What's special about Ruud?

zill

Legend
Not physically big, no big weapons. Seems to play like most other ATP players. Why is he ranked in the top 10 now?
 

spottishwood

Hall of Fame
iu
 

Sysyphus

Talk Tennis Guru
super-heavy forehand, very well conditioned, mentally reliable and professional. Excellent 2nd serve for his size, and 1st serve aight.

he is also one of the few proper top clay specialists around these days, discounting the typical south american journeymen. A Thiem mold type of player essentially, without the single-hander.

if he wants to take the next step, i say he needs to improve his return and backhand a bit more and his ability to counter / his shot tolerance. He is best when he gets to dictate with the forehand.
 

NAS

Hall of Fame
super-heavy forehand, very well conditioned, mentally reliable and professional. Excellent 2nd serve for his size, and 1st serve aight.

he is also one of the few proper top clay specialists around these days, discounting the typical south american journeymen. A Thiem mold type of player essentially, without the single-hander.

if he wants to take the next step, i say he needs to improve his return and backhand a bit more and his ability to counter / his shot tolerance. He is best when he gets to dictate with the forehand.
Good post sir
 
Ruud's clay court run this summer was impressive. It's not easy for a young player to dominate several tournaments in a row. I hope he improves his hard court game and learns to flatten out the forehand a little more.
 

Shaolin

Talk Tennis Guru
Problem is people don't even watch tennis, they just comment, unlike you, who knows about tennis

To be fair the heavy spin is a little hard to distinguish on TV...It helps to see in person. OP seems like he is really into learning as much as he/she can about he game.

You definitely don't win 3 tournaments in a row though without something special. His fh is a huge weapon, as is his professionalism which is really lacking in the game right now. I think he will have a Ferrer like career or maybe a step up from that and win some French Opens.
 

smalahove

Hall of Fame
You’re just making a fool out of yourself if you think his FH is not a big weapon. I’ve seen all the big names up close, and whilst Ruud might be one-dimensional, his TS FH is as big as they come.

Like Shaolin says, the TV images makes his FHs look a bit moon-ball’ish, but having seen him train on clay litterally a few feet away against top Norwegian players, his FH is huge and kicks up outside most player’s strikezone.

There’s a reason Schwartzmann has big trouble playing against Ruud f.inst.

Ruud has already improved his backhand quite a bit over the last year and half, and I’m sure he knows what to work on to break into the top 8, which is the real hurdle now imo (and not the top 10).
 

Bubcay

Legend
He is a great clay court player and did not miss a single clay tournament this year thus accumulated quite a few points.
 

Ray Mercer

Hall of Fame
He’s got absolutely zero net game, a weak
return game, no backhand down the line, no drop shots etc. He basically stands 20 feet back and tries to hit heavy low risk topspin with his forehand. He ain’t no Federer.
 

Sudacafan

Bionic Poster
He’s Norwegian. Norway couldn’t stand Sweden’s success in tennis, so they took like 4 or 5 decades to produce a top ten.
 
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