Casper Ruud’s road to the final has also been very impressive. An impressive quarter-final triumph against Holger Rune saw him gain a berth in the semi-final of the tournament against Alexander Zverev.
And he swept the Russian aside in three sets winning 6-3 6-4 6-0 in a flawless victory that will certainly give him more confidence coming into the tournament.
He has certainly settled into his groove throughout the tournament and has been playing some fantastic tennis.
‘The way that he came out and dominated those two sets against Holger Rune winning 6-1 6-2, that was such a big platform. His game has just been trending in the right direction, he’s been getting better and better,’ Tim Henman said to Eurosport ahead of the final.
‘The semi-finals against Zverev – I didn’t think he was going to win that and he absolutely killed him so I think he’s in a great place coming into this final.
Norwegian comes into this affair as an underdog, with Djokovic, who has made nine appearances in the final since 2020 (more than any other player in the sport), but considering his form, he can certainly upset the odds to claim his first Grand Slam title.
‘I’m in the final, I’m going to just go out there and try to play without too much emotion,’ Ruud said ahead of the match.
‘It’s important to be mentally prepared and I’m going to visualize myself in both winning and losing situations on Sunday and see if I can have a game plan ready.’
The 24-year-old is certainly one of the most in-form players on the ATP Tour having made the finals in two of the last four majors (the 2022 US Open and the 2022 French Open) but has failed to claim his first Grand Slam title.
The World No 4, should he win in Paris today, will claim his second title this season, after winning on clay at Estoril in April.
He was given a strong lesson in ball striking by Rafael Nadal in the final here last season, who defeated him away in three sets, showing off his amazing power and ball striking abilities.
And his form against top-5 players does leave a lot to be desired, having only managed to secure victory in three of his seventeen previous matches against those players.
