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Casper Ruud admits he finds Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner's dominance "a little bit annoying," and also claims that the current two top-ranked players in the game "hit the ball with more speed" than Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer did.
Ruud, who is 26 years old, had a chance to play against the entire Big Three group before Alcaraz and Sinner started to dominate tennis.
Ruud played against Federer only once and picked up a straight-set defeat in their 2019 French Open third-round meeting. Against his idol Nadal, the Norwegian picked up straight-set defeats in the 2022 French Open final and the 2022 ATP Finals group stage. The current world No. 12 lost to Djokovic in their opening five meetings, but beat the Serb in their last matchup at this year's Monte Carlo Masters.
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A couple of years ago, Ruud had to deal with the Big Three in the deeper stages of tournaments. Now, he is facing a similar challenge in the names of Alcaraz and Sinner. The Norwegian is 0-4 in his matches against the Italian, while he has won only one of his six meetings against the Spaniard.
Ruud: Alcaraz and Sinner hit the ball with more speed than Djokovic, Nadal and Federer did
You can discuss back and forth as much as you want about different eras, but the fact for me is that Sinner and Alcaraz hit the ball with more speed than the Big 3 did. Rafa always went full out on his forehand, but he had more spin on his backhand and now we have Carlos and Jannik no side is a weakness. It doesnt matter if it's the backhand or forehand, they will rip it. Also, they move well, physically. They just move great," the Norwegian told Tennis365.
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Jannik could always rip the ball, but one are he has taken to the next level is his movement. You see him sliding, defending anywhere on the court. The same with Carlos and I feel they defend in a way that Novak did. You feel like you have them on the defense and in one shot, they are on the offensive again. It has been really, really impressive and at times a little bit annoying how good they have become, but you just have to accept it and we just have to do better to beat them.
Across the 2022 and 2023 seasons, Ruud lost three Grand Slam finals. In one of his recent interviews, the 26-year-old acknowledged that he was aware that in order to win a Grand Slam, he would probably need to beat Alcaraz and Sinner.
