"Don’t get me wrong": Casper Ruud names 'the greatest athlete that ever lived'

Norway’s Casper Ruud is famous for expressing his views about different matters in tennis. The 26-year-old is going through a decent campaign on the court and has won 28 out of 38 matches. His best outing came at the Madrid Open in May, where he lifted the title after beating Britain’s Jack Draper in the final with a score of 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.

Ruud’s next assignment will be the US Open mixed doubles event, where he is partnering with women’s world number one, Poland’s Iga Swiatek. The two will go up against the American pair of Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16 clash on Tuesday. Ahead of that, Ruud appeared in a video on the social media platform X, where he was asked about naming the ‘greatest athlete’ to have lived. In response to that, Ruud named former world number one Novak Djokovic.

“I don’t want to compare it because it’s stupid,” said Ruud. “But you take Novak’s athleticism to Brady’s the GOAT. Don’t get me wrong. But I think Novak would crush him in most of the physical tests you can do. And then again, Lebron [James] would crush Novak in certain physical. So I don’t know but for me, Novak is the greatest athlete that ever lived.

Djokovic is often regarded as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis in the singles category, having won as many as 24 Grand Slam titles. Earlier this year, Djokovic lifted his 100th title at the highest level as he won the Geneva Open after beating Hubert Hurkacz in the final with a score of 5-7, 7-6, 7-6. He is now third in the list of men’s tennis players with most titles in the Open era, only behind America’s Jimmy Connors (109) and Switzerland’s Roger Federer (103).

Djokovic’s most recent appearance came at Wimbledon, where his journey ended in the semifinal, where he lost to Italy’s Jannik Sinner in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3, 6-4. Talking after the match, Djokovic admitted to physical struggle, especially after having a nasty fall at the end of the quarterfinal against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli. Djokovic also admitted age is finally catching up to him and that he is finding it hard to play against players like Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz towards the end of the major events, where matches can go up to five sets

“I mean, quite a bit,” said Djokovic back then. “Honestly, it wasn't really a pleasant feeling on the court. I don't want to talk, in details, about my injury and just whine about not managing to play my best. I want to congratulate Jannik for another great performance. That's it. He's in the finals. He was too strong. I do feel disappointed that I just wasn't able to move as well as I thought or hoped that I would. It's just age, the wear and tear of the body. As much as I'm taking care of it, the reality hits me right now, last year and a half, like never before, to be honest,” Djokovic said. “It's tough for me to accept that because I feel like when I'm fresh, when I'm fit, I can still play really good tennis. I've proven that this year. I guess playing best-of-five, particularly this year, has been a real struggle for me physically. The longer the tournament goes, the worse the condition gets. I reach the final stages, I reach the semis of every Slam this year, but I have to play Sinner or Alcaraz. These guys are fit, young, sharp. I feel like I'm going into the match with tank half empty. It's just not possible to win a match like that.”