Beaten early on, Ruud reassures us: "It's nothing serious".

It's the big surprise of this early Roman tournament. Casper Ruud, ranked 7th in the world, was eliminated in the second round. Faced with Miomir Kecmanovic, whom he had easily beaten in Madrid (6-4, 6-1), the Norwegian fell (0-6, 6-4, 6-4).

Ruud, who has made an excellent start to the clay-court season (finalist in Monte-Carlo, title winner in Barcelona), has been somewhat disappointing since Madrid, where he was beaten in the Round of 16 by Felix Auger-Aliassime. On Friday, the two-time French Open finalist initially dominated the match, before suffering back discomfort that prevented him from serving properly.

Questioned by Norwegian television, the best tennis player in the country's history was keen to reassure everyone: "It's nothing serious, it's not an injury or something I've struggled with before. There's a little twist or rotation in my lower back. It's crazy. Most people who've had this kind of back problem know it's no fun. In tennis, you rotate from side to side all the time, so it's not advantageous to get that in a tennis match."