The Norwegian began his season strongly, taking home two clay court titles including the biggest of his career, as Ruud won the Barcelona Open against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Ruud also won the Geneva Open in Switzerland, for the third time in his young career.

The 25-year-old went on to reach the semi-finals of the French Open, where Ruud fell short to Alexander Zverev in four sets.

His form fell off dramatically in the second half of the season however, as Ruud won just a handful of matches following the conclusion of the clay season.

It had looked as if he may fail to qualify for the ATP Finals, but Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal from the tournament, confirmed his spot in Turin.

An opportunity to end a tough year on a high, and an opportunity which he is seemingly taking with both hands.

Jim Courier ‘loved’ what Casper Ruud did in win over Carlos Alcaraz at the ATP Finals

Ruud began the ATP Finals with a convincing 6-1, 7-5 win over Alcaraz, putting him in a strong position to qualify for the semi-finals.

Alcaraz was feeling under the weather in Turin, but former world number one Jim Courier was impressed with what Ruud changed to take home the win.

“This was Casper [Ruud] doing a few different things,” he said.

“Standing up and blocking returns, the backhand down the line is not a shot that Casper is typically very aggressive on.

“We talked ad nauseam about the difference in their backhands – how Casper’s has more topspin and less variety.

“He brought variety to it today with that down the line and that certainly paid a nice dividend for him.”

Courier went on to say that Ruud did well to stay focused considering Alcaraz’s fitness struggles.

“Casper was opportunistic,” said the American.

“I love the way that he took it to him even though maybe he [Alcaraz] wasn’t feeling his best.

“To be able to capitalise on his break point chances, you just never know, you don’t want to give Carlos any chance to entertain himself because he hits these great shots and gets the crowd involved and all of a sudden he might forget he’s not feeling his best.

“Casper put paid to that.

“Pretty awesome.”

Would Casper Ruud be the lowest seed to win the ATP Finals?

Ruud qualified for the ATP Finals as the sixth seed, and was far from a pre-tournament favorite.

His win over Alcaraz may have changed a few minds however, and with a big step towards the last four, the Norwegian can start to dream of a maiden ATP Finals crown.

But would winning the tournament as the sixth seed, see Ruud become the lowest seed to win the tournament in recent memory?

Remarkably, it was 24-time Grand Slam champion, Djokovic, who won the ATP Finals from a lower seed than sixth, taking home the title as the seventh seed just two years ago.

His 2022 season was heavily disrupted by COVID-19, which saw the Serb miss out on the Australian and US Open.

Other than Djokovic, both Grigor Dimitrov and Tsitsipas were able to win the trophy as the sixth seed which could give the 25-year-old some confidence as the tournament progresses.

Ruud’s best performance at the event came in 2022 when he lost to Djokovic in straight sets in the final.

The Norwegian will be hoping to go one better this week and take home the trophy for the first time in his career.

Ruud will be back in action to face off against Zverev on Wednesday.

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