US OPEN

September 2, 2022

Casper Ruud

Press Conference

C. RUUD/T. Paul

7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Five-setter, four-and-a-half hours. Your thoughts on the match.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, not many times you play more than four hours of tennis a day. It's obviously a challenge. But I felt good and I felt physically strong. I'm very happy about that.

The match was so close, back and forth all the time. In the fifth set I got a really good start and kept building on it. Very happy with the level I showed in the fifth. The body was holding up for it.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Really seemed like a huge turning point in the match the end of the third set. He was about to go up two sets to one. Can you talk about that.

CASPER RUUD: Sometimes it's a bit coincidental. You need the margins on your side, which happened in the third set for me. I don't remember all the set points. But he obviously had serve at 40-Love, so it's a game you feel he should win.

I made some good returns and made him play for it. He made a couple mistakes. That's what happened. If you win two of those 40-Love points, he's suddenly at 40-30, he will feel the pressure a little bit more. Tennis is a game where it's not over until it's over. Obviously we don't play on the time limit. Every point matters in the end.

Today I was happy. Like I said, I was a little bit fortunate in the third set that I was able to turn it around. That doesn't happen very often either. I played a magnificent tiebreak. Yeah, I mean, you could see that he was bothered by losing that game when he came up to the tiebreak. I took care of the chances that I got.

He kept going. He was strong. I thought maybe it was going to be tough for him to keep going after losing a set like that, but he kept fighting, kept going on in the fourth, played well.

Yeah, in the fifth, I just got a great start, like I said, kept building on it.

Q. When you do lose a close set like that, how are you able to compartmentalize?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, well, I mean, it's obviously best-of-five sets. Today is a clear example you should never give up even though you're down or the score is close or whatever.

I mean, I lost the second and the fourth, tough sets to lose obviously. 7-6, 7-5. Obviously I wish I could win in three sets, three straight sets.

You just take it as it comes. This year's Roland Garros really taught me well how to play five-setters. I only played one match that I played went to the fifth set. You know how you sort of set up a match, how you're thinking during a match when you're playing potentially five sets.

In the fifth set, I just thought this is why I work hard every day, to play well in these moments. I guess that helped a little bit.

Q. You played Tommy a few times now. Talk a little bit about your impressions of his improvements, what you see of his strengths.

CASPER RUUD: I think he's one of the best movers on tour. He moves really well. He's quick. He's strong obviously.

He has this sort of flat shots, especially from the backhand. It sort of looks sometimes like he's shoveling in a way. I don't know how to explain other than that. It's always a good shot, no disrespect saying it looks like he's shoveling.

It's very flat. He can accelerate and also kind of push it low on flat back, too. It's tough to attack when you're playing to his backhand side. It's tough to attack his shots. That I think is one of his strengths.

The forehand is at times really dangerous. Sometimes he gives you some free points, like every player does, obviously.

Yeah, like I said, I think his movement is one of the best on tour. He gets to many shots. He reads the game well. You're going to have to expect to play not one winner but maybe three or four to win the point. That's obviously sometimes a bit frustrating when you feel like you're hitting good shots, he gets everything back, reading the game well.

He has complete package. He's good from both sides. Good serve. Good return of serve. I mean, there's not too many big weaknesses in his game. I think we all have our weaknesses. I'm just like anyone else when it comes to this.

Q. Tommy talked before the match about how professional you are. Is that a level of discipline that has come easy to you over the years or something you had to work for?

CASPER RUUD: I think I got a lot of help from my father at a young age because he knew what this life, this career, if you want to have a good one, what it costs, what it takes.

Already when I was 12 years old, I quit doing other sports, said I wanted to be a professional tennis player, I think he sort of said, Okay, then I'm going to do as best as I can to help you. He knew that already from that age I needed to be serious.

Even though I'm only 23, I feel like I've been living professional tennis player life for 10 years already. Obviously it's paid off well. The last two years, they have been great for me.

Yeah, it's been 10 years already sort of, not on tour but living as an athlete. I hope there will be 10 more, hopefully even more.

Yeah, even though I'm young, like I said, I sort of feel like I'm going into what could be considered like sort of that I'm halfway in my professional career already. The next 10, hopefully 12, 13, 14 years, I can stay focused and determined and serious, I guess, in my career.

Q. Do you have a cheap day where you can kind of let loose on golf a little bit?

CASPER RUUD: Yes, for sure. I think we all need that. Obviously I enjoy playing golf. I do other stuff, as well, if it's just having a couple cheat meals or whatever just to think about something else, because when you're on tournament, traveling, you think about what you do all the time when it comes to what you're eating, when you're sleeping, all those things to keep your mind focused, your body ready for the next match.

It's fun some days throughout the year to let go of that, do something else, be a normal person. If junk food is your thing, playing golf is your thing, I don't know, whatever it is, I think we all sort of do it a couple days a year.

Q. Talking about the crowd, you said it was amazing but fair. They were rooting for him. What was the atmosphere like?

CASPER RUUD: It was great. I think the biggest court that I played on here before was 17. This was completely different. I did practice on it a couple times leading into the event.

I believe it was the old center court back in the days. That's what my father told me. It was a really cool court, cool atmosphere. It wasn't completely full, but it was close to being full at the end there.

Like I said, it's pretty loud, the court. People don't stay quiet during the whole point here in the States. That's something I noticed. It's fun. You get used to it.

But in the beginning it's like, Okay, aren't they going to be silent when we play? It's different. I never experienced that before. That's the vibe here. I haven't felt that till today, how much noise there is in New York. I know all the players who play on the big courts have been talking about it, how noisy it can get.

I felt it a little bit today. Like I said, they were cheering on him. Also when I was playing good shots, playing good rallies, they were cheerful for me. I didn't feel like I was playing him plus 8 or 10,000 people more. I felt like I was playing him. When he did good shots, yes, for sure.

I have felt worst, let's put it this way, but it was a fair crowd.