Explaining Ruud

[Spin Diesel]

There was this thread about Ruud and there were a lot of comments about how he‘s ranked so high and that he is mentally weak because of his stats in finals and how he could even reach as many finals.

Here‘s my explaination:
Ruud is a player who is very consistent - playing style wise, as well as throughout a season.
This lets him win against most players on tour, except the very top.
So he‘s often able to win until he faces one of the top guys, allowing him to go deep enough in most tournaments to keep enough points to be ranked high enough consistently to only face the top players in later rounds of tournaments.
He doesn‘t shy away from playing smaller tournaments to stay in that position.

And about his potential mental weakness:
I actually disagree. Imo he has a good consistent level, with usually not the lowest lows but on the other hand he isn‘t able to rise his level high enough to compete with the very best players and that is the actual reason that his final stats are so bad.

What do you think?

 

[aldeayeah]

Solid but unremarkable serve-and-forehand player. First set of the Djokovic RG final was the best I've seen him play.

 

[Rafa4LifeEver]

He is the new Ferrer, but without the tenacity, gut & fighting spirit of the veteran Spaniard.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Ruud beat the opponents he needed to and lost to the better players in the finals.

Lord knows that many players have had good draws but haven't capitalized on them. Ruud however did.

His 3 slam losses were Nadal, Alcaraz and Djokovic. No shame in that. His ATP Finals final loss was also to Djokovic. Fair enough.

And the 2 Masters final losses were to Alcaraz and Tsitsipas. First one was fair, I did have hope he'd beat Stefanos in this years Monte Carlo final but alas he didn't.

 

[Jonas78]

I used to agree, he was very consistent in beating the lower ranked, but losing to top players. But now he loses to everyone

 

[kangaroo1973]

I used to agree, he was very consistent in beating the lower ranked, but losing to top players. But now he loses to everyone

To be fair, he s had his share of injuries and illnesses. That stomach disease had a very negative effect on him. Otherwise I think, that he would have beaten Zed .
And if we take a look at his resumé, it is impressive. 3 slam finals- he lost to Rafa in Paris, nothing to be ashamed of.
Rg23, lost to Djokovic, he choked in the first. More or less decent performance though.
USO 22- I think he should have pushed Alcaraz at least to 5, this was winnable imo.
WTF 22 finals- loss to Djokovic, saw that match and there was no much he could do. Djokovic served like crazy

 

[junior74]

I used to agree, he was very consistent in beating the lower ranked, but losing to top players. But now he loses to everyone

Yep. Up until he got sick at RG, Ruud was one of few steadily improving players of his generation. Med, Karen, Shapo, Rublev, Steffi and many more have stagnated. Ruud has been a steady top 10 player for years, but now it is Ruud's turn to stagnate, it seems, and he probably needs something game changing in his environment/ team to find new ways to improve. He is one of few top guys with no mental coach, for instance.

I think he is one of the guys who doesn't benefit from on court coaching. He has always been smart and good at finding ways on his own. But now his opponents get reminders from their coaches between every point; "break down his backhand!".

He benefited from the weak tour 2020-2023 - and it coincided with his best tennis.

I still think Ruud will get back to top shape again. His form was great at RG and then he got sick in the SF and then again in Canada. Virus and flu sets athletes back quite a bit and it can take months and months to find form again.

 

[kangaroo1973]

He will be extremely consistent player on clay and if healthy should make some more decent results on HC.
He obviously is a non factor on grass

 

[augustobt]

One of the worst legacies of the pandemic in tennis.

His rise in the rankings is still due to playing and winning three depleted-field 250 tournaments on clay while every serious player was in Tokyo. This rise in rankings allowed him to have easier draws and ultimately led to him being in three major finals, something that puts this whole beginning of the decade of tennis in jeopardy to anyone with a brain.

I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m taking away his merits for winning those tournaments; it’s not his fault per se - he was smart in scheduling, and kudos for that - but it resulted in this ranking farce. He’s top-20 level material at best, and that’s me being generous considering his clay court skills. Yet, he had a shot at being #1 in 2022, which would have been the ultimate tennis disgrace. I already consider him the worst player I’ve seen ranked in the top 3, not even a contest.

