Casper Ruud's nose knows best in Dallas Open debut

Casper Ruud: Dallas Open finalist and style innovator? The latter depends on who you ask, but a piece of plastic might be the key to the Norwegian winning his first hard-court title in four years.

Through to the final at the ATP 500 event, Ruud has been sporting an accessory throughout his debut in Texas: a black nasal strip, which he ordered online in the hopes of helping his sleep and recovery after long days of training. But the strips have had an on-court benefit, too: After coming from behind to defeat Jaume Munar in Saturday's semifinals, Ruud said that he feels as though they've allowed him to breathe deeper during matches, increasing his oxygen intake.

Read more: Ruud explains Norway's "completely Texas" saying ahead of Dallas Open debut

"I bought this plastic ... I don't even know what it is [but] it helps widen out my nose a little bit," Ruud added in an on-court interview with emcee Blair Henley this week.

"It's not very fancy. I'm going to keep doing it for as long as I feel like it helps. It's not like a revolutionary technology, but it helps."

Ruud isn't the first player to test out sinus support in matches: After an illness, Carlos Alcaraz was famously spotted wearing pink ones during the ATP Finals last fall, and though the Spaniard didn't make it out of the round-robin phase of that tournament, he wore them again this week in Rotterdam, where he stormed to his first title of the season.

Alcaraz said he caught another cold at home between returning from the Australian Open and traveling to Rotterdam, and the strips have helped in his road to getting back to full health.

Ruud's choice to wear them, though, didn't come from necessity.

"I thought, 'Why not?' I bought four or five packs of it, in case I liked it, and I did," he said.

But should he defeat Denis Shapovalov in Sunday's final, Ruud already knows what he might spend a portion of the champion's purse on.

"It's starting to run out, so I need a little more!" he joked.