Photo Source:
By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday May 1, 2025
The joy is back in Casper Ruud’s game and – for the moment, at least – so is the winning.
The Norwegian, one of the best clay-courters in the game since 2020, says he had some mental issues that have dragged him down this season. That might explain the drop in ranking, all the way down to No.15.
But things are picking up in Madrid for Ruud. He smashed past Daniil Medvedev on Thursday, reaching the semifinals with a 6-3 7-5 triumph. He has won all sets he has played in the Spanish capital.
“I prefer not to go into too many details because I've been kind of feeling not great mentally this year,” Ruud said. “But I've seeked help, which has really worked for me, and I've been feeling a quick response and feeling a lot better, so that's really helped to have someone to talk to about certain things.”
The 26-year-old former World No.2 says that the rigors of the tour just starting to wear on him recently. He’s currently working to try to put the joy back in his tennis.
“It's a tough life in many ways, and a lot of travel days, and it just got to a point where it got felt like it was getting too much,” he said. “But I really seeked help, and it's been working, so I'm happy to feel more joy and feel like I'm in a better place, and feel like I'm waking up every day with a smile on my face. So I am happy that I was honest with myself and felt like I needed some help, and it's been paying off quite quickly.”
Ruud, who leads the ATP in clay wins with 123 since the start of 2020, reached his 40th ATP semifinal on Thursday, and his 30th on clay. He’s the third active player to reach 30 semifinals on clay, along with Novak Djokovic (50) and Fabio Fognini (30).
He says that he’s finding it easier to fix what ails him, compared to something technical in his game. He just needed to look in the mirror and make the decision to get help.
“If you compare it to, let's say, if you're struggling with something technical on your game, it's not this kind of easy to feel a quick response right away, it might take weeks, months, for something to feel better on court,” he said. “But mentally I felt like I'm in a better place this week than last week and the two and three weeks ago.”
Ruud is feeling so good, he’s even posting positive messages for other players on Twitter, like this kind not to Iga Swiatek, after her brutal loss to Coco Gauff on Thursday. Now that he’s coping with life on tour better, we should probably expect the old Casper to surface soon – which means, look out Roland-Garros.
“I just kind of felt a bit like I was running in a hamster wheel that never got anywhere,” he said. “And just, this life and this professional tennis life is sort of like a hamster wheel that just never stops, really, I mean except for six weeks in November, December, where it's off, of course. But then you're back straight after New Years, or even this year we started 27th or 28th of December the season starts.
“So you're kind of sacrificing certain personal, family time, which sometimes feels tougher than others. It just came down to me feeling like I'm running in this hamster wheel and I'm never kind of getting anywhere, or you're just stuck in it and I needed to kind of jump out of it a little to review where I was going and how I was feeling.
“I guess I'm back on the hamster wheel, but with a better mentality.”