Taking Indian Wells by storm, a leaner Casper Ruud opens up about off-season diet

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—A strong start to the new season has Casper Ruud feeling as light as his newly trimmed physique at the BNP Paribas Open.

“Last year in February I was around 84 kilos and this year I'm 80, so it's 4 kilos less,” Ruud explained during his post-match press conference in between bites of a Granny Smith apple. “Maybe doesn't sound too much, but it's 5% of my weight, which is something.”

Ruud famously spent most of last season a step slower than his competitors after a 2022 exhibition tour alongside Rafael Nadal left him without a proper off-season and caused him to tumble outside the Top 10 from a career-high of No. 2.

“After Australia last year, I took four weeks off from tournaments to do a little bit of a pre-season,” Ruud said. “We focused a lot on lifting weights and building mass. And, you know, I was a little too stiff in my movements, too heavy. Not going to say I was bulking, but I was a little bit bigger than what I am now, and that led to me maybe not being as light on my feet, quick in the reactions and so on.

“It was something that I felt for quite some months last year, and that kind of bothered me a bit. I wasn't quick enough.”

I was a little bit bigger than what I am now, and that led to me maybe not being as light on my feet...It was something that I felt for quite some months last year, and that kind of bothered me a bit. I wasn't quick enough. Casper Ruud

To recover his fleetness of foot, the 25-year-old put away the weights and cut back on carbohydrates and sweets, opting to eat more cleanly as he increased his agility.

“I haven't been on a specific this or that many-calories-only diet. I had it in the back of my mind, not something that was kind of time pressure that I need to be this certain weight within this time.

“I'm not going to say I have worked on it but it's come naturally after working hard and changing a little bit in my diet.”

The change has already paid dividends. Ruud only won 14 hard-court matches in 2023; three months into the season, he has already surpassed that number, reaching finals in Los Cabos and Acapulco and avenging a clay-court defeat to Arthur Fils to make the fourth round in Indian Wells.

“Moving a little more mobile and flexible out there is always a good thing. I’m trying to play more aggressive, tennis-wise. So, there are a couple of things that I have adjusted from last year.”

The busy schedule means Ruud hasn’t been able to spend much time on the golf greens—his favorite pastime—but a return to the Top 10 has opened him back up towards bigger goals as he prepares to face Gaël Monfils for a spot in the quarterfinals.

“Obviously I want to finish [the season] Top 10,” Ruud said. “I don't want to be it for a couple of weeks now and the drop out of it again, because that might happen. But finishing the year top 10 is a goal and winning a bigger title than I've won before is a goal this year. That's something that I worked hard for.

“The last two years I got a taste of being at the really, really top of the rankings, and all these things, and it's more fun than being No. 11 or finishing the year No. 11. That's just the way tennis goes.”

Luckily for the Norwegian, he has a few more bites of the apple.