LAVER CUP

September 23, 2023

Casper Ruud

Team Europe

On-Court Interview

C. RUUD/T. Paul

7-6, 6-2

Team Europe - 2

Team World - 6

Q. Must be nice to see the stadium in blue.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah. Thank you. Game on, Baby.

Q. Game on, absolutely. It wasn't easy, though, was it? Set point down in the opening set. You needed to find a good first serve and you did.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah. Fortunate it went my way. A bit of a steal maybe that tiebreak, 5-6 down and a big serve and a couple of big points.

That's Laver Cup. I think, you know, even though World are up 6-2, there have been some close calls. They won the first two or three tiebreaks that we played, and luckily this one went Europe's way. Hopefully can be somewhat of a momentum shift for us now.

Q. Did it feel like a must-win match?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, it did. Coming out, you know, pressure, 0-6. I really thought that time to play maybe the best match of the year, and wasn't far away, so very happy. It was, like you said, a close first set.

Q. Best match of the year, ladies and gentlemen, by Casper.

CASPER RUUD: Almost, almost. (Laughter.)

No, I'm very happy with the level. Great for us, and I felt great out there. It was great playing Vancouver for the first time. So thank you for everyone who supported, yeah.

Q. Something you love about this competition as well, you started the last couple of Laver Cups the first match out. Won both of us. You're kind of the leadership now. There is a guy over there that was leading the team. He now had a couple of his band mates from Coldplay come in. That's what he's up to these days. Yours was red hot. You're the leader of the team and you went out there. Did it feel like a must-win match?

CASPER RUUD: Yes, it was. I don't know if I'm the leader or not. I think Bjorn is the leader. He's our captain. It's great to play besides Bjorn.

You know, when Roger is in the stands, it's extra special. You want to deliver. You want to play well. I tried to learn from last year. You know, wasn't easy. Was like a kid in the candy store being around the greatest, one of the four greatest players ever.

That was like one of the most fun weeks for me. I was really excited to be back in Europe. Different team, but we're young and we're strong and we're ready for the rest of the weekend.

Q. You're not wrong there. It was one of the greatest teams of all time last year. Casper, you're one of the best players in the world. I'm going to let you leave and I'm going to ask one of the greatest of all time to come up and chat about where Team Europe is right now. Well played.

CASPER RUUD: Thank you.