Rome Masters playing host to a pair of grudge match semi-finals
Both of the Rome Masters semi-finals will be contested between players who have had heated disagreements, if not outright arguments on the court.
Casper Ruud will face Holger Rune for the first time since the 20-year-old Dane accused his Norwegian rival of shouting in his face in the dressing room in Paris.
Ruud insists that they have buried the hatchet even if they haven’t exchanged Christmas cards.
“I think it’s great for Scandinavian tennis. We have two Scandinavians in the semifinal here in Rome. It shows that we are doing something good up there in the Nordic,” Ruud said.
“We have talked after the incident in Roland Garros and I think we both respect each other. You know, I didn’t send him a Christmas postcard, and neither did he to me. So, I’m not sure if we can say that we are too close,” Casper Ruud said in his on-court interview.
“We’re just gonna probably focus on the tennis part on Saturday, both of us. Hopefully make it more, sort of, friendly I guess, during and after the match this time,” he said.
“But it’s great to see, like I said earlier, just Scandinavian success. I think it’s really good for Nordic countries.
Ruud also had high praise for Rune and how much he has improved since their meeting in Paris last May.
“He’s a very, very energetic player,” Ruud added
“He’s improved so much. You can see that his confidence is good on court and really deserves where he is at the moment. He has big goals for his career and he is going through one goal by another.
Ruud hopes to extend his perfect 4-0 record against Rune to a fifth straight win but feels that this will be his toughest meeting with a player who has now joined him in the top ten.
“Tennis is always open. It’s never over until it’s over, and I’m just gonna try to fight,” the world No 4 said.
“I’m just gonna try to think about what I’ve done well against him before. I have a winning record against him.”
While the prospect of a genial match is a possibility in the Rune vs Ruud clash, the other semi-final has a frostier feel to it.
Daniil Medvedev has taken Stefanos Tsitsipas to task several times since their infamous 2018 Miami Open meeting.
Tsitsipas has admitted that he muttered ‘Bullshit Russian’ at the net when shaking hands with Medvedev.
Medvedev exploded seconds later, hurling profanity at the Greek player, who was 19-years-old at the time and calling him ‘small boy who doesn’t know how to fight’.
They have had two memorable but less ill-tempered meetings at the ATP Tour Finals, but Medvedev was fined for his conduct when the pair met at the 2022 Australian Open.
On that occasion, Medvedev had directed his rage towards the chair umpire after becoming enraged by what he felt was coaching from Tsitsipas’ player box. At the time, on-court coaching was not allowed. However, it was Medvedev who was fined for his tirade against umpire Jaume Campistol.
Medvedev had also taken exception to comments made by Tsitsipas regarding the game of compatriot Andrey Rublev. Tsitsipas had said that Rublev was a player with not many tools after losing to the Russian; he had also previously described Medvedev’s style of play as boring.
Despite their clashes, Tsitsipas believes a certain amount of respect has been built between them as foes.
“I think we respect each other as players but probably not so much on personal level … We don’t have any sort of relationship at all, I would say,” Tsitsipas told iNews.
The Rome Masters semi-finals will take place on Saturday, 20 May 2023.
