Beaten in the second round by the Chilean Cristian Garin, 97th in the standings, Sunday in Indian Wells, Casper Ruud has not lined up three victories since his final loss at the Masters last November. The world number 4 could also very quickly tumble in the standings, especially if he does not raise his head in Miami, where he reached the final last season.
This Monday, Casper Ruud (24) still occupies fourth place in the world rankings, at the foot of a podium at the top of which Novak Djokovic still points, pursued by Carlos Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas. But for how long ? This season, Ruud has indeed still not taken off. The 24-year-old Norwegian was hoping to finally kick off his year in Indian Wells this week at the first Masters 1000 of the US tour. Unfortunately for him, he had to become disillusioned once again and continued his long way of the cross.
Sunday, the player who had confirmed all the hopes placed in him since his debut by reaching the final at Roland-Garros then at the US Open when he had never passed the stage of the round of 16 (at the Open from Australia) in a Grand Slam tournament before fell from high again. Opposed to Cristian Garin, who certainly fell in the previous round of Yoshihito Nishioka, 32nd in the world, but whose main feat of arms in recent weeks was to have reached the last four of the… Challenger tournament in Nouméa, Ruud was beaten in two sets (6-4, 7-6) by the 97th in the standings. Once again, the Norwegian who had started 2023 on an entry elimination in Auckland (after his defeat against Djere) therefore packed his bags after two games.
And looms Miami, where Ruud will have to defend the points of his 2022 final
This had already been the case at the Australian Open and in Acapulco in his last two outings. Since his final at the Masters last November in Turin, where he had again bitten the dust against Nadal, he who trains in the Majorcan academy, the world number 4 titled nine times since his arrival on the circuit has not has more managed to chain two victories. In Miami, it will absolutely be necessary. In the event of a new performance unworthy of his ranking, Ruud, finalist in Florida during the last edition, will indeed lose all the benefit of his magnificent career in 2022. From there to seeing him very quickly fall in the hierarchy if he does not recover not the shot very fast, there may be only one step.