Ruud Wins Biggest Career Title After Series Of Heartbreaks

Jack Draper, Casper Ruud
Jack Draper and Casper Ruud (photo: Ion Alcoba Beitia/MMO)

MADRID/WASHINGTON, May 6, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

Don’t ever underestimate the importance and value of big-stage experience. Just ask Norway’s Casper Ruud. After all, he’s played in 25 finals in his career – three of them Grand Slams – and, although he had never won an ATP Masters 1000 title until now at the Mutua Madrid Open, he put himself in contention often.

For once, Ruud didn’t have to face Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz, like he had when he lost to three of the sport’s finest players in his three major finals. This time, it would be World No. 6 Jack Draper, already the winner of an ATP Masters 1000 crown earlier this season at Indian Wells.

On Sunday evening, before a sold-out Manolo Santana Stadium crowd at Caja Mágica, the World No. 15 Ruud made his breakthrough. He won his first ATP Masters 1000 title on his third try. The first two times, at Miami in 2022 and last year in Monte-Carlo, Ruud didn’t win a set. Against Draper, the 26-year-old Norwegian from Oslo fought hard and won the opening and closing sets. He battled past the British No. 1 from Sutton, England, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4, to garner the biggest trophy of his career. It was their first meeting.

“My record in big finals is still not good, it’s 1-6,” Ruud said during his post-match champion’s news conference. “I’ve been in many unbelievable and incredible positions in my career, and I’ve been able to experience some great things and, unfortunately, have been on the losing spectrum of many of those matches but that’s okay.

“In many ways, my career has gone better than maybe I thought was possible sometimes. Of course, I always dreamed about winning tournaments like this or Grand Slams or becoming World No. 1, and I’ve been fairly close.”

Previously, Ruud has been a major finalist twice, played in two ATP Masters 1000 championship finals and was a finalist at the Nitto ATP Finals. Each time, he came up on the losing end – but not for a lack of trying.

After winning his Madrid semifinal against No. 20 seed Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina, 6-4, 7-5, Ruud spoke in his post-match news conference on Friday about how he was going to do everything he had to do in order to win the title – and to be ready and do his best. “But if I don’t [win], that’s okay, life goes on, and I will still be the same person and seeking for [a] big title in my career. But of course, I would love to get it done on Sunday,” he said.

For Ruud, the third time in an ATP Masters 1000 final was the charm for him. His 11th-shot forehand winner on match point stunned Draper, who wasn’t able to hit a clean return, and it meant Ruud could finally raise his arms in recognition of a big title victory and to celebrate on the court. It was hard work, but in the end, he was just a little bit better than Draper. Ruud took his time walking off the court as he stood and soaked in the applause with a big smile on his face.

“It feels great, of course,” Ruud said during an interview with ATP Media on the court before the trophy ceremony. “It’s been a long time coming. [This was] one of the really big goals I dreamed about when I was young. So, it’s an incredible feeling to accomplish it. Also, the way I did it today, it was a great match. I knew Jack had been playing unbelievable all year, and especially in this tournament. So, I knew that if I didn’t bring my A-plus game, I was going to be whooped about the court.

“Luckily, I played really well. Jack has become such an incredible player, on any surface now. He’s won titles on every surface except [clay], and he’s already made finals here in Madrid. So, it’s an incredible year he is having. This is a really big boost for me, and I would like to keep it going.”

Later, in an interview with Tennis Channel, Ruud explained how he played his way back into the match by winning four straight games to close out the first set after being 3-5 down. “You don’t get many chances here in Madrid, especially against player like Jack,” he said. “He was kind of dominating from first ball. I was able to keep it close and level with him, then he got a break. I was thinking that I wasn’t getting many break chances. But at 5-4 serving for the set, maybe he tightened up a little and I played some good points, got it back to 5-all. I was thinking ‘I’ve got the momentum, let’s keep going.’ So, that was an important step toward winning.

“I lost the second set – and it could have been the match. The third set was a really tough one, going back and forth. I had some break points; he had some break points. We both saved them. Then, luckily, I got one more break and from there I served it out [at love] all the way. I’m really happy with the level of my performance and I’m happy I could stay calm all the way through the last game.”

During his post-match news conference, Draper said of Ruud: “I didn’t feel like his level really dropped off, apart from maybe a couple of double faults he threw in. Whereas, [my level at] a couple of stages in the match just dipped a little bit, and that was the difference. You can’t do that, especially at this level against that kind of caliber of player, especially on clay.

“I thought there was a lot of good stuff, but just in a couple of key moments, I felt like his level maintained and mine maybe just dipped off a little bit.”

The title was the 13th ATP Tour crown Ruud has won. En route, he strung together a trio of Top-10 wins for only the second time in his career. Ruud defeated World No. 4 Taylor Fritz, No. 10 Daniil Medvedev and Draper. Since 2020, Ruud has amassed more tour-level wins (125) and titles on clay (12) than any other player.

Against Draper, Ruud won 81 percent of his first-serve points, hit 40 winners – including nine aces – and converted three of 10 break points. His serve was broken three times and Draper collected 43 winners against the champion.

Now, by improving to 21-6 this season, Ruud has climbed eight places in the latest PIF ATP Rankings. This week, as he readies himself for another ATP Masters 1000 event on clay at Rome, Ruud is the new World No. 7 and he’s up to No. 5 in the ATP Live Race To Turin.

“I owe a lot of my success to all my closest ones,” Ruud said. “My family, my friends, my fiancée Maria. We got engaged last year, so she’s been an incredible support for me over many years now. She came yesterday to come and support, and maybe that was the last little push I needed to get over the finish line. I’m really happy, and it’s great I’m surrounded by so many amazing people. I’m a really lucky guy.”

Looking ahead, Ruud appears ready to take on the rest of the ATP Tour European spring clay season, which means preparing for another ATP Masters 1000 event on clay, the Internazionale BNL d’Italia at Foro Italico, which starts later this week. He’s seeded sixth, in World No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s quarter of the upper half of the draw – and could face the Italian No. 1 in the quarterfinals. In the meantime, Ruud after a first-round bye will begin against either No. 76 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan or No. 77 Roman Safiullin of Russia.

“I will enjoy this tonight and prepare as well as I can for Rome in the coming days, and then after Rome, I’m entered for Geneva, and then after that, we’ll see how it goes in Paris,” Ruud said. “But there’s still some really exciting weeks coming up, and I guess a win here shows the other players also that I’m here to try to do well for the rest of the clay season.”

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