the rare air of Grand Slam glory, he sees the silver lining of coming so close to victory.
“It stings a little more, but you can also use it as motivation to one day lift the trophy. That's still my dream, still my biggest goal in my career to win a Grand Slam,” he said. “Every year I come back here at the US Open, I know that I reached a final, I was close at some point before, and that will always be motivating in a way.”
