ROLAND GARROS

May 26, 2025

Casper Ruud

Press Conference

C. RUUD/A. Ramon-Vinolas

6-3, 6-4, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Casper, well done. What do you think of your level today, and Albert playing his last Roland Garros? Any special thoughts for him?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, it was a pretty good match. I played Albert many times before. In the beginning of my career, I was really struggling to find a way to beat him. I struggled a bit more with lefties.

He's a very experienced player, plays a way that I wasn't so comfortable with. I always have that in the back of my mind, knowing it will be a tough match.

Last two previous meetings were going really, everything in my favor. I was trying to think back to his best days and thinking that today will be another one of those days to prepare myself.

I think all in all it was a pretty good match. He showed some great level. I really played well when it got close and I needed to behind my own serve.

I went for a few bigger shots here and there when I felt like I had a chance to. I think with him, it's important to show that you can hit both strong forehands and backhands because if he finds a weak spot in your game, he will really, really use that. That's what has made him so good for many years.

I tried to show him from both my forehand and backhand that I'm not going to play too weak and too soft today. That leads to a few extra errors.

But all in all, very happy with my level. I'm, of course, sad for him knowing that it's his last. He's had a great career and many things to be proud of.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did it feel? Did it feel good that you could go and play and win, no worries after the match against Jannik?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, you know, new day, new week, new tournament. Of course, I got a good beating by Jannik in Rome. That's long erased from the memory in a way.

Happy to get going with a win again. I hope I can continue to build on it for the next matches and days here in Roland Garros.

It's nice to get it done in three straight sets. Yeah, I felt pretty good out there. I had a little scare when I fell over, but everything was good also physically. That's a good sign.

Q. Here at Roland Garros they still have the line judges, while at other clay events they use more the electronic system. What do you prefer? Can you explain why?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, I think I prefer, after playing few tournaments now with electric line calling, I think it works very well. I would say I prefer that.

There have been some questionable calls on the electronic, as well. When it's a human call, it also will always be questionable calls and arguments anyways.

I think out of all the calls that are made, the margin of error is smaller with electronic line calling. There are certain marks that are so close, it's tough for us who have played all our life to tell is that touching or not on clay.

At that point it kind of just comes to guessing sometimes for the chair umpire. I think it's better to just have a system saying whether it was in or out when it comes to those small details.

I think it needs a little bit of adjustment. I think there was a pretty bad error in the Zverev match in Madrid. I've seen some others.

I thought the tutorial video that the ATP posted was very good explained. It makes sense, depending even on the surface how much clay there is, some marks will be bigger and stuff than others.

I think it's a good system, and for me it's been working well.

Q. How do you view the development of your backhand? Your backhand has improved a lot, especially backhand line.

CASPER RUUD: It's obviously a lot of practice. All my career I've had a better forehand than my backhand. It's obvious for me to think that the forehand should be the most dominating shot, and doubt the backhand more compared to the forehand.

Also the way I play my backhand is with more spin than the majority of players. I don't have a flat grip. If you look at, like, let's say, majority of the top 30 players in the world, most of them play flatter backhand than me. Most of them play a frame that is smaller than me. I play a hundred-inch frame, which creates more power and spin, but also less control.

I do play my backhand fairly different from other players, meaning that I have to be a little bit more careful to play flat, because my racquet shoots out the ball a little more than others. I've always played with a hundred-inch racquet, which leads to powerful, heavy topspin shots from the forehand.

From the backhand, it's not that easy to kind of flatten it out. That's a vulnerability sometimes when I'm too short or when I don't trust my backhand good enough. It gets too loopy and too short.

Today I felt like I tried to kind of overhit it sometimes, which is not good when you hit it out. In a way for me it's a good feeling knowing that, okay, I stepped upped and at least ripped it, went for it, instead of just like pushing it back. I think that's something that I will keep doing and just challenge myself on that aspect.

Q. Can I ask you, on dropshots, we're seeing more and more players using them. Firstly, how much do you think it's down to Carlos? Also the extent to which you have changed your preparations both for hitting them yourself but also countering them?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, I had experience where when you play someone who does a lot of dropshots, I think if you are able to track and run them down, most of them in the beginning of the match, win those points, I think most of them kind of back off doing it that much.

But if you don't track them down, if they hit a few winners and win the points, they'll keep doing it. I'm thinking particularly about Carlos, Bublik, guys who play it quite often. I've had experience losing to them, and also winning against them.

I've noticed that if I'm, let's say the four or five first times they go for it, if you're able to track it down and win the point, they will kind of back off doing it anymore. If they see that it's working, they're going to keep doing it and play with confidence.

I think Carlos plays it great. I really think that Novak's backhand dropshot is also really, really good. It's so well disguised, you don't see it coming. He plays it almost perfect every time.

It has been around for years, but Carlos is kind of the first one to do it so well from the forehand side. It looks like he's loading it, then suddenly it changes it and you're on the back foot.

But yeah, getting those four or five first points, if you're able to win them, that can be huge for the rest of the match.

Q. Question about diet. I'm curious if you are the type of player who considers yourself strict with your diet? If so, what do you do to keep your nutrition goals?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, it's not easy, I tell you, because we are pretty much in a new city every week or every second week. The majority of us don't travel with our own chef, let's say, where you can really know what to eat all the time. I think Novak is the only one. That's an investment that I've thought about in the past, but it's practically quite hard because you would need a place with a kitchen, to have fresh food all the time. It's not easy at all.

Hotels are more practical for us because if you lose, you can just check out and leave, while if you're renting a private place, you need to rent it for the whole stay in case you make the final or win the tournament. It's a pretty big commitment financially to do that. I haven't found the budget for it and the need for it.

I try to eat clean and strict. I have, of course, my favorite types of food, like everyone I guess. I don't eat, like, greasy, fatty food typically during tournaments. It's kind of boring: just a lot of rice, some pasta every now and then. I feel a bit heavy when I eat too much pasta. I keep it mostly to rice and some kind of protein.

Even like salad and vegetables are tough sometimes. If you're in countries where the water is not clean enough, how can you be sure that it's not cleaned in the wrong way. Thinking back to Acapulco this year, I got food poisoning. I don't know where it came from. Also here last year I had a stomach bug towards the end.

Salad and vegetables is what you are told is going to be good for you, at the same time it's a quite big risk when it's not cooked or cleaned well. It's dirty or can lead to something. It's kind of tough. You're always thinking, where did I go last year and didn't get sick, I'll go back to that restaurant probably (smiling).

Q. It was a great battle today. I have to ask, why did you stop wearing the nose strip? Is it ever coming back? You're about to set a trend with Carlos.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, it might come back soon. Don't worry. It's just I had a material that I tried out. They're very early development. It looks like a new material is coming, which will be a bit more comfortable to wear, because it's inside the nose and it looks like I have this bullring under. I've been in contact with the guys who make it. A better and softer material for the skin is coming.

But I use it for sleeping every night. It will return, don't worry (smiling).