"‘What’s going on? Am I worse? Are other players much better?": Casper Ruud left with questions after poor end to 2023, looks to return stronger after 'slaps in the face'

Norway’s tennis star Casper Ruud is hoping to return strongly next year after a disappointing 12 months.

The 24-year-old has had a tough time, especially in the recent past when hardly anything went right for him.

Ruud was recently quoted in a report where he stated that he is not sure what went wrong in the last 12 months but believes that recent results would help him understand better about his own shortcomings.

“Last year was incredible for me, finishing at the third spot at the ATP rankings, with a career high at No 2,” he said. “This year has been challenging in many ways. When you have this ranking you have more expectations on yourself, you think you have chance to play the final or win the trophy every tournament you play.

“When you lose early you’re like, ‘What’s going on? Am I worse? Are other players much better?’ It was a season to try to gain experience from competing as a top three or top five member.

“In a way, it was good to have a couple of slaps in the face to make you realise that everything is not going to go smoothly all the time. You have to work hard for that and of course I gave my best.

“It’s irritating, frustrating, annoying when you’re on the court and you don’t succeed as you want. But let’s see what happens in Paris. It’s not the end of the world. It’s an opportunity you are given to look back, reflect and try to learn from it, grow from it, to become a better player and what went wrong.”

“At this stage it’s hard to say what was learned because we are still in the season, there is still one more tournament, so it’s not easy to reflect on everything until the season is done.

“Competing against so many good players out there when you are the favourite most of the time, it’s something I need to work on for the next season. Physically it’s a long season, you need to be ready for many tough tournaments.”