Norway’s tennis star Casper Ruud has stated that the world number one Novak Djokovic remains a ‘human’ after beating him in the semifinal of the Monte-Carlo Masters. The 25-year-old registered a surprising win against the Serbia’s legendary tennis star on Saturday with a score of 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
It was Ruud’s first-ever win over Djokovic after suffering five consecutive defeats against him previously. While talking to the media after the match, the current world number 10 called the 24-time Grand Salm winner a ‘human’ and also revealed what was the primary reason for his motivation on the day.
“Obviously Novak is Novak,” he said. “He’s human. Sometimes he doesn’t seem like it, but he is like everyone else. I think what really motivated me and helped me a bit today was maybe that I thought about, you know, he lost a match in Indian Wells to Luca Nardi, and he showed there that he’s also vulnerable sometimes.
“Not many times in a year, but a few days here and there he’s possible to beat. Luckily for me I was able to think about those thoughts in the end of the third set and take advantage of it.”
Ruud will now face Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final of the competition on Sunday. It will be fourth meeting between the two. In the previous three outings, the Oslo-born has a slight edge over the current world number 12 as he won on two occasions and suffered just a solitary defeat.
Their previous meeting was in the semifinal of an ATP event in Los Cabos earlier this year where the Norwegian tennis star came out on top with a score of 6-4, 7-6. Interestingly, in their only previous meeting on the clay court, which was back in 2021 during the ATP 1000 Madrid Masters event, it was Ruud who came out on top in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-4.
🚨 CASPER RUUD TAKES OUT THE WORLD No. 1 🚨@CasperRuud98 becomes the first Norwegian to defeat a World No. 1 in PIF ATP Rankings history (since 1973).@ROLEXMCMASTERS | #RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/qjaYlKBf3P
— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 13, 2024