Casper Ruud praised one of Alexander Zverev’s shots after their French Open semi-final.
The 25-year-old faced the German in a rematch from their contest at the same stage of the clay court Grand Slam a year ago.
The seventh seed completed a convincing straight-set win that day and Zverev was determined to avenge that loss.
He did just that as he recovered from a slow start to register a convincing 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 win against Ruud who battled a stomach problem.
Casper Ruud says one shot in Alexander Zverev’s game is ‘beautiful’
Ruud was aiming to reach his third successive French Open final. He entered Friday’s semi-final having not played since winning his fourth round tie against America’s Taylor Fritz.
This is due to an injury sustained by Novak Djokovic who Ruud was due to play in Wednesday’s quarter-final before the Serbian withdrew from the tournament.
Despite starting well against Zverev after four days’ rest, the Norwegian was unable to overcome his stomach issue and was overwhelmed by his opponent, who played one particular shot that caused him plenty of problems.
“The backhand we know, it’s a beautiful shot, he can rip it cross court, down the line and he’s a good baseliner,” Ruud told reporters.
“He has everything you need to play good clay court tennis and I think the last four weeks he is playing some of the best tennis in a while.”
What were Casper Ruud’s clay court season results?
Ruud played a full clay court season which began at the Estoril Open where he reached the semi-finals and suffered a surprise loss to Pedro Martínez.
He then reached back-to-back finals, first in Monte Carlo where he was beaten by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Barcelona, where he won the title by avenging his loss to the Greek player a week earlier.
But his form dipped in the following two tournaments. Felix Auger-Aliassime took him down early in Madrid while Ruud lost his match in Rome, at the hands of Miomir Kecmanović.
The player got back on track by winning the Geneva Open, before ending the spring European clay court season with a semifinal appearance at Roland Garros.
Summing up his season, Ruud said: “I’m very pleased with how the season has been so far. In my game I’ve tried to make a few adjustments and improvements, and I think that they’ve come along pretty well.
“Still, there’s a long way to go where I feel like I’m 100 per cent satisfied, and I think that’s a good thing. This result here in Paris is, in my eyes, a great result, and it was unfortunate and a pity today that it ended this way.”
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