Casper Ruud goes into this year's
French Open off the back of sealing the Geneva Open and Barcelona Open this clay court season. But despite that, he doesn't see himself as one of the favourites for
Roland Garros with four players picked ahead of him by his reckoning.
Ruud reached the last two finals at the French Open so perhaps has more claim than most in what is perceived as the most open French Open in many years. But despite that, he said that he doesn't want to put the pressure on himself as being a favourite. But that he doesn't discount certain players including Rafael Nadal from having success on the surface once more.
Facing Felipe Alves on Tuesday, it is slightly an easier task for the Norwegian who could've faced rising upstart, Jakub Mensik in a potential banana skin. But as it is, he takes on a player who was a lucky loser and won't have anything to fear but isn't Mensik.
“To me even though Novak hasn't had the best year as he typically has or the same level, I think he is still the favorite. He is the No. 1 seed, and he has 24 slams under his belt, so if there's anyone who knows when to find their peak and form, it's probably him," said Ruud.
"Then after that it's a lot of other guys, and I also want to mention Rafa obviously. He is not seeded and he has not maybe played the way he used to play on clay, but if he is physically fit, I think I'm not going to call him a dark horse, but he is going to be up there also in my eyes as one of the favorites to do well here. His record speaks for itself here.”
“No, I wouldn't put myself in the list just because I don't want to kind of put pressure on myself, but I would put Novak up there definitely. It's not a big if, but, you know, depending on how Carlos, Jannik, and kind of Rafa feels, I feel like those three are also worth mentioning. If they are injury-free, I would consider them, well, four then. I would go with four guys.
"It's tough to kind of leave any of those out due to the fact that Rafa has won here 14 times and then Jannik and Carlos have been the sort of best of the younger generation in the past year or two. So I think that's a good list of four.”
