"He's pretty much always a favorite to win" - Casper Ruud believes Novak Djokovic remains the player to beat on tour

Novak Djokovic remains the player to beat in almost every tournament he enters despite dropping down the rankings during a difficult 2022 season, according to Casper Ruud.

The Serbian was the year-end world No. 1 for the seventh time in 2021, but he was unable to compete at the Australian Open or the US Open this year due to his Covid-19 vaccination status. Additionally, the Wimbledon title he secured in the summer – his 21st Grand Slam triumph – didn’t earn him any ranking points, as the tournament was stripped of them after organizers decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing following the invasion of Ukraine.

Djokovic has slid from the top of the rankings to No.8 ahead of the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals this week. World No.4 Ruud will also be lining up at the event in Turin, and the Norwegian expects Djokovic to rise back up the rankings next season.

“I think tennis-wise he's played great. He's just been very unfortunate with the situation and how things have played out due to points, not being able to enter many countries, which has hurt him a lot on the rankings,” Ruud told Ruud Talk.

“But to me he will always be one of the best, if not the best player out there and always the favourite in pretty much every tournament he shows up to.

“I think he has shown that this year; he won Wimbledon, he won these two tournaments a couple of weeks ago, and in Rome. Tennis wise, I think he has done great only playing, I don't know, eight, nine tournaments. He's close to top five in the world.

"Let's see how next year plays out. I hope that he can be able to enter these countries again and that he can play a full year. In my eyes, he's pretty much always a favorite to win, except for maybe Roland Garros where the King Rafa is always going to be the favorite there.

“But on hard courts, grass, he's always up there being one of the favorites to win the tournaments and he said he wants to show the young guys that he's still there, he's still present.”