ROLAND GARROS

May 30, 2026

Casper Ruud

Press Conference

C. RUUD/T. Paul

4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Casper, such a tight match. What do you think was the difference tonight?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, hard to say exactly what was the difference. I mean, a few points. I think the statistics showed that I took care of my break points and won all of the break points I had, which was three. He only won 2 out of 14, so I mean, that's just unfortunate, you know, for him and kind of fortunate and lucky for me, but that's how tennis is.

It's just such a brutal sport sometimes. Yeah, maybe that was the only thing I can say or show on the statistics that was maybe the key to how I won the match.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Just wondering how you are feeling physically? Obviously you had an interesting first week. It's going to be cooler starting with your next match, so how are you feeling? It looked like you were obviously pretty strong at the end of that match.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, I'm feeling surprisingly well. Of course, towards the end you start feeling it. Obviously the weather cooled down towards the last couple of sets and didn't seem to bother, but it was another hot day. You just try to get as much fluid and stuff in your body as possible.

I think one more hot day tomorrow. I doubt I'll see the courts tomorrow. So just try to use those next, let's say, 36 or 40 hours of recovering and be ready as I can.

It's the beauty of slams, and the days off, we try to use them as much as we can. Typically you come here and practice maybe a little bit, but I think I'll save all the energy I have for Sunday and take it from there.

Yeah, I have no pains at least, so that's the most important, and see if I can recover.

Q. Just curious where was your head at, actually, when you were down two sets and then also when you were down two match points on those two separate occasions?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, I felt like he was the superior player, of course, for the two first sets. My serve sort of made me hang in the second set. He was dominating a lot and playing very loose and aggressive, coming to the net, making my game feel uncomfortable.

I didn't really find any rhythm in his serves. I was really not even sniffing on the break points until the third set. I broke him quite early, and that maybe changed a bit momentum. You just say, you know, one set at a time here.

It's battles like this you kind of train hard for, and be in a position to be Love-2 down, it's not fun, but it's an opportunity to come back. I just told myself one set at a time and see what happens from there.

Q. Now without Djokovic in the part of your draw, I don't know if you see yourself as a tighter contender, and also, what are thoughts on Fonseca, your next opponent?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, it's such an open tournament, which is kind of refreshing, I guess, for everyone, and to see that there will be a new slam champion in about a week or so. I think every player is aware of it.

Obviously Novak and Jannik was one of the two highest favorites, and Jannik definitely the favorite. Yeah, it will be interesting to see where we are in a week's time.

I'm going to try to use the experiences that I've had of reaching far in slams to my advantage and see where that takes me, but you focus one match at a time. I have an incredible task ahead of me with a young special talent like Joao. He has already beaten top players in his career, so he knows what it takes.

Today was probably the biggest win of his career, so we are kind of in the same position. We came back from 0-2. It was long matches. So I will see if I can give him a good match and fight.

You know, he's a very nice kid, so I'm hoping for a good match.

Q. Your two last match were day session. In fact, you played, like, in night session. How do you handle that? Does it force you to change something on your routine the day after?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, a bit. They don't have a night session in Lenglen, but I consider the last match to be kind of a bit of a night session.

So the days get long, because when there's no not-before time, like fourth match on Lenglen, you have to be here in case it goes super fast. Let's say there's a walkover or quick match on Lenglen, you have to be here in case you start 4:00 or 5:00, or whatever. It can also start not until 8:00 or 9:00, depending on the previous matches.

So the days are long, and the night will be long. I'm probably not sleeping until 3:00, 3:30, or 4:00 a.m. tonight. Luckily, we have a day off tomorrow, and we'll try to get back into rhythm and see when I get my next match.

It's okay. We are used to it. We push now, and I have plenty of time after Roland Garros to sleep and recover. Yeah, I'm not planning on playing any tournaments before Wimbledon, so I have time to rest.

Q. I wanted to talk about your YouTube channel. We absolutely love the behind-the-scenes content you share. It gives fans a really unique window into life at the highest level of tennis that most people never get to see. I'm sure your fans have binge-watched those videos multiple times. I certainly have. What kind of content are you planning going forward, and how important is it for you to keep telling that story?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, it was an idea that popped in my head towards the end of last year, to maybe next year or this year to try to bring a little bit behind the scenes for my career, my life, and kind of what a professional tennis player's life looks like.

I've seen other athletes do it, and I found it quite interesting. I saw an opportunity to kind of bring the camera behind the scenes, but tennis is very repetitive.

We have new tournaments, of course, every week, but we pretty much do the same every single day. It's not that easy to create more or new or refreshing content. Obviously I have tried, and I have some videos that are still being edited and that will come.

But, you know, unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to bring the videographer to the clay season. So, unfortunately, there won't be much from here, but I tried to show some of the behind the scenes of the bigger tournaments. Obviously, it's not that easy to get accreditation.

There are so many other players around as well, so you don't want to interfere with their private space and this and that. It's challenging, but I thought it was fun, and I'm glad some people liked it. I tried playing a golf round. I've tried different things.

So we'll see what happens in the future, but I got a lot of positive feedback, so that's very nice.