Ruud discusses 'advantage' over peers and how having 'clay mentality' helps give him edge

Casper Ruud loves to play on clay because it's his favourite surface and he believes it's a good advantage to have against other players who do not favour it as much.

Not many players love to play on clay because most players are more likely to love playing on hard courts. Rallies are shorter, play is quicker and it's generally more pleasant experience for the player. Nobody wants to play 30-shot rallies all the time and endure matches that go on for 3-4 hours. Ruud enjoys that and it's something he feels is a good advantage to have compared to his rivals.

Speaking to Eurosport he talked about it:

"You look at the top 100 players in the world. Out of a 100 I would say 70 or 75 of them prefer to probably play on hard courts. There are much fewer players that actually prefer to play on clay and I think I'm one of them. That could be an advantage."

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He continued:

"You know you have players that don't want to be there at all. You can have some of these matches where only 3 or 4 shots are enough because you're opponent might do something stupid."

About playing on clay:

"It's a nice and comfortable feeling to have. It's not so much that I'm going to win every match. it's more like I'm going to be very tough to beat on clay because I can last for many hours. Whoever wants to beat will need to play incredible tennis for 3 hours."