“I’m ready whenever he is.”

Casper Ruud, the world’s seventh-best male tennis player, isn’t actually talking about tennis. He’s talking about one of his other great loves, golf, and how much he’d enjoy a round with Andy Murray, who has thrown himself into the sport since retiring from tennis in August.

Ruud saw Murray in action at a pro-am event at Wentworth a couple of months ago and told The Athletic in a recent interview that he was impressed with what he saw. Ruud, as one of the best golfers on the ATP Tour — especially with Rafael Nadal about to retire — is a pretty decent judge.

At the season-ending ATP Tour Finals in Turin, Ruud began his campaign against Carlos Alcaraz, another player with whom the Norwegian has bonded over golf.

They played a round together ahead of the U.S. Open, and discussed how the two sports can interact. “We talked a lot about how good is golf for us, for our mind just to disconnect, just to turn off our minds and be better on court,” Alcaraz said in a news conference.

“We can’t think 24 hours, seven days per week on tennis. You have to have your life as well… so, for me, golf helps a lot, and with Casper, we spoke about it.”

As for Ruud’s level, Alcaraz said: “I mean, he’s another level in golf. He plays unbelievable.”

Alcaraz and Ruud have a fair bit of shared history. The pair met in the U.S. Open final two years ago, with the winner guaranteed the world No. 1 spot. Ruud, who had been well beaten by Rafael Nadal in the French Open final three months earlier (as he was by Novak Djokovic in the 2023 final), had set points to go up two sets to one against Alcaraz. He missed them and then lost in four sets, as Alcaraz won his first Grand Slam title.

Ruud is also a former finalist at the ATP Tour Finals, losing to Djokovic in 2022. He entered this event as an outsider, with Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev the favorites, Alcaraz a little behind. Ruud’s form has been pretty poor since the French Open, where he looked on course to reach a third final in three years after dominating Zverev in the first set of their semifinal. A stomach parasite left him hugely underpowered for the remainder of the match, and he has struggled to return to full fitness and form in the months following.

On the court in Turin, it was Ruud’s level that was unbelievable, as he capitalized on an error-strewn first set from Alcaraz to win 6-1.

Ruud, 25, is something of a curiosity in men’s tennis. He’s the supposedly quiet man who actually has lots to say; the guy who goes under the radar but is a former world No. 2 and has reached three Grand Slam finals, more than any of his peers. The two-time runner-up at Roland Garros who can barely hit a ball at Wimbledon (Ruud’s grass-court season tends to consist of no grass-court warm-up events, possibly a concert in London, and then a hasty exit from the All England Club).

He is someone who, perhaps because of his unassuming personality, is perceived to play functional tennis — even though, as he reminded us at the U.S. Open against Gael Monfils this year, he is capable of producing sensational shots. (The celebration after the shot below is hilariously, and characteristically, low key).

SIDE TO SIDE!

Casper Ruud, are you serious? 🏃‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/SdJHx68GJv

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) August 29, 2024

He was at it again in his last match before facing Alcaraz, a defeat to Benjamin Bonzi at the Moselle Open last Wednesday, producing a ‘tweener lob and then a nonchalant backhand-volley winner.

Casper’s got TRICKS 🌭@CasperRuud98 pulls out the tweener against Bonzi at @MoselleOpen pic.twitter.com/Y9PNi1dfMm

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 6, 2024

“I think it’s nice to kind of be able to do your work in the shadows. I don’t need the lights on me at all times.”

It’s in news conferences that Ruud has had the limelight in recent weeks. During the Stockholm Open in October, Ruud gave a thoughtful answer to a question about whether he would play in an event like the ‘Six Kings Slam’ exhibition in Saudi Arabia. He explained that he had turned down previous events in the kingdom but added that other host countries’ human rights records also need consideration. “You can discuss China and human rights in China, but we go there every year,” he told SpilXperten.

Few players readily engage with these kinds of issues; Ruud did so seemingly off the cuff.

Earlier in the week, he had criticised the high level of taxation in his native Norway, which led to him being caught in the middle of a diplomatic storm. Politicians from across the divide weighed in, reminding Ruud of the importance of community in his home country and making the case that Norway, taxes-wise, is on a par with many of its neighbours. By the end of the week, he said he wouldn’t talk about politics for a while.

