Casper Ruud believes Rafael Nadal’s astonishing dominance on clay has overshadowed the fact that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the ‘second-best clay-court players of all time’.
Since 2005, Nadal has won 14 French Open titles and he has also won the majority of Masters tournaments on clay. During his career, Federer has made 26 clay-court finals and won 11 titles – 11 of his 15 clay-court final losses have come to Nadal.
Meanwhile, Djokovic has 18 clay-court titles in his collection and he is the only player to have beaten Nadal in all three clay-court Masters tournaments. Federer won a Roland Garros title, while Djokovic will be aiming to win his third Roland Garros title this year.
Casper Ruud regarding Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic:
Ruud: ‘Federer and Djokovic ‘the second best clay court players of all time’” “Novak and Roger, they are probably the second best clay court players of all time.
It’s just that we never really talk about it because Rafa has all these records, so it’s hard. But every time you play against one of those big guys or big players it’s tough because you feel like it might depend on them a little bit more, especially on clay where the ball is a little bit slower and they have even more time to get the shots,” Ruud told Eurosport, per Sportskeeda.
Casper Ruud tells what it’s like to face Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on clay in 2023. Even though clay wasn’t Federer’s top surface, the Swiss was still an important force on the surface.
Between 2006 and 2009, Federer played in four consecutive finals at Roland-Garros. Between 2006 and 2008, Federer was beaten by Nadal in three consecutive French Open finals.
In 2009, Nadal suffered a shock loss to Robin Soderling before the Swiss beat the Swede in the final to claim his first and only French Open title. On the other side, Djokovic became French Open champion after beating Andy Murray in the 2016 final.
Before beating Murray, Djokovic lost the French Open final twice to Nadal and once to Stan Wawrinka. This year, Djokovic will try to prevent Nadal from winning a record 15th French Open title.
