Ruud on the Clay of Rome: "It's Much Slower Than in Madrid"

Ruud defeated Bublik in his first match in Rome this year. The Norwegian, who won the Madrid tournament, has regained a very high level of play and hopes to continue his momentum. He will have to beat Berrettini in the next round.

A fan of clay courts, the 26-year-old player has been speaking about this surface for several years now, though he finds it different from the one he played on in recent weeks:

"The conditions here are drastically slower than in Madrid—I think all the players will tell you the same. Sometimes it’s curious to hear how tennis players disagree in their opinions about hard courts being faster or slower, but here, I think we’ll all agree.

Rome’s surface is much slower than Madrid’s. We all have to adjust, even though we say it’s a common clay court, Madrid’s is really unusual," he told the media outlet Punto de Break.