Stefanos Tsitsipas And Casper Ruud Have The Opportunity To Rack Up Slams
Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud have been seeing quite a lot of each other lately. After the Greek won the Monte Carlo Masters to push his career money pot over $30 million, Ruud got sweet revenge by claiming the Barcelona Open on Sunday in straight sets to grab his first Masters 500 title.
The Norwegian’s reaction was telling. “For me, it means a lot, this is the biggest title that I ever won. It’s something I’ve chased for a long time already. I’ve never won a 500 before or a 1000. I’ve been to a few finals but always came up a little bit short,” said the three-time Grand Slam runner-up. These sounded like the words of a relieved youngster rather than a player who is expected to be a force in the Next Gen of tennis. Maybe the mid-twenties life crisis is over.
Therein lies the issue for both Tsitsipas and Ruud. They are both 25 (Rafa Nadal had won 10 slams by then), have been around the block a fair amount already, and featured in a combined total of five unsuccessful major singles finals. There are mitigating factors here to explain the lack of rainbow gold.
Tsitsipas came up against Novak Djokovic in both the 2021 French Open final and the 2023 Australian Open. Ruud’s maiden singles final at Roland Garros ended up with a demolition job by serial clay killer Nadal. He claimed one set off Carlos Alcaraz in the 2022 U.S. Open final and was defeated in straight sets by Djokovic in Paris last year.
The young guns had to wait in line until the Big Three were no longer devouring the big prizes. That day has come. Nadal’s injuries mean that any appearance at an event is more important than winning now. Djokovic’s 2024 season has not started. His aura of invincibility has been given a shockwave by Jannik Sinner.
The chasing pack behind Sinner and Alcaraz have it in their hands to push on from here, but Tsitsipas and Ruud make some pleasant sounds without looking entirely comfortable at the business end. The Spaniard and Holger Rune are the only 20-year-olds in the current ATP rankings. Everyone else bar the current Melbourne champion has at least five years on them. Time is rolling on.
Given they have just fought over the last two ATP finals, both have been transparent about what they lack. Tsitsipas admitted that he was expending unnecessary fuel on things that didn’t assist. “Win a Grand Slam? I was close to succeeding in this challenge, I had my chances. Perhaps what I lacked was energy. I use way too much on the court. If you look at other champions like Djokovic, Federer and even Nadal, they know better how to manage all the effort that a Grand Slam requires,” said the 2019 ATP Finals champion back in October. The use of the past tense suggests he feels the chances are diminishing.
Ruud’s is a more curious case. At one point in the fall of 2022, there was a potential scenario of the Oslo star becoming World No.1 if Alcaraz had been eliminated earlier at Flushing Meadows. For a player who had never won anything above an ATP250 level, the elevation felt a little premature. There might have been a whiff of the 2011 pushback against Caroline Wozniacki on the Norwegian being top of the pile without winning over the critics or audience. He has had the knocks, plenty of them, and appears happy to reach finals. It’s a start, but the World No.6 can do better with such a skill set.
At least something has changed for both men in the last few weeks. Ruud has finally overcome his nemesis Djokovic at Monte Carlo to claim his first ever sets against the Serb after losing the previous 12. Tsitsipas beat the new, improved version of Sinner when almost trailing by a double break in the final set. These are the steps to bigger and better things. When the volume gets ratcheted up in a grand slam, there’s nowhere to hide though.
2024 still has a long way to go. The mid-twentysomethings are itching to break into the party of the major graduates. If there is life outside Sinner and Alcaraz, it’s time to prove it. Ruud and Tsitsipas are too good to star as extras.
