"He is awesome" - McEnroe on Casper Ruud

John McEnroe was amazed to see Casper Ruud reaching the US Open final admitting that it was not something he expected.

The Eurosport tennis analyst had his own favourites to reach the final of the US Open but none were named Casper Ruud. The Norwegian established himself as a clay specialist early in his career but has made tremendous strides since then to become a very good hard-court player. He has a trophy on the surface as well as an ATP 1000 final and now a grand slam final and McEnroe did not see it coming:

"He is awesome, he is humble. He is not going to light the stadium on fire. He does not have the charisma of Carlos Alcaraz or Frances Tiafoe, but he is a credit to our game. He is extremely solid, he works hard. He has spent a lot of time the last few years at Nadal's academy, watching the way he does his thing. That has helped him to realise he had to do even more."

McEnroe continued:

"It is an interesting dynamic with his dad being his coach and being so involved in that. It is amazing how well that has worked, especially as his dad was a former pro. So this is an awesome effort. I think at the French Open he was totally overwhelmed thinking about playing Rafael Nadal on clay - who wouldn't be? But now he seems to be playing even better than he was at the French Open, and he has got to go in thinking that he has a great chance to win this."