He Challenges You Whenever He Needs

Posted by Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday June 4, 2024

Paris – Casper Ruud knows a lot about Novak Djokovic's character and abilities, and because of that the Norwegian will never underestimate his quarterfinal opponent's ability to beat him.

The two-time Roland-Garros finalist says he will not overestimate Djokovic's current injury situation, or the fact that the 24-time champion needed nine hours to complete his last two rounds in Paris when they met in the quarterfinals for that matter. it will be a repeat of last year's finals in Paris.

“I don't expect him to surrender at all. I have to expect that he will be young, ready and that it will be a tough match,” said Ruud on Monday after defeating American Taylor Fritz in four sets.

“I will expect him to be young, ready in two days. Don't think too much if he played for 9 hours, 12 hours or 4 hours in the last few days. You know, Novak is Novak. He will be ready no matter what, or at least he will do his best to be ready. He's generally doing really well.”

Ruud says he will try to use the current situation to strengthen his belief.

“I will try to imagine that I am 25 years old; he is 37 years old. Maybe it doesn't mean much because he is still in good physical shape, but he played a few more hours than me on the road here, and I hope that my previous games are not as long as his and I try if there is an opportunity to use that.”

Is Novak Second Best Clay Courter Of All Time?

Ruud says Djokovic's skills on the clay court cannot be underestimated.

“You can definitely argue that he is the second best clay court player of all time,” he said. “I mean, obviously Borg has more qualifications here than him, but Novak was always close, he always reached the final and he ended up losing to Rafa. And I lost to him last year in the finals.”

The seventh-seeded Norwegian, who leads all ATP players in wins on clay since the start of 2020, says Djokovic has all the tools to make a complete, unstoppable clay-court player.

“I think he reads the game unbelievably well. He knows how to use dropshot well. He's obviously going well. So it's hard to beat winners for him.”

And don't underestimate the Serbian body, strength and stamina, said Ruud.

“There is a body. You are strong. He never breaks down in a way. Sometimes he feels like he will, but he never does. I think he's been shown the last two games playing four hours and looking down and out but coming back.

“I didn't see much that happened today, but I heard that he went down until the fourth break and came back from there. So he faces a challenge whenever he needs to.

I mean he has all the shots. I mean, he doesn't play as heavy maybe as Rafa and extreme toppin, but he doesn't need to. He has other qualities that are almost as good.”