Casper Ruud sets Wimbledon goals as he gets honest about grass not being his priority

Ewan West 27 Jun 2026 3:30 PM

Casper Ruud practising on grass at Wimbledon

Casper Ruud has candidly told Tennis365 what he would consider a successful result at Wimbledon 2026 as he discussed his approach to the grass-court season.

The former world No 2 and three-time Grand Slam finalist holds a 5-7 (41.7%) career record on grass, which makes it his worst surface by a big margin.

Ruud has been open about the fact that this part of the season is not a priority for him, with the last of his 12 matches on grass a second round loss at Wimbledon in 2024.

In a press conference during the 2022 Miami Open, Ruud famously said: “I think grass is for golf players.

“My preparation for Wimbledon is pretty much just playing golf, you know, before the tournament, because I feel more comfortable on the golf course than the tennis courts on grass now. But let’s see if it can change.”

The 27-year-old Norwegian played his only grass-court warmup match for this year’s Wimbledon Championships at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club on Thursday.

The world No 12 was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Ben Shelton in the exhibition match, and speaking afterwards, he joked to the crowd: “If you don’t know me, grass is my favourite surface.”

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In an interview following his match at Hurlingham, Tennis365 asked Ruud if he has goals he would like to achieve at Wimbledon despite grass not being his biggest priority.

“Well, I mean, I’ve never made it past second round, so we can start with that, I assume (laughs),” Ruud replied. “Anything further than that would be a success.

“But yeah, it’s such a hectic clay-court season, I’ve said many times before, so for me to go straight after Roland Garros to play the leading up events and then Wimbledon, it feels like it would be a bit damaging for the remaining [months] of the season.

“So, it’s just the way for me to get a little breathing room, and time off to clear my head a bit, and refocus on, of course, Wimbledon, and then the rest of the year.

“I know for many Wimbledon is sort of the last tournament before people choose to take a few weeks off, but I choose to do it in between Paris and Wimbledon. And it’s something that I’ve felt comfortable with.

“But yeah, at an important stage in my career, I realise that, well — I don’t feel like I’m running out of time — but as the years go by, I definitely want to try to have a good result here.

“And maybe a long-term goal, or a career, life goal, would be to reach second week [at Wimbledon], for sure.”

Ruud has been handed a tough opening round draw for Wimbledon as he will face former semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz.