ATP top-20 star struggling with injury ahead of Wimbledon – ‘I need to listen to the body’
Casper Ruud remains sidelined because of injury and there are now major doubts over his Wimbledon participation.
The three-time Grand Slam runner-up has not played since his shock second-round defeat at the French Open and he admitted after his exit that he had been struggling with a knee injury for several weeks, but the ATP Tour’s “rate race” forced him to compete despite being in pain.
Ruud was expected to make his comeback and 2025 grass-court debut at next week’s Mallorca Championships, but he has now pulled out of the event, raising concerns that he might not be fit for Wimbledon.
“Just a quick update from my side. I am back on court training. The knee is feeling quite a bit better but unfortunately not 100% ready to compete yet,” he told the official tournament website.
“I am entered for the Mallorca Championships next week, which I unfortunately will have to withdraw from.
“I will keep training and pushing to be ready for Wimbledon but Mallorca will not be within reach for me, so I am really sorry for all the people there. I love Mallorca and I love going there.
He added: “I need to listen to the body and I will keep training and hopefully see you back on court soon.”
Wimbledon gets underway on June 30 and Ruud is projected to be seeded 15th at the grass-court Grand Slam, but he is yet to make it past the second round at the All England Club and last year he was upset by veteran Fabio Fognini in four sets.
With not too many points to defend at Wimbledon, Ruud could opt to skip the tournament and give himself enough to time to recover fully ahead of the North American clay-court swing.
But given his feelings on the ATP Rankings system and bonus pool he might decide to play through the pain again.
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After his Roland Garros defeat he stated: “It’s kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings.
“You feel you’re obligated to play with certain rules that the ATP have set up with the mandatory events. You feel like you lose a lot if you don’t show up and play, both economically, point-wise, ranking-wise and opportunity-wise.
“For me I know these weeks and months are really important for the remainder of the year and for my career. Of course, if my leg is broken, I won’t play.
“But it’s tough anyways, especially when there’s a time with mandatory events to skip them because the punishments are quite hard, in terms of everyone else will play, gain points… and you won’t. Also there’s a certain bonus system set up that is reduced if you don’t show up to the mandatory events.”
