In the last couple of years, Casper Ruud has reached a total of three Grand Slam finals. However, the Norwegian has failed to win on any of the occasions. Earlier this week, he reached his second consecutive French Open final, where he was up against Novak Djokovic.
The 24-year-old has locked horns with the Serb on five occasions. However, he has always failed to capture a single set against the 36-year-old. Thus, a similar thing happened when they faced each other in the 2023 French Open final.
The Norwegian lost the match in straight sets. However, he had an indirect message for Novak Djokovic’s mind games as well as his short temper. Ruud said he had never broken a racket because he follows the footsteps of Rafael Nadal. The 24-year-old also stated that he has set a goal for himself that he’ll never break a racket.
“I haven’t broken a racket yet, I follow Rafa’s example. It is a small goal that I have set for myself, never to destroy a racket in my career. Sometimes I would like to throw it but that doesn’t give you good energy. It’s not the racket’s fault, it’s yours.” said Casper Ruud.
The 24-year-old has also spent time at the Rafael Nadal Academy. Therefore, he has never been shy about his admiration for the 14-time Roland Garros champion. The Spaniard has been loved by the fans for his calm and kind persona. On the other side, the Serb has always been infamous for playing mind games with his opponents.
How many times has Novak Djokovic broken his racket?
The 23-time Grand Slam Champion has gotten out of control on several occasions. Novak Djokovic rarely hides his emotions, thus, when he was losing 3-1 against Alexander Zverev in the third set of the 2021 Australian Open semifinal, the tennis court had to take a beating.
In the same year, playing against Daniil Medvedev in the US Open final, the Serb again smashed his racket on the ground following an unforced error. The 36-year-old was visibly agitated as he lost the championship final 6–4, 6–4, 6–4 against the second seed.
Emotions running HIGH rn#RolexMonteCarloMasters pic.twitter.com/niiCvGsMka
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) April 13, 2023
However, the most recent incident of him disintegrating a tennis racket came at the 2023 Monte Carlo Masters. Playing against Lorenzo Musetti, the chair umpire failed to differentiate between the shoe and ball mark at Djokovic’s side during a crucial point.
Moreover, that decision cost the Serb the set. As a result, before sitting on the bench, the 36-year-old decided to jump on a racket bending it from the middle. However, these are just a few times when Djokovic’s anger got out of control in the past few years. Consequently, in the 2023 French Open final, the Serb also got into a verbal quarrel with the chair umpire.