People comparing him to David Ferrer are insulting Ferrer.

 

[Winner Sinner]

It is not Ruud's fault if a series of astral conjunctions allowed him to reach second place in the ranking.
2022 was a season that should be marked with a big asterisk, between Covid, war, Wimbledon not awarding points with Russians ousted from the tournament, the impossibility for Djokovic to take part in several tournaments, obviously due to his own responsibility given that the decision to not getting vaccinated was his choice, but it deprived two slam tournaments of boasting the best tennis player in the world.

Already the best tennis player in the world, like Ruud it should be said that Alcaraz also unwittingly "stole" the leadership of the end-of-year rankings that should not have belonged to him.
Except that since one has become the Alcaraz that we know, that is, a predestined already multiple slam winner, while the other is the Ruud that we know, that is, a professional in the game of tennis, in the collective imagination only the position in the rankings that that year reached the Norwegian.

As far as I'm concerned, just a lot of respect for Ruud, who wasn't kissed by the tennis Gods like others but managed to maximize all his potential, unlike others who were much more talented who only knew how to squander the gift that had been offered to him (did someone say Kyrgios or Shapovalov?).

 

[Aabye5]

It is not Ruud's fault if a series of astral conjunctions allowed him to reach second place in the ranking.
2022 was a season that should be marked with a big asterisk, between Covid, war, Wimbledon not awarding points with Russians ousted from the tournament, the impossibility for Djokovic to take part in several tournaments, obviously due to his own responsibility given that the decision to not getting vaccinated was his choice, but it deprived two slam tournaments of boasting the best tennis player in the world.

Already the best tennis player in the world, like Ruud it should be said that Alcaraz also unwittingly "stole" the leadership of the end-of-year rankings that should not have belonged to him.
Except that since one has become the Alcaraz that we know, that is, a predestined already multiple slam winner, while the other is the Ruud that we know, that is, a professional in the game of tennis, in the collective imagination only the position in the rankings that that year reached the Norwegian.

As far as I'm concerned, just a lot of respect for Ruud, who wasn't kissed by the tennis Gods like others but managed to maximize all his potential, unlike others who were much more talented who only knew how to squander the gift that had been offered to him (did someone say Kyrgios or Shapovalov?).

But Alcaraz won a major. Ruud was the king of 250s at that time. Still no M1000s.

Last paragraph is a good point.

 

[Mainad]

Ruud beat the opponents he needed to and lost to the better players in the finals.

Trouble is he's not beating anybody at the moment.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Trouble is he's not beating anybody at the moment.

Would be funny if he pulled a Krejcikova. She was on a similar downward spiral going into the WTA Finals having lost a bunch of matches but notched two huge wins to make the SF.

 

[big ted]

if ruud and rune had a love child they would produce a grand slam champion.. they each lack what the other has

 

[nolefam_2024]

Sorry I am very drunk

But ruud top level on clay is very very high. He is like zverev

 

[GloW]

To be fair, he s had his share of injuries and illnesses. That stomach disease had a very negative effect on him. Otherwise I think, that he would have beaten Zed .
And if we take a look at his resumé, it is impressive. 3 slam finals- he lost to Rafa in Paris, nothing to be ashamed of.
Rg23, lost to Djokovic, he choked in the first. More or less decent performance though.
USO 22- I think he should have pushed Alcaraz at least to 5, this was winnable imo.
WTF 22 finals- loss to Djokovic, saw that match and there was no much he could do. Djokovic served like crazy

lol the only reason he got a set over zed is because zed needs to "warm up" his serve.

 

[Aabye5]

if ruud and rune had a love child they would produce a grand slam champion.. they each lack what the other has

 

[Aabye5]

Would be funny if he pulled a Krejcikova. She was on a similar downward spiral going into the WTA Finals having lost a bunch of matches but notched two huge wins to make the SF.

No, it would not be funny, and would likely result in a dud semi.

