"No way you can put Novak Djokovic above Bjorn Borg" - Fans disagree with Casper Ruud calling Serb 2nd-best claycourter of all-time after Rafael Nadal
Casper Ruud recently said that Novak Djokovic was the second-best player on clay after Rafael Nadal. However, the fans weren't convinced by his remarks.
Ruud defeated America's Taylor Fritz in the fourth round of the French Open. The Norwegian took the first set in a tie-break. Although he trailed the American in the second set, he came back stronger in the crucial third set. He maintained his momentum till the fourth, overcoming Fritz 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Following the victory, Casper Ruud was asked in a press conference what makes Novak Djokovic so good on clay. He stated that Djokovic was always close to Rafael Nadal, despite Swedish icon Bjorn Borg winning six Roland Garros titles.
“Yeah, well, you can definitely argue that he's the second-best clay court player of all time. I mean, obviously Borg has more titles here than him, but Novak was always close, he always pretty much reached the final and ended up losing to Rafa. And I lost to him last year in the final," Casper Ruud said.
However, fans disagreed with the World No. 7 and shared their thoughts on X. One fan argued citing Roger Federer's losses to Rafael Nadal in the French Open final. They also put Bjorn Borg ahead of Novak Djokovic on the list.
"He lost finals in 2012,2014 and 2020 to Rafa. Roger lost 06,07,08 and 11 to Rafa. Novak went on to lose to Stan in a final. No ways you can put him above 6 time winner Borg."
"Not really with Casper on this reasoning cus my guess is that Federer lost more RG finals to Rafa than Djokovic," another fan wrote after guessing Roger Federer's achievements.
"He’s overthinking it. Or maybe it’s a Norway-Sweden thing. Borg won Roland Garros six times. Lost only two matches there total. At one point won 41 consecutive sets. Djokovic is way up there — maybe third — but not second," a fan commented.
However, one set of fans agreed with Ruud. A fan said that Borg didn't face an opponent like Rafael Nadal during his run.
"He is right. Borg didn't have the competition of someone like Rafa," the fan said.
"casper's words and his brutal honesty in every post match interview," another fan agreed.
One fan showed disapproval by writing this:
"Not a single ray of hope in this man's discourse"
Casper Ruud directly advanced to the French Open semifinal due to a shocking withdrawal by Novak Djokovic
Casper Ruud has advanced directly to the semifinals as Novak Djokovic unexpectedly withdrew from the event due to a knee injury. This means that a new French Open champion will be crowned on Sunday, June 9. The Serb was in pain during his fourth-round match against Francisco Cerundolo.
Djokovic later underwent scans and announced his withdrawal from the competition. The Serb came into the match with an existing knee injury, which was aggravated while facing Cerundolo in an intense five-setter. He stated that he slipped many times throughout the encounter, exacerbating his injury.
"I was playing a few tournaments with it and had no issues until today. Of course late finish from few nights ago didn't help the sleeping and the by rhythm and recovery. I actually felt great coming into the match as good as I could be under the circumstances and played really well first set," Djokovic said in the press conference.
"In the third game of the second set, I slipped, one of the many times that I slipped and fell, that affected the knee. I started feeling the pain and asked for physio treatment and a medical timeout and tried to take care of it," he added.
Owing to the withdrawal, Casper Ruud will face the winner of the match between Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur in the semifinals of the French Open.