Four years ago, Casper Ruud was one win away from world No. 1 when he faced Carlos Alcaraz in the US Open men’s final. Alcaraz, famously, won that match and title, and became youngest man in the Open Era to reach the top ranking. Ruud’s consolation prize was a No. 2 ranking, which remains a career high.
But today, the 27-year-old feels he’s a better player now than he was then, even if his current position in the ATP rankings doesn’t show it.
“I’m standing here today with the ranking that I have, which is worse than what I have been … [but] ranking doesn’t always kind of reflect on how you feel on court. That’s OK.”
“I’m also realistic, realizing I lost a few matches that maybe I shouldn’t have lost and didn’t want to lose this year, where maybe I didn’t do the years where I was Top 10, Top 5 in the world,” he added.
