Casper Ruud comes to Kitzbühel with good memories
Casper Ruud completes the field of Thiem's 7 in Kitzbühel. The invitation tournament starts next Tuesday, and the Norwegian youngster won the main prize right away: a meeting with Dominic Thiem .
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jul 02, 2020, 10:26 am
Anyone who hosted a private guessing game a few weeks ago, whom Dominic Thiem is now guiding to Kitzbühel for his prize money tournament, could only have been credited with one sure goal: Thiem taking his best buddy Dennis Novak into the tableau could be assumed . Otherwise, however, the circumstances of the Austrian number one played a trick - not only due to the corona-related cancellations by Grigor Dimitrov and Borna Coric.
Diego Schwartzman would certainly have been at the top of the invitation list, but a journey from Argentina was quickly off the table due to the current circumstances. And then there are also a few competitive events (in which Thiem even participates), such as the Ultimate Tennis Showdown by Patrick Mouratoglou. David Goffin is a man with whom Thiem traditionally gets on very well. And who only has good memories of Kitzbühel. He won the Generali Open in 2013. In the final against Dominic Thiem.
Victories against Isner and Fognini
Casper Ruud made it almost as far last year, the Norwegian lost to semi-finals Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Ruud therefore knows the circumstances under which he will open next Tuesday alongside Thiem, Novak, Matteo Berrettini , Jan-Lennard Struff , Karen Khachanov , Andrey Rublev and Roberto Bautista-Agut at Kapsfeld in Kitzbühel.
And looking at Casper Ruud's annual balance sheet, Dominic Thiem invited one of the hottest players on the ATP Tour 2020. Eleven wins in five losses are recorded in the Norwegian's balance sheet, painful at most, the first round loss at the Australian Open against Egor Gerasimov in five sets. On the plus side, there are successes against John Isner and Fabio Fognini in the ATP Cup. And the very first tournament victory on the ATP tour in Buenos Aires. Ruud followed the finals in Santiago de Chile. The 21-year-old from Oslo made it to number 36 on the ATP charts. With a strong upward trend.
Ruud starts against Thiem
Ruud is allowed to test the host at the start on Tuesday and faces Dominic Thiem in the day session. The group is completed by Struff and Rublev. Ruud lost in three sets to the Russian in the round of 16 in Hamburg in 2019, a round later Rublev Thiem took out of the tournament at Rothenbaum.
He showed in Rome last year that Ruud was not shy about saying his opinion, despite his youth: at that time he was a direct witness to Nick Kyrgios' semi-voluntary withdrawal from the second round match and subsequently had a long-term ban on him Australians demanded. Ruud was not granted this wish, after all Kyrgios had to leave his prize money in Rome. Similar failures are not expected for the coming week in Kitzbühel.