Casper Ruud Grateful for Geneva Open Challenge Ahead of French Open

Tennis world number seven Casper Ruud (25) believes his demanding victory at the Geneva Open on Saturday could be beneficial as he prepares for his French Open campaign, where he faces Brazilian Felipe Alves in the first round on Monday.

Ruud had to play both the semi-final and final of the Geneva Open on Saturday due to rain delays on Friday. He overcame Flavio Cobolli 1-6, 6-1, 7-6 in a challenging semi-final before returning to defeat Tomas Machac 7-5, 6-3 in the final just hours later.

“I’ve played four good matches, four quite tough matches so I think physically it’s a good kind of preparation,” Ruud, a two-time French Open finalist, told reporters.

“All the other players in Paris, what do they do in training? They play matches. So why don’t you just come here and play a real match instead of practice matches? That’s my theory, and today I got to play more than three hours on the court.

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“That is something you have to prepare for when you’re playing best-of-five sets. It’s not easy to get three hours in a row in the Slams to practice so it’s been a great week in terms of the win and also building up the form and physicality for Paris.”

Ruud hopes for third-time success at Roland Garros after losing the last two finals to Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic, but the Norwegian said he is not looking too far ahead.

“The goal, like any other Slam, is to reach the second week and from there typically I’ve seen that things open up a little bit,” Ruud said.

“Maybe you play someone who’s a bit tired. If you’re physically ready for the second week of a Slam, I think a lot of good things might happen.”