"I was thinking": Casper Ruud shares experience of facing Jannik Sinner in practice match ahead of French Open

Norway’s Casper Ruud has opened up about how difficult it was to play against Italy’s Jannik Sinner ahead of the French Open. The second Grand Slam of the year begins on Sunday, where players from all over the world will participate and showcase their talent to secure the ultimate prize.

Norwegian tennis star Ruud has spoken to the media ahead of the mega-event where he talked in detail how difficult it was to play against Sinner in the practice match. The two recently faced off in the quarterfinal of the Rome Open where the reigning world number one came out on top in straight sets with a score of 6-0, 6-1.

Ruud stated that in a practice session, he was 4-0 down against him but managed to win some games against the three-time Grand Slam winner. The two-time French Open runner-up also admitted that while Sinner does not have a flawless game to succeed on clay, that alone is not enough to rule him out from the list of possible contenders to lift the Roland Garros title this year.

“We practiced yesterday [Friday] and he was up 4-0 in the first set after like 15 minutes again,” said Ruud while talking to the media in Paris. “I was thinking there’s something going on here. But after that, I got some games back. I think that you don’t look at him [Sinner] as a clay court player because he’s had great success on other surfaces, and he doesn’t play that higher or heavier topspin ball, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play well on clay. I think if you move well and are able to hit strong shots from defense as well on clay, it’s hard because when I played him if I tried to open the court, he was there, and he just kind of ripped it back. If I tried to play heavier and higher, he would take it on the rise and wouldn’t miss much. I realize that I can maybe also flatten out the shots a bit more every now and then on clay and not always wait for the ball to come down. I can maybe step in a little bit more and take more balls on the rise and go for a little bit more, because what he showed me there was that this is definitely possible, even though it’s a higher bounce and slower on clay.”

Ruud will begin his journey in the competition with a match against Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas, whereas Sinner will begin his campaign against France’s Arthur Rinderknech.