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Norwegian Tennis Association's Oyvind Sorvald says that young Norwegian player Casper Ruud will improve on hardcourts over time just like Spain's Rafael Nadal did during his career, in an interview to VG. Sorvald says, "I think we will see a bit of the same as with Nadal.
That he goes from being an great clay court player to mastering the hard-courts just as well. When Casper gets the physique in place and a good serve, he can play just as well on all surfaces eventually. Right now he likes clay courts better.
He has that image, and he thinks it's fun. But Casper is developing, and I think he'll be just as good on the hard courts as well in a couple of years." Spain's Nadal won his first four Grand Slams on the clay courts in Paris before winning his first Grand Slam tournament on another surface, which Sorvald says should serve as a good indicator for Ruud as well.
"Casper is very developing, he is willing to learn, and he will keep doing this for another 10-15 years. He can even win hard-court tournaments eventually. But just this year, he is probably set on making the French Open is what he is most looking forward to." Ruud's father Christian Ruud, who is also his trainer, says Casper will play five to six clay court events before the French Open.
"There will be five to six clay court tournaments before the French Open. Among other things, he will play in Monte Carlo. We will also add a couple of training periods of eight to ten days." Ruud is currently playing the Davis Cup for Norway this weekend against Barbados and scored a 6-2, 6-2 win over Haydn Lewis to give Norway a 2-0 lead in the tie. Ruud commented after his win. "He was dangerous on the serve, but I'm in good shape and felt I had taken over."