Novak Djokovic remains player to beat despite tough year, says Casper Ruud - 'Favourite in every tournament'
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Updated 13/11/2022 at 17:36 GMT
Novak Djokovic is "the favourite in pretty much every tournament" according to Casper Ruud, despite a difficult year for the Serbian. Djokovic has slid from No. 1 to No. 8 in the rankings over the last year after being unable to compete at the US or Australian Opens and not earning ranking points for his Wimbledon victory. Ruud also praised Danish sensation Holger Rune, who beat Djokovic in Paris.
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Novak Djokovic remains the player to beat in almost every tournament he enters despite dropping down the rankings during a difficult 2022 season, according to Casper Ruud.
The Serbian was the year-end world No. 1 for the seventh time in 2021, but he was unable to compete at the Australian Open or the US Open this year due to his Covid-19 vaccination status.
Additionally, the Wimbledon title he secured in the summer – his 21st Grand Slam triumph – didn’t earn him any ranking points, as the tournament was stripped of them after organisers decided to ban Russian and Belarusian players from competing following the invasion of Ukraine.
Djokovic has slid from the top of the rankings to No. 8 ahead of the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals this week.
World No.4 Ruud will also be lining up at the event in Turin, and the Norwegian expects Djokovic to rise back up the rankings next season.
“I think tennis-wise he's played great. He's just been very unfortunate with the situation and how things have played out due to points, not being able to enter many countries, which has hurt him a lot on the rankings,” Ruud told Ruud Talk.
“But to me he will always be one of the best, if not the best player out there and always the favourite in pretty much every tournament he shows up to.
“I think he has shown that this year; he won Wimbledon, he won these two tournaments a couple of weeks ago, and in Rome. Tennis wise, I think he has done great only playing, I don't know, eight, nine tournaments. He's close to top five in the world.
“Let's see how next year plays out. I hope that he can be able to enter these countries again and that he can play a full year. In my eyes, he's pretty much always a favourite to win, except for maybe Roland Garros where the King Rafa is always going to be the favourite there.
“But on hard courts, grass, he's always up there being one of the favourites to win the tournaments and he said he wants to show the young guys that he's still there, he's still present.”
One player who has gone in the other direction in the rankings this season is Holger Rune, who stunned Djokovic with victory in the Paris Masters final on Sunday.
The 19-year-old from Denmark has climbed from No. 103 to No. 10 this year, claiming titles in Stockholm and Munich before his first ATP Masters 1000 triumph in the French capital.
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Ruud has come up against Rune four times already, winning each meeting, and knocked the teenager out of the French Open this year in an ill-tempered quarter-final that led to a war of words afterwards.
“We played four times already, so it's been quite a lot. And I've seen that he's improved every time we play, and it's become tougher and tougher for me to hold him back or hold him off,” Ruud said.
“It's great to see that another Scandinavian is doing well and we had a little, what should we say, conflict there in Paris, in the French Open, but it's nothing to dwell on.
“It's great to see that he has improved his game and I know that he's been into posture and all this stuff behaving on court, so it's great to see that he's also improving every aspect of his game.”
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