Every time i say he is finnish he comes back, so i probably should go on and say he is finnish lol.
The Ruud Awakening!
- Thread starter stringertom
- Start date
Dropshot777
Semi-Pro
He is still recovering from his injury that started in Rome
junior74
Bionic Poster
It actually started in Madrid, which he won.
I think Ruud will never be top 5 again.
Dropshot777
Semi-Pro
Probably not
Cabeza del Demonio
Hall of Fame
I had to do a double take after seeing this. I thought he lost to Francisco, who's always been a tough matchup for him. Juan Manuel beating him too now....rough patch for Ruud at the moment
Yes, and quite incredible he is as high as number 12 still... should be outside top 20 in my opinion
Pmasterfunk
Hall of Fame
Winning Madrid sure will help keep that ranking up
junior74
Bionic Poster
I agree. Ruud looks like a #20-30 type player. I think he capitalised really well when tennis was at its weakest. His chance was USO; had he taken that SP to go up 2-1 young Carlos could have faded out. Now he will go slamless, which is probably "right", considering everything.
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lurker2025
Professional
He was a top 10 player at his best, weak era or not. If he is a top 20-30 player in general, than what does that make players with lesser results over the past few years? Top 50 players? Now he might be declining but that does not take away from his best results. And while it is premature to say he is finished, he might very well drop out of the top 30 and even out of the top 50 if his poor form continues.
lurker2025
Professional
His drop in form is due to a lack of mental focus and some physical issues, not because he is not that good of player at his best.
Dropshot777
Semi-Pro
Well, he looked quite good early in the year and that Madrid title is what’s keeping him up there. Currently his form is not good though because of injury and maybe some burnout. I think he is done unless he can sort out those issues and maybe hire a new coach that can help him with his game.
lurker2025
Professional
Exactly it is not like he is not that good of player in general, he has mental and physical issues.
Dropshot777
Semi-Pro
Also he has plateaued because Christian Ruud can’t do too much more for him. He needs a coach that can help with his net game and ROS, maybe a bit of work on the serve too.
junior74
Bionic Poster
Many players reach the top but can't improve/ maintain the high level required to stay there.
Sinner and Alcaraz are the first to show this ability from the 90s and 00s gens.
lurker2025
Professional
Of course he is not an all the time great but i think it is harsh to say that he is a top 30 player when at his best he was in the top 10 for over three years. And if the poor form continues he might drop much further down than the top 30.
junior74
Bionic Poster
I'm a fellow Norwegian and I have been following Ruud since he was a teenager. I guess I never saw a top 10 potensial in him, and I firmly believe a weak era is the reason behind his results to a quite huge extent. I have huge respect for Ruud, he works hard and is an excellent guy in so many ways - perhaps the best role model on the entire tour. But result wise it feels like he maxed out because of a weak field in his "peak" years.
I hope I am wrong. I would love to see him lift the RG trophy. I just think his ship has sailed.
Dropshot777
Semi-Pro
Do you have an opinion on Budkov Kjaer
lurker2025
Professional
Not being a top ten staple in every era does not mean being a top 30 player at best when he made the top 10 for over three years. There are several players who are names in tennis and not journeymen who have had worse results than Ruud over the past few years like Berrettini or De Minaur and i do not hear people discrediting their results to the same degree as many do with Ruud and call them top 50 players. He might not be the most talented but his results speak for themselves. And i think him falling off a cliff is definitely more likely than him winning a major but that should not diminish his past results to the degree of saying he is a top 30 player just because he is not the most talented. Other players also played in a weaker era and their results do not get undermined to the same degree as Ruud, so him not being the most naturally talented is really the only reason.
I am a fellow Norwegian too... he is number 11 now... hm...
Did you watch? Is he injured again or just washed up?
Too bad. Shouldnt be struggling vs a 30y old mediocre player.
USO22 is far away, he beat Berry in straights and Khak in 4 back then. Ruud cant even blame the younger guys, he is losing to older guys Khak and Rinderknech now.
