Ruud humiliated by Sinner: "Sinner hits the ball harder than Djokovic".
Casper Ruud had a much stronger Masters tournament than expected. Finishing second in his pool behind Alexander Zverev, and beating Andrey Rublev and Carlos Alcaraz in the process, the Norwegian earned himself a place in the semi-finals of the prestigious event.
Unfortunately for him, the story didn't last long, as he received a real tennis lesson from Jannik Sinner, losing in just over an hour of play (6-1, 6-2).
Questioned in the press conference, Ruud compared the impression left by Sinner to that left by his duels with Djokovic: "Djokovic and Sinner play different tennis. I think that on television, they seem to play the same way. But Jannik hits the ball harder than Novak.
He doesn't let you breathe. With Novak, you can play rallies. I'm not going to say it's easier to play Novak because he's the best in history.
At least with Novak, you can play more rallies and not be terrified of Novak sending a bomb down the line, for example. I don't necessarily like to compare players, because each has his own style.
For me, you don't realize how fast Jannik is unless you watch him play live and are in the stadium. I had the opportunity to train with him here before the tournament. He beat me there too.
In a way, I knew what I was in for."
