"Ruud awakening": Brad Gilbert blames confidence for Ruud's poor run of form continuing

Casper Ruud crashed out early at the Madrid Open continuing a nightmare season and noted coach Brad Gilbert blames an obvious lack of confidence for the results.

Ruud was a machine on clay so far in his career and he made it to the final of Roland Garros last year. The player is but a shell of himself this year crashing out early multiple times this year. Even a return on clay didn't do much except in Estoril where he briefly found his tennis to win the trophy.

Reacting to the loss, Brad Gilbert said:

"Up early watching Madrid, Ruud awakening. Casper is struggling atm confidence is such fine line, once the results come off a bit players come on court to play you with with completely different attitude"

He added:

"Confidence can go quickly especially when players feel you are beatable."