Maybe he will finally make some changes? When you hit bottom it typically will be bad feelings in the team and changes will come. Maybe it would be better? Dunno...
lurker2025
Professional
I think that Ruud is an example of someone who has overachieved his ability by rising to the occasion when presented with favourable draws but he has underachieved his potential. I think that talent wise he could be on a similar level as someone like Fritz while ability wise at his best he is more comparable to someone like Khachanov but with three slam finals. Of course he has still time to maximize his talent but things have been bleak for him since his stomach parasite last year with the exception of his Madrid run. I do not know if he has in him to make changes and to restart from scratch. He has had a fantastic career of course but i feel that it could be even better.
lurker2025
Professional
I have read that his movement looked slow, do you think it is because he is low on confidence or is it due to the lingering effects of his knee injury?
lurker2025
Professional
His masters title is keeping his ranking up. Also on paper 28 match wins is not too terrible but he could drop out of the top 20 by the end of the year if he fails to defend all his points and if other players below the top 20 do well.
Mainad
Bionic Poster
I'm beginning to conclude that he is just a clay specialist. Only 1 of his 13 titles is on a surface other than clay (2021 San Diego) and he has made no headway at all on grass (didn't even bother to play Wimbledon this year).
lurker2025
Professional
I think he is just going through a crisis at the moment, surely he is a clay specialist but he has also played some important finals on hard in his career. He did not play Wimbledon this year to recover from his knee injury. I am very concerned about his form, since his stomach parasite it has been very underwhelming with the exception of his Madrid run.
He should definetly skip grass at this point, it has never worked for him. I thought he would evolve on HC, played both USO final beating Berry & Khak, and YEC final, but the last years have been bad. He won his first clay masters this year though, that was a surprise to me, because everything else this year has been bad.
lurker2025
Professional
He also made the final at Dallas this year but he had a very favourable draw to get there for a 500 and the quarterfinals at Rome. I wonder if his loss against Sinner left some scars, despite his comments to the contrary.
Sad thing is, it deosnt really bother my anymore
. Ive kind of given up...
junior74
Bionic Poster
Sad thing is, it deosnt really bother my anymore
Ruud has given up, so our surrender is just a consequence...
His will to win is totally absent.
lurker2025
Professional
He looks unmotivated and burnt out. I hope he can get out of this crisis. I think his defeat against Sinner in Rome left scars psychologically even though he was struggling with injury. To see such a gulf in level when you are a high-ranked player and you hope to win a slam yourself must be discouraging.
Yup. As ive said on the forum several times, the 90s guys complaining over old Big3 obviously didnt know that 2017-2023 was their biggest chance to win slams. Going through Alcaraz and Sinner now is way worse.
junior74
Bionic Poster
A handful of weak players' peaks "coincidentally" happened in the weakest of times... I remember we debated it, but like always, a huge chunk of posters seem to believe tennis - at all times - is at its best
At least retrospectively, it seems even the "worst" Djokovic fans finally admits the 90s gen was crapA handful of weak players' peaks "coincidentally" happened in the weakest of times... I remember we debated it, but like always, a huge chunk of posters seem to believe tennis - at all times - is at its best
junior74
Bionic Poster
At least retrospectively, it seems even the "worst" Djokovic fans finally admits the 90s gen was crap
But then, in the next thread, they say Kuerten, Safin and Roddick are clearly inferior to Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Berrettini
Only on TT. Some of Novak's fans won't even accept the fact that Novak's breakdown made Med a slam champion. That's how important "competition" is for TT agendas.
