"It's an honour" says Casper Ruud paying tribute to Laver, Federer, Borg, McEnroe and others

Casper Ruud had the chance to open the 2021 Laver Cup with a match against Reilly Opelka and the Norwegian won giving Europe the first point of the event.

It was a very good match by Ruud who was able to defeat Opelka for the 2nd time in the last couple of months on hard courts which is something he can be happy about. Asked what it felt making his debut at the Laver Cup he admitted to being nervous at the start:

"I was a bit nervous in the beginning. It's a big stadium, big crowd. You have chills when you walk up with the music and everything. Luckily I had an early break which calmed the nerves down a little bit. I was trying to enjoy the moment."

Rudd was able to keep the ball in play a lot of the times forcing Opelka to play longer rallies which is something the American does not like to do. Asked what sort of plan he employed in the match he said:

"I tried to neutralize his serve, that's really the only thing you can do. From the baseline, I've been playing well all week and it's been super fun. I am just happy to get the lead for Europe."

Ruud was also asked what it felt like playing at such an event in front of legends of the game such as Roger Federer, Rod Laver, the Team captains Borg and McEnroe and he said:

"It's an honour. Those are the legends of the game. It's also great to see Federer back. He's not playing but it's still great to see him in the arena."