Casper Ruud takes a leaf out of Andre Agassi’s book ahead of Jannik Sinner Rome clash

Tennis365 17 May 2026 7:00 AM

Casper Ruud and Jannik Sinner in Rome

Casper Ruud appears to be taking inspiration from Andre Agassi ahead of his Italian Open final meeting with Jannik Sinner.

The Norwegian romped into the title match after thumping a physically spent Luciano Darderi 6-1 6-1 on Friday, whereas the Italian took a more scenic route.

Sinner beat Daniil Medvedev over two rain-affected days in a gruelling 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory, giving him less than 24 hours to recover for the final.

Ruud will be the fresher of the two but the 6-0 6-1 thumping he received at this tournament last year by Sinner has not been forgotten.

As the 27-year-old bids to lift his first Italian Open title, something Sinner is also aiming to do, the Norwegian referenced the sage advice of eight-time major winner Agassi.

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The three-time Grand Slam runner-up admits it will be a tall order to beat Sinner, who is on a 33-match winning streak at Masters 1000 level. However, the former world No 2 made it clear he will give his all to come out on top.

Ruud said on Tennis Channel, “He [Sinner] sort of looks unplayable and unbeatable these days. But you have to just try to think he is human too. At some point, I think Andre [Agassi] said it well, when you keep winning and winning, you will get closer to that first loss in a while.

“You just try to hope whenever I show up, that will be the day. But I guess I just have to think that raising your level, one level is not going to be enough against this guy.

“You have to raise it two, three or four times and then see if you can hang with him from there. And I realized that if I want to have a chance to beat him, I’ll probably need to play my best match of the year. And let’s try to do that.”

While his quarter-final drubbing at the hands of Sinner last year is still fresh in his mind, Ruud will do all he can to make sure there is no repeat of that on Sunday.

He added, “I had a bad loss to Jannik here last year and kind of got smoked. I didn’t really have much to push him with or challenge him with.

“But Sunday is a new day, it’s a new year, it’s a new tournament. So I will just try to be as positive as I can. And let’s see what happens here.”