lurker2025
Professional
Ruud is already perceived by many as someone with a very limited level of ability who overachieved massively so it would reflect poorly on his legacy so to speak if he had a dramatic decline. I have seen people claim he is top 20 level at best and only made the top ten because the Olympics and the pandemic weakened competition for the Atp 250 clay events he took part in during the post Wimbledon summer clay swing in 2021 but in reality the titles he won were fully legitimate as each tournamemt he won featured at least one top 20 player aside from Ruud and in a case multiple top 20 players aside from Ruud. It was hardly some egregious case of vulturing. It just happened that the seeds lost before meeting Ruud during those tournaments.It is also a fact that without his titles from the post Wimbledon clay swing and the Atp finals in 2021 he would have been ranked at world number 12 in 2021 and very close to the top ten and he would have needed only 350 points from the post-Wimbledon clay swing to make the top ten which would have been very doable even with tougher competition.He also went on a great run of form in early 2024 starting from the top 20 proving that at his best he has the ability to make the top ten beginning from the top 20. He had 5 top ten wins in 2022 as well proving he could have easily gone on some deep runs and would have most likely reached the top ten even if he had started 2022 outside of it, especially considering the run of form he went on in early 2024 when he started the year just outside of the top ten. He also has 9 masters semifinals which is as many as Wawrinka and Rublev. This is a fact that in my opinion speaks volumes about his ability and proves on its own he is top ten level as his masters draws have not been as favourable as his slam draws. For some reason he has a disproportionate amount of critics trying to undermine his career and put an asterisk to each of his accomplishments. He is perceived as the symbol of a weak era so a rapid decline would only increase the hatred towards him.
Does anyone say Tsits > Roddick?? Lol.But then, in the next thread, they say Kuerten, Safin and Roddick are clearly inferior to Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Berrettini
Only on TT. Some of Novak's fans won't even accept the fact that Novak's breakdown made Med a slam champion. That's how important "competition" is for TT agendas.
Its also funny that they compare Medvedev to Roddick, thats comparing tier 1 with tier 2. The right comparison is Medvedev to Federer, thats the strongest players of each generation.
Deep inside i agree. Ruud wasnt primarily a big talent, but he is a very hard and serious worker. We should really be super proud of what he achieved, but at the same time, he should do better than R1-R2 the last 4 slams.
Maybe he couldnt have done better anyway, but at this point i feel its right to do some changes while its still time. He doesnt have a lot to lose the way i see it.
lurker2025
Professional
Obvio
I mean the idea that he was not going to make the top ten if just the post Wimbledon clay swing in 2021 had featured tougher competition is just ridiculous , Ruud could have just played more events being more motivated in early 2022 if he had finished the year in 2021 outside of the top ten and made the top ten easily. You do not achieve what he has without being very talented. I personally see the talent in him, he just has not managed to iron out the flaws in his game. I have also read comments from a couple of people predicting that he was going to make the top ten before he actually made it so other people have also recognized his potential.
junior74
Bionic Poster
I really don't feel there's a lot of "hate" towards Ruud. He is a nice guy - too nice - and is praised for his sportsmanship.
He showed great promise, and he was on a good path until he fell into the consistency trap. His forehand used to be a huge weapon. Now it isn’t because not making mistakes is his game plan. This game style is not the one he grew up with - he was super aggressive until 2022/23; every time he had a FH chance he went for it. A passive style leads to passive play on key points, which is what happened yesterday. He loses all close matches now. He used to win them because he trusted his own game. Now he depends on errors from opponents.
junior74
Bionic Poster
Haha, good point!
lurker2025
Professional
That is an interesting assessment of his game plan. I do feel there is some hate of him from some people as a player, even though not of him as a person.
"Sinner has talked about the need to add more variety and 'unpredictability' to his game. He has said that he is willing to make changes to his game and suffer more defeats against other players in the short term, if he feels like it will lead to long-term improvements."
This is what i miss with Ruud. He dont make any changes because in his experience things change if you are just patient. You just got to stick with the same plan and good things will come to you. There is only one thing in Sinners head now, and that is how to beat Raz at AO26.
This is what i miss with Ruud. He dont make any changes because in his experience things change if you are just patient. You just got to stick with the same plan and good things will come to you. There is only one thing in Sinners head now, and that is how to beat Raz at AO26.
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