‘What a joke’ – Casper Ruud berates scheduling of rival’s match at Paris Masters

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Casper Ruud looks back
Casper Ruud takes a break

Casper Ruud has slammed the scheduling of Jannik Sinner’s third round match at the 2023 Paris Masters after the Italian’s late-night win on Wednesday. 

The three-time Grand Slam finalist sarcastically applauded organisers and described the decision to give Sinner an earlier match on Thursday – reducing his recovery time – as “a joke.”

Sinner defeated Mackenzie McDonald 6-7(6), 7-5, 6-1 in the second round in Paris in a contest that started after midnight and finished at 2:37am local time.

The world No 4 was playing his first match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, having downed Daniil Medvedev in a thrilling Vienna Open final last weekend.

The 22-year-old’s third round encounter against Alex De Minaur has been scheduled to start at 5pm local time on Thursday as the last day session match on the Centre Court, giving him a short window to recuperate.

If physically fit, Sinner should be confident of progressing as he holds a 5-0 head-to-head record against the world No 13, who he crushed 6-4, 6-1 in the Toronto final in August.

In a post shared on Twitter/X, world No 8 Ruud tagged the ATP Tour’s official account as he blasted the treatment of his fellow top player.

“Bravo, way to help one of the best players in the world recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37am this morning – 14.5 hours to recover.. what a joke,” wrote the Norwegian.

Ruud fell to a 5-7, 4-6 loss to Francisco Cerundolo in his opening match at the Paris Masters on Wednesday.

Sinner’s coach Darren Cahill criticised the time the match was played on his Instagram story following his charge’s victory: “2.45 am. Happy for the Jannik Sinner win but zero care for the players’ welfare with Paris schedule.”

The world No 4 gave his own reaction to the challenge of his late-night battle in an on-court interview with ATP Tennis TV.

“It’s not easy to go on the pitch after midnight, it’s very late. Now I just have to try to sleep and recover, we’ll see how I feel tomorrow. In any case, I’m happy. I lost the first set badly, but that’s normal, I still have to get used to the conditions,” said the Italian.

READ MORE: Daniil Medvedev reacts to his row with Paris crowd after showing middle finger to fans

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