MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 30, 2025

Casper Ruud

From Recorded Audio

C. RUUD/T. Fritz

7-5, 6-4

Q. You played with a sense of purpose, what did you like about it?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, I kind of agree with that statement. I tried to play, I knew playing Taylor it would be really tough with the altitude, the ball flies, it goes faster through the air. He was semi-finalist here last year, so obvious that he likes the conditions.

It's not easy to return him, let's just say. When he's serving that big you don't get on all the stuff, all the returns. I tried my best to neutralize the serve and just play good, smart clay court tennis from there. I think the key shot for me today was maybe the backhand and the backhand down the line, I think I used it really clever, surprised him. It sometimes seemed like I kind of wrong footed him with my backhand down the line, so very happy with that, that was a good plan and tactic.

And, yeah, Taylor's coming back from a little bit of an injury break, so I'm sure he'll just play better and better from here on. He's always a threat no matter what surface.

Q. You talked to us earlier about moving back up the rankings, so how much did you need a win like this against somebody who is a rival, I guess, for a place at the very top of the game.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, definitely. I mean, it's obviously fun to do well in big tournaments, and every match is important. I struggled to find a lot of match wins in a row in big tournaments as of late, so at least I have now three here in Madrid, so I'll try to keep it going.

I'm playing Daniil, tough match again. We never played on this surface, he beat me on grass and hard court, so I'm going to try to use the clay to my advantage. But he's also someone not to underestimate on clay for sure. He won Rome one year, he played great. If he's in the right mood he's a tough competitor no matter where, no matter when. So I'll just try to recover and do my best to come back here on Thursday.