"Play for 4+ hours at 3 am" - Amid Novak Djokovic's late-night finish to French Open 3R, Casper Ruud makes a case for tennis being 'toughest' sport
Casper Ruud made a case for tennis being one of the toughest sports in the world after Novak Djokovic's over four-long match against Lorenzo Musetti which ran till after 3:00 am local time. The Norwegian even ended up detailing his post-match routine after a fan asked why he was up late.
Ruud faced 28th-seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the third round of the French Open on Saturday, June 1. The seventh-seed Norwegian won the match in four sets 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Djokovic, on the other hand, faced Lorenzo Musetti in his third-round clash. The Serb was two sets to one down and his title defense appeared to be in trouble. However, he made an extraordinary comeback to win the match 7-5, 6-7(6), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Tennis journalist Jose Morgado took to X to opine about the volatile nature of a tennis match.
"Tennis really is something else... How things change in minutes," he wrote.
Ruud commented on the post and laid a claim for tennis to be one of the toughest sports in the world.
"Can tennis be considered one of the toughest sports in the world? What others sports make you play/compete/perform for 4+ hours at 3 am?" Ruud asked.
A fan was surprised to see Ruud up at 3:00 am and asked:
"why are u still up lol"
Although it was not necessary for Ruud to respond, he explained his post-match routine which kept him up.
"I just finished my match 2 hours ago. After that I have to cool down on the bike for 15 minutes, do press/media, ice bath for 10 minutes, shower, eat and then get treatment/massage. I’m currently at the treatment stage," Ruud wrote.
Novak Djokovic was not in the mood to sleep after his late-night finish against Lorenzo Musetti at the French Open 2024
It was almost 3:07 am when Novak Djokovic finished the deciding set 6-0 against Lorenzo Musetti in the third round of the 2024 French Open. The Serb was in no mood to sleep as he was filled with adrenaline. He even told the crowd he would join a party if they were going.
"And now… Who's going to sleep? It's impossible to sleep now with all this adrenaline. If you're going to party, I'm coming too! Let's go," the Serb said during his post-match interview.
Djokovic, whose match was supposed to begin at 8:20 pm but began after 10:30 pm, refused to talk about the scheduling. He said their match was worth talking about more and praised his opponent.