"Honestly it's a long year, at some point there has to be some kind of break": Ruud defends playing golf instead of Wimbledon warm-ups

World number four Casper Ruud has defended his Wimbledon warm-up method by playing golf.

The 24-year-old won his first-round fixture at the third Grand Slam of the year on Monday against France’s Laurent Lokoli with a score of 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Ruud, whose record at Wimbledon does not make pretty reading, while speaking to the Guardian, defended his method of preparing for the mega-event by stating that he believed that he needed a break from tennis in order to prepare for such a competition.

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“People can have any opinion they want,” he said. “But it’s a long year, and at some point during the summer, at least to me, there has to be some kind of break for the players. To me, the natural and the obvious choice is to skip a couple of grass-court events because I play every single tournament on clay. It’s an easy choice.

“It doesn’t mean that I take Wimbledon not serious enough. I really like to perform well here. But it’s just a matter of physically being ready, and being ready for the second part of the season.”

Despite playing three Grand Slam finals in the last 18 months (twice in French Open and once in the US Open), the Oslo-born has a very average record while playing at Wimbledon as it is the only major tournament in the tennis world where he is yet to qualify for the third round or beyond.

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His previous best performance came in 2022 where he was knocked out from the second round after suffering a defeat against Ugo Humbert with a score of 3-6, 6-2, 7-5, 6-4.

Therefore, Ruud will be hoping to improve his performance immensely in the ongoing campaign. His next round’s opponent will be Britain’s Liam Broady and the clash will take place on Wednesday.