Sometimes athletes must acknowledge the exceptional performance of their opponents. This was the case for Casper Ruud on Thursday night in Rome when he faced a formidable Jannik Sinner at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Ranked No. 7 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Ruud recently celebrated his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid but could not halt Sinner’s advance to a decisive 6-0, 6-1 quarter-final victory.
“It doesn’t feel so bad honestly,” Ruud commented after Sinner broke his serve six times during the 64-minute match, according to Infosys ATP Stats. “I think it was more fun than anything, even though I lost [0-6, 1-6]. You just look at the guy and say, ‘This is kind of next-level shit’ — excuse my language — but I don’t know what else to say. It was almost fun to witness at the same time.”
Ruud expressed his wish for a closer contest: “Of course, I wish it was a closer match. I wish I could have given the people and the fans a longer, closer match. I think that I was there ready to play, but he was just even readier.”
Sinner’s aggressive play from the start put pressure on Ruud, who managed to save two break points before winning his only game early in the second set. Despite this setback, Ruud chose not to criticize himself harshly due to Sinner’s outstanding performance.
“It’s as near as perfect that I witnessed, at least as a player playing someone,” said Ruud about Sinner’s display. “Just got to give it to him… Everything else that came out of his racquet and throughout the whole match felt like a hundred miles an hour plus.”
Ruud now aims to recover quickly from this defeat as he prepares to defend his title at next week’s Gonet Geneva Open. The 13-time ATP Tour champion hopes not to encounter another opponent performing as exceptionally as Sinner did.
“The shot that let me down the most today is my serve,” admitted Ruud. “If I serve better, sure, you get more free points… In the majority of the baseline rallies he got the better of me.”
Reflecting on Sinner’s skillset during their match, Ruud concluded: “It was like playing a wall that shoots hundred-mile-an-hour balls at you all the time.”