WATCH: Casper Ruud's unusual grass court preparation with a practice session on hard court
Casper Ruud has chosen a different approach to prepare for the upcoming grass-court campaign by tuning his tennis tactics on a hardcourt instead.
The Norwegian only recently reached his third career Grand Slam final at the 2023 Roland Garros where he suffered an unfortunate loss at the hands of Novak Djokovic.
Ruud's third straight loss in a major final came after the Serb demolished him in the championship round and wrapped the match with a scoreline of 7-6 (1), 6-3, 7-5.
Sadly, Ruud's fate in the clay-court slam repeated itself owing to his loss against Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the 2022 edition of the Roland Garros. Despite not having the fortune of clinching a Grand Slam title, Casper Ruud hasn't gotten pessimistic.
Ruud is already back on his feet and is bracing himself for his least favorite major championship of the season, Wimbledon. However, there's a catch.
Most recently, the World No. 4 exercised an unusual approach by practicing on a hard court to prepare for the upcoming grass-court season. In a series of Instagram posts uploaded by the Norwegian, he could be seen tuning his baseline groundstroke and volley skills on his home turf.
Ruud's practice sessions on the hard court may seem unusual, however, his dislike for the grass court surface is justified as his way of tuning his skills more effectively.
"Preparations for 🌱at my home club🙌🏼," he captioned the post.
Casper Ruud pulls out of the 2023 Halle Open
Casper Ruud recently withdrew from the 2023 Halle Open to take some time off after his disappointing finish at the 2023 Roland Garros to prepare for the prestigious grass court Wimbledon Championships.
The 24-year-old will not participate in the upcoming ATP 500 grass court event that eventually leads to the season's third Grand Slam, Wimbledon.
The grass campaign has never been the Norwegian's strongest suit. Furthermore, his withdrawal decision can be traced back to a series of statements the Norwegian made, mentioning the surface doesn't suit his game style.
"Yeah, honestly, I think it's fun to play on grass," Casper Ruud said. "Whenever I said that last year that grass is for golf players, it was more of a joke, that got taken too seriously. But I think it's fun to play. It doesn't suit my game very well. I feel a little uncomfortable in it."
Despite Ruud's limited success on grass, he will hope to put on a show at the upcoming Wimbledon Championships and elevate his stats on the grass surface this season.