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Casper Ruud is of the opinion that the ATP's hectic schedule has a unique impact on Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner when compared to other players, for one very interesting reason.
Ruud won the 14th title of his career on Sunday, winning the Stockholm Open with a straight-sets win over Ugo Humbert. Speaking to the press after that, Ruud shared his take on the men's tennis calendar, which has come under significant criticism of late. The criticism has increased even further this week, after Holger Rune's injury in Stockholm.
At his media interaction, Ruud agreed with the take that the schedule is very demanding and expressed relief that his break in the summer had allowed him to recharge for the end of the season.
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"Well, I think (there's) a time for everything and you know me in my case this year I had a longer break in the summer which has kind of led to me maybe having a little extra energy at this time of the year," Casper Ruud said.
"I think if you look at Carlos's year this year it is pretty unique and he's played many matches and still seems like he has joy and continues to go. So of course there are two tournaments left for him. But other than him there's not that many that get to play you know 60, 70, 80 matches. So I think if you get to that level where you start looking at 50, 60, 70 plus matches a year it gets quite demanding at the end," he added.
Ruud then posited that except for Alcaraz and Sinner, the No. 1 and No. 2 in the ATP rankings, who had played more matches than others, the rest of the players got the opportunity to return home and decompress before rejoining the tour.
"But yeah, except for maybe him and Sinner who really does well almost every single week. We all have our hiccups and our earlier losses where we get to go home and these things," he added.
Casper Ruud will next compete at the ATP 500 event in Basel, where neither Sinner nor Alcaraz will be in action. The duo, after sharing the four Grand Slams of the year, have qualified for the ATP Finals in Turin, and are likely to play next at the Paris Masters.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are completely unplayable: Casper Ruud
At the interaction, Casper Ruud lavished praise on Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, stating that they are 'completely unplayable' at the moment and that it is up to the rest of the tour to catch up with them.
"Right now, we have two players on tour who are completely unplayable, but then there are about 30 of us struggling to improve and take advantage of opportunities. We have to accept that they're in a different sphere, forget about them, and simply try to evolve to make them look human," Casper Ruud said.
Alcaraz and Sinner recently played at the Six Kings Slam, where they reached the final. Sinner prevailed in the final, taking home $6 million in prize money.
