‘The sport moves on’: Casper Ruud forecasts open Roland Garros men’s field without Rafael Nadal

LINE CALLS: Can Casper Ruud make it through a tricky quarter at Roland Garros?

PARIS—A year after playing a surreal first Grand Slam final against his childhood idol, Casper Ruud is looking at an even stranger prospect in 2023: a Roland Garros final without Rafael Nadal.

“It's a little sad, honestly,” admitted the former world No. 2 in his Media Day press conference. “I mean, to me, my earliest memory watching tennis is him winning his first Roland Garros. From there on, I was like six years old and I said to myself, you know, I always want to play tennis on TV one day. That's sort of where my dream to become a professional player started.”

Nadal overwhelmed Ruud to win a record-breaking 22nd Grand Slam title—and 14th on the terre battue—but sent shockwaves through the tennis world when he announced that he wouldn’t compete at Roland Garros for the first time since 2004 and strongly hinted he was nearing retirement.

While the news has triggered a mix of emotions from the game’s biggest names, the ever-practical Norwegian couldn’t help but notice the opportunity in front of him.

“It's a little strange, but, you know, the tournament still goes on,” he said. “No one is sort of bigger than the sport. It's gonna be exciting. I think obviously we know that there won't be a Rafa in the final this year, and I think those two spots are up for grabs for anyone. It's anyone's game.”

While Ruud undoubtedly ranks among the favorites for victory given his strong clay resume and resurgent run to the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinals, he suffered a brief injury scare on Saturday, ending practice early to address a so-called “kink” in his neck.

“It's not a big issue,” he assured in press, rolling his neck around to demonstrate. “I have still to feel better and already now sitting here I can move it more freely. I don't know what happened during practice, but it's no big concern, luckily. Whenever you have pain in the neck, it's a little, you feel very limited in your movement, so I didn't want to force anything.

“I have a tough practice session tomorrow with Novak [Djokovic], and I'm gonna get some really good intensity and so on there, so, you know, the goal is obviously to be physically ready for these longer matches, best-of-five on clay. Wasn't the biggest of concerns.”

Indeed, even without Nadal, Djokovic is just one of many rivals who remain standing between Ruud and a first major victory.

I think we have all shown that anyone has the potential to go far these days. We're just hoping that these two weeks will be 'ours' in a way; I think everyone thinks that way. Casper Ruud

“Oh, it's open,” said the No. 4 seed, who landed in the same quarter as his Rome conqueror, Holger Rune. “I think obviously you have Novak [Djokovic] and [Carlos] Alcaraz on the top side of the draw who are biggest names and maybe the biggest favorites to reach the semis. But I think also [Stefanos] Tsitsipas is there. Let's not forget about him. He's been in the final here before.

“On the bottom side of the draw, obviously Daniil [Medvedev] is second seeded. He's been playing great this year, honestly, showing he can play well on both hard court and clay. He won Rome. Obviously, Holger [Rune] is a big threat. He plays very fearless. Seems like he's in a good mode and playing good lately. He's one to look out for.

“What I did now is just go through the top eight seeds so that was maybe not the most-fun answer,” he smiled, before settling on Djokovic and Alcaraz as his top two picks.

Still, with both of those men in the same half of the draw, that leaves room for one other finalist, a spot which, after a slow start to 2023, the 24-year-old Ruud is as primed as any to take.

“I think we are all kind of motivated, especially the young guys. I think we have all shown that anyone has the potential to go far these days. We're just hoping that these two weeks will be 'ours' in a way; I think everyone thinks that way.”

Ruud will kick off his Roland Garros campaign against fellow Scandinavian, Sweden’s Elias Ymer.