'He is awesome' - John McEnroe hails Casper Ruud reaching US Open final and 'did not see this coming'
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Published 10/09/2022 at 03:06 GMT
Casper Ruud has now reached two Grand Slam finals this season in what has been a remarkable run of form from the Norwegian. The fifth seed battled past Karen Khachanov in four sets to secure his place in the showpiece at Flushing Meadows and Eurosport expert John McEnroe has given his reaction to the achievement. McEnroe admitted that he "did not see this coming" from Ruud.
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Eurosport expert John McEnroe has paid tribute to the hard work and incredible rise of Casper Ruud after he sealed his place in the final of the US Open.
The 23-year-old secured a fairly comfortable victory over Karen Khachanov in their semi-final inside the Arthur Ashe Stadium to win 7-6(5) 6-2 5-7 6-2.
Ruud has enjoyed a breakthrough year having also reached the final of the French Open, where he eventually lost out to Rafael Nadal, and he now has the opportunity to clinch a maiden major title.
McEnroe has lauded the Oslo man's humility and hard work, along with recognising the talent that he clearly has to go with all of his positive mental and physical traits.
"He is awesome, he is humble," McEnroe told Eurosport. "He is not going to light the stadium on fire.
"He does not have the charisma of Carlos Alcaraz or Frances Tiafoe, but he is a credit to our game.
"He is extremely solid, he works hard. He has spent a lot of time the last few years at Nadal's academy, watching the way he does his thing. That has helped him to realise he had to do even more.
"It is an interesting dynamic with his dad being his coach and being so involved in that. It is amazing how well that has worked, especially as his dad was a former pro.
"So this is an awesome effort. I think at the French Open he was totally overwhelmed thinking about playing Rafael Nadal on clay - who wouldn't be?
"But now he seems to be playing even better than he was at the French Open, and he has got to go in thinking that he has a great chance to win this.
"I saw him up close at the Laver Cup last year and his serve was bigger than I thought and he hits a bigger ball. But I did not see this coming, that he would be this good on hard courts."
Ruud will now await the winner of the second semi-final between fellow rising star Carlos Alcaraz and the resurgent home favourite, Frances Tiafoe with Grand Slam glory on the line on Sunday.
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