"It gave me even more belief and confidence" - Ruud on Roland Garros final loss to Nadal

Casper Ruud reached his maiden grand slam final this year at Roland Garros but he was no match for Rafael Nadal who won his 22nd overall.

The Norwegian battled hard in that matchup bet he was simply overpowered by Nadal who had all the responses. Ruud's game looks very similar to Nadal's so the Spaniard knew exactly how the play. There were some nerves in there as well but overall the Norwegian took lessons from that defeat admitting it gave him more belief and confidence:

"I haven't had a really, really big result in a Slam yet until Roland Garros. That gave me even more belief and confidence, in a way, in myself, that I can hopefully do it again and play more finals, that I'm finding my rhythm here at the top level in the world, I guess."

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Ruud also pointed out the moment when it started clicking for him and it was at the 2020 Rome Masters where he played in the semifinal:

"Everything kind of started for me when we came back after the COVID break in 2020 and I reached my first semifinal in Rome in an ATP 1000. It was a really big result in a big event for me. Since then, I think, I just had more self-belief that I kind of belonged there, playing big matches and doing well in the big tournaments."