AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 12, 2025

Casper Ruud

Press Conference

C. RUUD/J. Munar

6-3, 1-6, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Well done, Casper.

CASPER RUUD: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: What do you think made the difference in the fifth set?

CASPER RUUD: Well, I'm just really happy to be through, happy that I stepped up in the fifth. Anytime you play a five-setter, it will be ups and downs because you'll lose two sets, and that's not a good feeling. If you can win three of them, that's it. That's the main objective.

The first match can always be tricky. I don't have an excuse because I've been here for ten days. Sometimes if you're not used to the conditions and so on... Of course, you don't want to lose early. You can be a little extra tight.

Yeah, I'm happy I got through. I just made more balls towards the end. Played a couple loose sets, a bit too loose, second and fourth, and did too many mistakes.

It's okay. We have time in five-setters. I stepped up when I needed the most.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Long match today. What do you eat before you play? How do you fuel during a match?

CASPER RUUD: I mostly eat quite a big chunk of rice with either some sort of protein, either chicken or salmon, and maybe olive oil and salt. Kind of very boring stuff, but it works.

During match, during five-setters, a little different than three-setter because I start eating small bites a bit earlier. I don't really like eating on court because your pulse is always pretty high and you have adrenaline. It's not easy to feel hungry. I realized if I don't fuel up anything other than liquid, I'm going to be cramping up and tired towards the end of the fifth set. So I need to eat a little bit.

Usually like a chocolate bar or banana does it for me. Pre-meal is always rice. Pasta is too heavy for me. I have chosen rice, yeah, as the thing that works for me.

Q. You played against Jaume Munar in hard courts before and you lose. Is that on your mind when you enter into the court, especially in the fifth set?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, definitely. Fifth set, I tried not to think about that. In a way I have a positive record against him. That one loss was the last match we played. You think a little bit extra about it.

Honestly it's quite normal to be nervous at the beginning of a tournament. I've never played my opening match on a Sunday, and it feels like if I would have lost today, I feel like I would have been on the way home before the tournament even started. Really didn't want to lose.

I guess maybe that helped me pull through the fifth set. Just kind of in a way refusing to lose, if that's something you can say.

It wasn't necessarily pretty always, but it worked, and I got there in the end. I played a good fifth set. That's what I'm going to take with me for the next match.

Also, happy that I was able to overcome and get my revenge from last time.

Q. It's obviously difficult to be ready as soon as January 10th for a Grand Slam tournament. What is your way to prepare the season? Maybe you can compare with the previous seasons, if you changed something.

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, I was on holiday for 10 days after just to kind of relax. After I started practicing and doing pretty good work in the gym.

I also during the off-season did a few exhibitions. I played one exhibition match in Norway with Holger. We also played one match there in Denmark in his home city. That was pretty cool. Two Scandinavians doing well at the same time. We tried to make two good matches. Then I played another exhibition in Abu Dhabi kind of on the way down here. One more in Macau. So I've been a few places on the way.

For me honestly it's quite difficult because Norway is complete opposite weather of what you find here. With the travel that we do, I don't really want to go somewhere for the pre-season. I think I realized that I will do a lot of fitness in Norway and play, of course.

I was in Melbourne from January 1st. I knew there was a big chance of me being here January 1st. I felt like that's 10 days where I will get really good practice and kind of get used to the weather.

So even though the season had started with United Cup, I looked at those 10 days as kind of a continuation of the pre-season. The season really started for me today.

Q. Was there anything interesting that you did in your fitness sessions in the off-season that was fresh or new?

CASPER RUUD: A few intervals, like 2- and 400-meter runs that are quite tough. I don't like those, but it's okay. You have to do it. Build up your stamina. We did, yeah, so many different things.

The thing is, as a tennis player, you need a lot. You need agility, speed, but also endurance, try to be flexible at the same time. You cannot only build muscle; you also have to try to become smooth out there. Every day we worked on something new. Yeah, it was a pretty hectic season.

Then Christmas, of course, is a big thing in Norway. A lot of family time. Yeah, all these like Christmas dinners that you have to go on. I think I've shaved off a few kilos from Christmas Eve.

Q. Tennis being an individual sport, there will be some players you have a good record against, some a bad record. If you're playing someone where you have a bad record, say, do you think you have to change up what you've done before, or do you think, Well, luck is going to change it? How do you deal with that?

CASPER RUUD: Yeah, well, I have a few examples. Obviously with Novak, not many players have a good record against him. I'm not the only one. But I got to beat him for the first time last year.

It's nice in a way to be, like, underdog and have a bad record because you can play freely and lose. If you're in the lead, like him, like he is with most players, it's kind of like, Will this be the day I finally lose to this guy? I hope not.

It's almost sometimes nice to be losing in the head-to-head because you can kind of play free. You know what's not working. You know you've lost two, three, four, five times before. When you get that first win over someone you haven't beaten, it's a really good feeling. It feels like you've overcome a really tough challenge, more than any other matches really. That's a good feeling.

I also realize at the end of the day every match, every day is a new day, every match is a new match. Anything can happen out there. All the guys are so good and can play well. Even though you're 3-0, 0-5 in the head-to-head, it doesn't matter because it's a new day and new possibilities for everyone. You just have to focus every day, and hopefully you play better than your opponent that given day.