Casper Ruud was on the receiving end of Jannik Sinner’s historic triumph in Rome on Sunday.
Sinner defeated Ruud in the Italian Open final and became just the second man in history, after Novak Djokovic, to complete the Career Golden Masters; the name given to the feat of clinching each of the nine ATP Masters 1000 titles.
The Italian secured his sixth consecutive Masters crown, having not lost at the premium level since Paris 2025.
Prove me wrong – Jannik Sinner’s best surface is clay
If not, what is?
After coming through a tough battle in the semifinal with Daniil Medvedev, many expected Sinner to drop a set against clay-court specialist Ruud, but the world number one emerged victorious 6-4, 6-4.
The Norwegian, a two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, was not his usual self, suggests Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert.
Brad Gilbert reacts to Casper Ruud’s performance in the Rome final
Speaking on ‘The Big T Podcast‘, Gilbert said: “A couple of things for Ruud awakening that I thought was uncharacteristic.
“One, he’s normally very relaxed on the court, and he started actually barking at the camp a little bit, and his dad a little bit. That was like, you’re not used to seeing that.
“And I felt like he got off to a good start being patient. But the reason why I say uncharacteristically is his game is about serve and find that first ball forehand.
“And I thought he settled to go backhand to backhand with Sinner, and obviously Sinner’s backhand is not as good as his forehand. But I felt like he should have, early on, tried to find the forehand, which he did all tournament.
Jannik Sinner is now a bigger favorite to win Roland Garros than Rafael Nadal ever was
Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments!
“Do you know, he didn’t have one of the 10 sets that he won during the tournament, go past 6-4. He was dominating guys, and he’s dominating guys with the forehand.
“So when he had those couple of patient rallies going, I thought he should have been on his bicycle and tried to go big on the forehand. Be a little more unpredictable, patient, and then still use your strength.
“So I felt like maybe he got this little lead, and you know, as a player, when you’re zero and four against somebody, you haven’t won a set, maybe your first thought is, you hope you don’t get crushed, because remember last year there, he got crushed.
“But I feel like maybe the good start got him to think, ‘Oh, I could win like this.’ And Sinner said, ‘No, not so fast.'”
Casper Ruud re-enters ATP top 20 with run to final in Rome
After his failed title defence at the Madrid Open in April, Ruud saw his ranking fall outside the top 20 for the first time since 2021.
For the majority of the last five years, Ruud has been a mainstay in the top 10, but has slowly dropped down the rankings recently.
With his run to the final in Rome, however, Ruud has now re-entered the ATP top 20, going from 25th in the world to 17th.
He’ll look to continue his strong form at the Geneva Open this week, the final tune-up event before Roland Garros.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
