Casper Ruud has defended his resolution to participate in final month’s exhibition sequence towards Rafael Nadal after becoming a member of the champion Spaniard on the Australian Open scrap heap.
The high two seeds within the males’s draw each misplaced second-round matches they have been anticipated to win at Melbourne Park, with accidents contributing to each shock outcomes.
The upsets got here after Ruud and Nadal went head-to-head in 5 matches all through Latin America in December.
“It’s very easy to sit here now and say that was bad for maybe both Rafa and I due to the fact that we lost early here,” Ruud mentioned after his 6-3 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 loss to unseeded American Jenson Brooksby on Thursday.
“At the same time, I see no reason why we couldn’t have a good Australian Open or made better results down here.
“I believe it is coincidental generally.”
Local title hope Nick Kyrgios was also forced to pull out on the eve of the Open through injury, having opted to play for a lucrative fee in a Saudi Arabian exhibition last month rather than playing Davis Cup.
World No.3 Ruud lost to a player ranked 36 places below him in Melbourne, while second-ranked defending champion Nadal lost in straight sets to American Mackenzie McDonald, who is ranked No.65.
“The margins are small as of late,” Ruud mentioned.
“I do not really feel like a worse participant or that I’m in bodily worse form than I used to be through the US Open, for instance.
“There I made the final, here I lost second round. That’s how it is sometimes.”
Ruud mentioned his stomach harm has bothered him since he retired harm from a conflict with Andrey Rublev within the fourth spherical of the 2021 Open.
The 24-year-old Norwegian is hopeful a number of weeks’ relaxation will assist his physique get better.
“It’s still sometimes a little bit of an issue,” Ruud mentioned.
“I hope this period that I will have now in front of me of four, five weeks of not too much serving and rebuilding my body a little bit will help with the problem, because it’s not the first time that this happens.
“It did not have an effect on me loads, however I felt it just a little bit within the second set.
“In the third and fourth I was able to serve a little more freely and feel better in the ab.”
