At Roland Garros, Ruud feels good but refuses to be labelled favourite: "No, I won't put myself on the list"

Casper Ruud is one of the men in form this 2024 season. After a decent start to the year, the arrival of clay brought him back to life, with a string of big results (final in Monte-Carlo, title in Barcelona and Geneva). After an easy first-round win (6-3, 6-4, 6-3 over Meligeni Alves), and arriving in Paris in excellent spirits, the Norwegian confided in a press conference.

Reflecting on his current state of form, the world No.7 made no bones about the fact that he's feeling good: "This season, I've had the best start I've ever had, the best five months I've ever had to start the year. After that, Madrid and Rome were somewhat disappointing results for me, and that's also part of the reason why I decided to go to Geneva. I wanted to regain some momentum by playing matches again. Obviously, winning the tournament is a good thing. It gives you confidence.

But, if you look, there have been different winners on clay this year, and in the three Masters 1000 tournaments alone, there have been three different winners. Let's say the top three (Djokovic, Sinner, Alcaraz) haven't won any major clay-court tournaments this year, so I'm sure they're hungry for a big title. I'm sure they're coming with a lot of motivation and will try to do well here. It's going to be interesting."

Asked to name a favourite, Ruud deliberately excluded himself from the debate: "No, I wouldn't put myself on the list because I don't want to put pressure on myself, but I'd put Novak on the list, that's for sure. For me, even if Novak hasn't had the best year he's ever had or the same level, I think he's still the favourite. He's the number 1 seed, and he's got 24 tournaments under his belt (in the Grand Slam), so if there's anyone who knows when he's at the top of his game, it's him."