He is still one of those people who seems to find everything pretty straightforward, whether it be playing sport or discussing any given topic. He was a decent footballer and ice hockey player in his youth too, but along with golf, dropped those at the age of 12 to focus on becoming a professional tennis player.

As a kid, he would go regularly to the driving range with his dad Christian, himself a former tennis player. He was Norway’s highest-ever ranked player until Casper came along, peaking at world No. 39 despite never having any lessons.

Ruud says that after stopping golf after he turned 12, at around 18 he “fell in love with the game again and played as much as I could”.

Nowadays, Ruud junior and senior, plus a close friend of Casper’s, keep a tally of every round they play together throughout the year so they have a scoring average for the season. Ruud, who plays off scratch, says it’s a lot of fun but also gets “pretty tense”.

“Rafa (Nadal) is really good but I would actually put my doubles partner at the U.S. Open, William Blumberg, as probably the best golfer of all tennis players,” Ruud says when asked about the strongest golfers on the ATP Tour.

“I would say Rafa No. 2, probably of all the ones that I’ve played with above. I would maybe put myself as around three or four or five after them.”

Casper Ruud speaks to Rory McIlroy at the 2024 Paris Olympics. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

He also notes the retired American pair Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, as well as the current world No. 23 Sebastian Korda. Korda’s two sisters are professional golfers, with Nelly, 26, winning 14 LPGA titles including two majors and currently sitting at No. 1 in the women’s world rankings.

It’s Murray, though, who Ruud really wants to face. “I’ve never played him but when I used to see him around the tour he would always tell me that he didn’t get to play so much because he had some back issues. Now he doesn’t need to worry about that anymore.

“I saw him at Wentworth and he has a good swing. I mean of course, if you want to get really technical, I’m sure everyone has something to work on, but it’s solid.

“When I come to Wimbledon next year I would love to play him — maybe we can get a round in. There are some nice courses around there. I love watching the tournament at Wentworth, so I would love to go there one day to either play or watch.”

Ruud admits that he dreams about being a professional golfer one day but he doesn’t think it’s realistic. However, he does acknowledge that “the only thing that golf has that tennis doesn’t is that you can play until you’re like 50. So let’s say if I dedicated myself to it years from now, I would only be 35 in 10 years. So there might be a slight, slight chance, but it’s just not worth pursuing.

“I have a good a good life as a tennis player, so I don’t want to give that up yet.”

In Turin, Ruud continued to pressurize Alcaraz, but the Spaniard picked up his level from the trough of the first set to move ahead 5-2 in the second, losing just two points behind his serve.

Ruud’s calm persona on court and thoughtfulness off it can belie the lighter side of his personality. At the ATP Tour Finals, and at the Laver Cup in Berlin in September, the players have conducted group press conferences, which is a good way to show their personalities a bit more.

In Turin on Thursday, Ruud was asked about his highlight from the 2022 edition of the ATP Finals. At which point he looked over sheepishly at Andrey Rublev who was sitting next to him and put a sympathetic arm on the Russian’s shoulder. “Probably beating Andrey in the semifinal,” he said, before adding “No, but… Actually, it could be, if I think about it.”

At the Laver Cup, Team Europe’s players and the captain Bjorn Borg were asked for any stories that had come out of the team dinner the night before. They all indicated that their lips were sealed, only for Ruud to very earnestly say: “Can I say something? I thought it was funny, because Bjorn told us a story about when he flew the Concorde to New York, and Carlos (Alcaraz) didn’t even know what the Concorde was. We had to Google the Concorde for Carlos because he’s too young.”

Ruud’s popularity in the dressing room translated to him winning the ATP’s Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship of the Year award in 2022. In so doing, Ruud became the first player not named Federer or Nadal to win it for 19 years.

Loved by his peers and valued by tennis insiders for his decency and wider hinterland, Ruud is unbothered about being in the spotlight, but that has not dimmed his ambitions to go one better than those three Grand Slam final defeats.

“Hopefully, I can be in the position again in the future,” he says.

From 5-2 down against Alcaraz, he stayed steady and hit a beautiful topspin lob to break back and take the set to 5-5. As the errors returned to the Spaniard’s racket, Ruud broke again to move up 6-5 and served out to put himself on course for the semifinals.

The lights may shine a little brighter for now.

(Top photo: Marco Bertorello / AFP via Getty Images)