Ruud suffers knee pain and another Grand Slam second round exit as Borges claims milestone victory
Casper Ruud has been sensationally defeated by Nuno Borges, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of Roland-Garros
© Julien Nouet / Tennis Majors
Casper Ruud – who claimed the Madrid Masters title just four weeks ago – has been sensationally defeated by Nuno Borges, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 in the second round of Roland-Garros.
The Norwegian was seemingly struggling with left-knee discomfort, taking a medical timeout after losing the third set. As a result of Ruud’s loss, he will lose 750 points – after reaching the semi-finals at last year’s edition – and drop outside of the world’s top 10.
Ruud on his injury: Hopefully nothing too serious
“It’s hopefully nothing too serious,” said Ruud, during his post-match press conference.
“For the last couple of weeks I’ve been kind of struggling a little bit with knee pain on and off. That’s why I decided to pull out of Geneva after Rome, do my best, and heal to be ready here. When you’re practicing, leading up to the tournament, it’s easier to avoid certain movements that are painful.
Everything is not painful but certain movements out there are kind of what makes it painful
“It’s not painful. Everything is not painful. But certain movements out there are kind of what makes it painful. Certain shots are painful to do. When you’re playing matches, you can’t really control it in the same way. You do everything you can to get to every ball. Sometimes you kind of forget that this is a shot I shouldn’t go for maybe in terms of pain in the knee. That’s pretty much all.
“It’s been okay in practice because, like I said, I’m able to control it a bit more. When you play a match, you go full on, no matter what happens. I don’t want to take anything away from Nuno, because I think he played a phenomenal match, a really high level.
“A few shots out there are a bit painful for me to do. Other than that, it’s kind of everything, it’s not more than this.”
Additionally, the defeat represents Ruud’s third second-round defeat in the last four Grand Slam – his worst result in Paris since 2018. He had been defeated by Jakub Mensik at this stage at the Australian Open.
Meanwhile, Borges made history by coming the first Portuguese player to reach the third round of Roland-Garros, and the first to beat a top-10 player at a Grand Slam.
