The Norwegian Casper Ruud Champion of the Masters 1000 from Madrid And he got his first title in a tournament of that level -the immediate below the four Grand Slams -, imposing himself in the British final Jack Draper 7-5, 3-6 and 6-4, in 2 hours and 29 minutes.
For the Scandinavian, 26, second eternal In the most important appointments for a long time, it is the most important of its 13 titles, and confirms its good state of brick powder, its preferred surface, three weeks after the beginning of Roland Garros.
Ruud, who started this tournament as the 15th of the world, will be on Monday again among the top ten of the ATP ranking, climbing to the seventh position, and celebrated its most important success after losing three Grand Slam finals (Roland Garros 2022 and 2023, and the US Open 22022) and two Masters 1000 finals (Miami 2022 and Montecarlo 2024).
In the decisive pulse in the Magic Fund, Draper became 5-4 and his service to close the first set, but Ruud reacted on time and won three games in a row to sign up for the first partial. In the second set, both began even until 3-3, when the British took off and his rival sank, giving the 6-3 set with hardly any resistance. Already in the last and decisive set, Ruud managed to break the service of his rival to advance 3-2, and knew how to keep that difference to keep the title.
The Norwegian won his 13th title after an intense battle of two and a half hours at the Manolo Santana stadium, in an unexpected final, for a painting that had soon run out of Spaniards or great favorites. The two -time finalist from the French Open released its best version in the Spanish capital, after giving up early in the defense of Barcelona, and stopped a Draper who had been showing the best tennis in the tournament. The British self -confidence was enough to get on number 5 in the world, but not to add his second 1000 Masters, after winning in Indian Wells.
“It has been a long way. I’ve been dreaming of this since I was young. I knew that Jack was playing incredible, so I had to do my best,” Ruud said just the final ended.
The former world of the world now has 13 titles in his record, 12 of them on whipped land. Son of Christian Ruud, who became number 39 in the world, the Norwegian has Rafael Nadal as an idol, and in fact several times he trained at the Manacorí Academy.
Ruud is also a discreet, sincere player outside the courts, who does not hesitate to talk about his mental health problems, like this week in Madrid. “I don’t want to delve into the subject too much, but the truth is that I have gone through some mental health problems this year, so I looked for professional help and has helped me a lot,” Ruud revealed at a press conference.
“I felt a bit like I was running in a hamster wheel, which never came anywhere. The current calendar makes it impossible to stop. I needed to get out of that spiral and reflect on my life, my feelings and the path in which I was,” explained the Nordic.
The Madrid Tournament was more open than usual after Carlos Alcaraz announced that he could not play it for physical problems, and the early elimination of Novak Djokovic, fired at his premiere, and German Alexander Zverev in the round of 16, at the hands of the Argentine Francisco Cerúando.
