Casper Ruud enjoyed his time with Rafael Nadal in South America as he described them as “two normal guys” off the court.
For his Latin America Tour, Nadal picked Ruud to be his opponent.
Ruud, who grew up watching and idolizing Nadal, had a chance to spend more time with the Spaniard and get to know the record 22-time Grand Slam champion more personally.
When Nadal is on the court, he is always fully locked in.
But off the court Nadal is just a regular guy who loves to have fun, says Ruud.
Ruud: I had a good time with Nadal
“Obviously, he’s older now and more experienced and he hadn’t done a tour like this before, but he had done something simila. I think, back in 2012 or something, he had been with Novak playing a couple of matches in South America. Not as many as now, but he told me a little bit about that. And, in the end, he’s also a father. He was talking back home with his wife and his kids, showing me some nice videos of his son and stuff. So, we’re just normal guys. That’s what we all are in the end. People think that athletes are like super strict or super serious all the time, but it’s not always the case. We can have fun, we do other stuff in our personal lives as well,” Ruud said on the Ruud Talk, as quoted on Eurosport.
Ruud and Nadal met for the first time in an official match in this year’s French Open final.
Nadal absolutely dominated their first meeting as he defeated Ruud 6-3 6-3 6-0.
At this past ATP Finals, Ruud and Nadal met for the second time on the main level.
Again, Nadal ended on the winning side as he beat Ruud 7-5 7-5.
It remains to be seen when we will see another Nadal and Ruud match on the main level.
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