 

[Tennfan123]

I respect guys like Ruud.
They make a ton of money maximising their skills. They don’t win slams but they make the business end of events and collect large cheques.
99% of players who have tried a pro career would love his career.
Also they’re not all over the Internet and don’t have obnoxious fan bases.
Go Ruud!

 

[Rovesciarete]

Here‘s my explaination:
Ruud is a player who is very consistent - playing style wise, as well as throughout a season.
This lets him win against most players on tour, except the very top.
So he‘s often able to win until he faces one of the top guys, allowing him to go deep enough in most tournaments to keep enough points to be ranked high enough consistently to only face the top players in later rounds of tournaments.
He doesn‘t shy away from playing smaller tournaments to stay in that position.

What do you think?

Great post and very much in line with what I gathered from stats. Relative to his size a great server, big forehand and strong movement.

Clay helps him a lot because he can rely more on his fantastic forehand spin and make more use of his fitness edge. The red usually awards work ethic and expose slackers.

Actually one of the mentally toughest players on tour, hardly any lapses of concentration. He is maxing out his talent, very impressive to see.

 

[Winner Sinner]

But Alcaraz won a major. Ruud was the king of 250s at that time. Still no M1000s.

Last paragraph is a good point.

If we put it that way then Ruud also confirmed his momentary second position by obtaining two slam finals in that specific season, a masters 1000 final and also subsequently the final at the ATP Finals.

What I meant to say is that Alcaraz also reached the first position in the ranking due to a series of astral conjunctions, such as the fact that Djokovic (returning from a season in which he came close to the grand slam) was unable to participate in 2 slams out of 4, or that it cause war and the expulsion of the Russians from Wimbledon, the London major awarded no points that year.
And I would also add Zverev's injury in the semi-final of Roland Garros, without which it probably would have led to him occupying first position.

You tell me that Alcaraz won a slam, a slam where Zverev and especially Djokovic were absent.

The reality is that since this scoring system has existed, it has never happened that the number 1 at the end of the year was assigned with such a low score, yet another demonstration that within a normalized season both Alcaraz and Ruud would never have succeeded that year. to occupy the top 2 positions in the ranking.

 

[newyorkstadium]

For whatever reason, he's gone from a two surface specialist to a one surface player. Possibly his backhand is just a bit underpowered on hard courts with how hard this new crop of talent are hitting the ball.

 

[Jonas78]

Great post and very much in line with what I gathered from stats. Relative to his size a great server, big forehand and strong movement.

Clay helps him a lot because he can rely more on his fantastic forehand spin and make more use of his fitness edge. The red usually awards work ethic and expose slackers.

Actually one of the mentally toughest players on tour, hardly any lapses of concentration. He is maxing out his talent, very impressive to see.

If you wrote this after RG24 i would agree. The question now is his huge decline with many losses to lower ranked players the last 6 months?

 

[nighthawkrr]

There was this thread about Ruud and there were a lot of comments about how he‘s ranked so high and that he is mentally weak because of his stats in finals and how he could even reach as many finals.

Here‘s my explaination:
Ruud is a player who is very consistent - playing style wise, as well as throughout a season.
This lets him win against most players on tour, except the very top.
So he‘s often able to win until he faces one of the top guys, allowing him to go deep enough in most tournaments to keep enough points to be ranked high enough consistently to only face the top players in later rounds of tournaments.
He doesn‘t shy away from playing smaller tournaments to stay in that position.

And about his potential mental weakness:
I actually disagree. Imo he has a good consistent level, with usually not the lowest lows but on the other hand he isn‘t able to rise his level high enough to compete with the very best players and that is the actual reason that his final stats are so bad.

What do you think?

This is actually the exact opposite of Ruud though. He’s very inconsistent. That’s why I picked his match in New York. I knew it would be a five set roller coaster.

 

[Spin Diesel]

I used to agree, he was very consistent in beating the lower ranked, but losing to top players. But now he loses to everyone

Yeah currently he‘s having a bad phase. But this thread was more meant to answer those people who posted stuff about how he‘s ranked so high and how he reached those finals and how unclutch he is.
I agree that currently he‘s not in the form I described but the years before for he was quite consistently.

