‘He has taken defensive tennis to a new level’: Casper Ruud points out reason behind Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon form

Casper Ruud has reached three grand slam finals, but has failed to notch up his first win so far, falling to Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, and most recently to Novak Djokovic at the French Open, handing the Serb his record 23rd grand slam title. Sitting at world number 4 in the world, Ruud enters Wimbledon on good form, and beat Frenchman Laurent Lokoli in the first round, despite grass not being his best surface. (Wimbledon Live Updates Day 4)

Ruud could be set to meet Djokovic in the semifinals if he makes it to that point. The pair have faced off 5 times, and Djokovic holds a perfect record against the Norwegian. Ruud also lost to Djokovic in the final of the World Tour Finals in Turin last year.

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The Norwegian spoke to Tennis World USA about the difficulty of playing Djokovic, and what makes him such a formidable opponent and the most successful male player of all time. “It's not just one thing though, but I think he just has taken like defensive tennis on a new level,” said Ruud.

“The way he moves and the way he's able to counterpunch and counterattack from deep, out to the side of the court, and it's just really tough to kind of hit winners against him, because he moves well and he gets to certain shots and balls that you don't think that he will get to. Even from those positions he's able to hit kind of good counterattacking shots with good depth.”

Ruud has a powerful forehand and is a good mover himself, but he was simply outclassed in big moments by Djokovic, who has an uncanny ability to simply make every shot land inside the court, making the task difficult for his opponents and neutralizing their best offensive weapons.

He is considered to be one of the greatest returners of all time, and has won 32.06% of return games he has played across his career. Only Rafael Nadal has a better percentage in players with at least 500 career matches.

Ruud also appreciated Djokovic’s instincts and reading of the game, speaking about how tough it is to try and outwit him even from good positions. “Yeah, and then he reads the game really well on top of that. So you kind of feel like every time you have a short ball against him, it's kind of tricky to know which side to go to, because he guesses right many times.”

“Even if he doesn't guess right, sometimes he's able to get there. I think he's just taken defensive - I'm not going to say defensive tennis, but how well he defends to a new level,” concluded the Norwegian. Djokovic, even at 36-years-old is one of the fittest and most flexible players on the ATP tour, and has won six of the last eight grand slams he has entered — a 52-2 record since the beginning of 2021.

He remains the favourite at Wimbledon, where he has won the tournament 4 times consecutively, and could tie Roger Federer’s record of eight titles at SW19 with a victory this year.

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