How Ruud kept cool to score Monte Carlo upset

Casper Ruud earned his second Top 10 victory at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters on Wednesday, though the 22-year-old admitted at the Tennis Channel desk that his motivation to overcome No. 7 seed Diego Schwartzman was more personal than simply hitting another career milestone.

"I think it was about trying to win today because I had an 0-4 record against him before this match today, and I was really hungry to try and beat him at least once," he told Prakash Amritraj after the 6-3, 6-3 upset. "Today was a good day. The conditions are heavy and I think that can benefit several people, including Schwartzman, because he’s quick and can get to a lot of balls. I felt like I had more of the fire power to actually put really good pace on the ball today.

"I try as good as I can to play with a high intensity and go for winners when I have a chance. It worked out well today, and clay is also my favorite surface, so you could say it was two clay courters up against one another today!"

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A semifinalist at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia last fall, Ruud is channeling that intensity onto yet another Masters 1000 stage, breaking the Argentine three times to ease into the round of 16 in just over an hour. Playing the Monte Carlo main draw for the first time since 2017, he credits his cool on-court demeanor to a combination of early intervention and cultural osmosis.

"When I was 15, I moved to Spain and hired a Spanish coach; he taught me and made me mature early, that the less energy I spend on bad habits, the more I’ll have to play and focus on the match. I learned quick that some matches come down to a point here and there that can really change things, so all my energy needs to be on the match. Hopefully you won’t see me throwing any racquets in my career; I can’t promise, but I haven’t broken any so far. I hope to keep it that way. It’s also kind of the Nordic, Scandinavian mentality; we don’t show too many emotions, and I think that’s our natural way of behaving."

Ruud couldn't have a more obvious role model than coach and father Christian, a former ATP pro who reached the fourth round of the 1997 Australian Open. Casper matched his father's result in Melbourne earlier this year, and the two spend most of the year on the road together.

"Some weeks I have help from a Spanish coach [named Pedro Clar Rosselló] from the Nadal Academy, because you can’t be around your father every single week of the year! We’ve had many years already and I’m only 22, so it’s a good way to mix up some weeks where he doesn’t come. Obviously, he wanted to come to Monte Carlo because it’s such a nice place."

Just shy of a career-high ranking of No. 24, his stay in Monte Carlo may yet extend into the weekend, provided he first gets past No. 12 seed Pablo Carreño Busta on Thursday; Ruud won their last meeting in three sets on clay back in 2019.