 

[Sephiroth]

250 merchant

 

[nighthawkrr]

250 merchant

Barcelona erasure! He gonna win RG someday like Goran probably.

 

[Cabeza del Demonio]

if ruud and rune had a love child they would produce a grand slam champion.. they each lack what the other has

I've always said this about Ruud and Shapovalov. Ruud doesn't have that dawg in him, Shapo had that dawg in him but the dawg escaped and ate him.

 

[Jonas78]

Yeah currently he‘s having a bad phase. But this thread was more meant to answer those people who posted stuff about how he‘s ranked so high and how he reached those finals and how unclutch he is.
I agree that currently he‘s not in the form I described but the years before for he was quite consistently.

Yeah thats BS. Ofc you dont reach 3 slam finals, several tour finals and 2 Masters finals by luck. He has also mainly lost to Big3 and Alcaraz in the big finals.

In a way you would wish he was more like Stan, who was way more inconsistent, but could defeat anyone when he was on. Still not too late though, I still think he will break through at least with a Masters title, maybe also FO.

 

[RSJfan]

…

What do you think?

I think you nailed it.

 

[big ted]

I've always said this about Ruud and Shapovalov. Ruud doesn't have that dawg in him, Shapo had that dawg in him but the dawg escaped and ate him.

shapo ate his own tail

 

[Aabye5]

Yeah currently he‘s having a bad phase. But this thread was more meant to answer those people who posted stuff about how he‘s ranked so high and how he reached those finals and how unclutch he is.
I agree that currently he‘s not in the form I described but the years before for he was quite consistently.

Still was a 250 padder

 

[Rovesciarete]

If you wrote this after RG24 i would agree. The question now is his huge decline with many losses to lower ranked players the last 6 months?

He got a parasite in Paris and felt very flat for weeks, must have upset his training for a long time as well.

Cold have been other reasons but you certainly pay for the time not spent well in the gym.

 

[Jonas78]

...and when you least expect it lol .

Congrats Casper, you needed this one!

 

[jl809]

Hilarious result. Ruud is so random wtf

 

[travlerajm]

Carlitos was no match for fully grown Ruud.

 

[travlerajm]

Hilarious result. Ruud is so random wtf

I’m rooting for Ruud to win this atp finals.

 

[Djokodalerer31]

I’m rooting for Ruud to win this atp finals.

It's better be Sinner or this entire thing not worth a dime...and i am not even Sinner fan...LOL I mean Zverev would be acceptable i guess...but definitely not Ruud or anyone else...

 

[travlerajm]

It's better be Sinner or this entire thing not worth a dime...and i am not even Sinner fan...LOL I mean Zverev would be acceptable i guess...but definitely not Ruud or anyone else...

Ruud needs to take down Sinner. It is written.

 

[Djokodalerer31]

Ruud needs to take down Sinner. It is written.

Honestly? I don't give two craps, since Djokovic ain't playing anyway...LOL It would be nice for year-ending championships to have some legitimacy by being won by actual tour leaders, not some random top players, that had their occasional luck here and there in a season...but maybe, that's just me...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[nolefam_2024]

Honestly? I don't give two craps, since Djokovic ain't playing anyway...LOL It would be nice for year-ending championships to have some legitimacy by being won by actual tour leaders, not some random top players, that had their occasional luck here and there in a season...but maybe ,that's just me...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Not really

The member recently saw one match back in 2011 again and now is playing role of joker in dark Knight. Just want chaos. And discussion of weak era.

Ignore.

 

[travlerajm]

Not really

The member recently saw one match back in 2011 again and now is playing role of joker in dark Knight. Just want chaos. And discussion of weak era.

Ignore.

The doubles action was pretty high level.

 

[jl809]

we have never been closer to The Peak of Tennis than when Ruud was essentially 1 point away from winning a slam without ever having won a ATP 500 or M1000. A truly avant garde player

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

Ruud is the best golfer among current tennis pros. I like the guy.

 

[Aabye5]

First in 5 tries. Not bad.