Casper Ruud set for major rankings drop after stunning French Open exit

Oli Dickson Jefford 28 May 2025 3:02 PM

Casper Ruud looks on during a match

Casper Ruud crashed out of the French Open on Wednesday, with the Norwegian set to fall out of the top 10 after a stunning defeat to Nuno Borges.

Seventh seed Ruud, a two-time runner-up at Roland Garros, was beaten 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 by world No 41 Borges on Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The world No 8 was a French Open finalist in 2022 and 2023, losing to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, respectively, and also reached the semi-final in 2024, falling to Alexander Zverev.

The Norwegian appeared to be struggling physically throughout the latter stages of the contest, with Borges dominating the final two sets on his way to victory.

“I was fighting a lot, especially in that first set,” said Borges on court.

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“I feel like I was completely drilled, he really played with huge intensity, and I wasn’t handling the situation the best – it was too much for me.

“I just kept on trying and I realised he started to slow down a little bit. Obviously, he wasn’t 100% today, but I’m still proud of how I battled from the beginning until the end.

“I gave myself a shot, and today I got lucky.”

Defeat for Ruud represents his joint-worst career result at Roland Garros, having previously only lost once in the second round – on his tournament debut in 2018.

And, with semi-final points from twelve months ago set to drop off, the 26-year-old will fall out of the top 10 when the rankings update post-tournament.

With 750 points falling from his ranking, Ruud is currently projected to drop to world No 13 in the ATP Rankings, with 2,905 points to his name.

However, he will fall to world No 14 in the live rankings if Arthur Fils beats Jaume Munar in his second-round contest tomorrow, with the Frenchman in line to hold 2,935 points should he reach round three.

Ruud previously fell out of the top 10 earlier in the clay swing, but soared back up the rankings after winning his first Masters 1000 title at the Madrid Open.

However, defeat means he will enter the grass-court swing, traditionally his weakest part of the season, out of the top 10 and low on form.

Borges had previously struggled at the French Open, with this now being the first time that the Portuguese has reached the third round of the tournament.

Victory over Ruud represents the biggest win of the 28-year-old’s career, this being the first time Borges has beaten a top-10 opponent after 13 previous defeats against such opposition.

Borges, who reached a career-high of world No 30 last September, is up one spot to world No 40 in the ATP Live Rankings.

Up next for the Portuguese is 25th seed Alexei Popyrin, who defeated Alejandro Tabilo in straight sets on Wednesday.