– It was a good match. Because I feel after watching Casper all season that he is one of the smartest players on the tour, says Medvedev in his winning interview on the pitch.
The world champion speaks warmly of Rudd, and suggests that boy Snarøya may have refuted some critics on the hard surface of the court in Turin.
Before the hard court season, everyone was talking about him as a gravel player. But here he is in the semi-finals of his first ATP playoffs. The first time I had none of the three, Russian chuckle.
Team star: Daniil Medvedev is nobody. Novak Djokovic halted the Grand Slam series by defeating the Serbian in the US Open final. Pictured: Luca Bruno
evenly speaking
Rudd and Medvedev were essentially tied in the first set, but the Russian managed to break Rudd’s second serve.
Thus, he got an early slot, which lasted until 6-4.
However, in the hall it sounded like Rod’s prayer before hearing the match. After Friday’s game, the 22-year-old said he wanted as much support from the stands as possible and against the Russian he got it.
A clear majority agreed with Rudd at the final ring of Bala Albitur in Turin, but failed to help Snarøya’s boy to a new feat.
The 22-year-old lifted quite a bit in the second set compared to the start of the first. However, he failed to capitalize on that, and it turned particularly dark when Medvedev once again managed to break serve for another match.
From there, Medvedev could control the match and could finally cheer for a win and advance to the final.
LUCRATIVE: Casper Ruud has registered around 4.5 million kroner in Turin. Here he thanks Daniil Medvedev for the match. Photo: Marco Bertorello
Redeem points and money
Rudd’s success in Turin wasn’t just a fantastic week on the pitch or just a learning week. He was also able to collect valuable ATP points and not least prize money.
For each victory in the group game, the player is rewarded with 200 points, thus Rod is awarded 400 points.
This makes him escape from Hubert Hurkacz at the spot below, at the same time as he plays seventh-placed Matteo Berrettini.
Rudd’s portfolio is also growing well after the success in Turin. Just for playing the three group matches, he earned around 1.5 million NOK.
He also earned the same amount for each win, so only in the prize money did he receive 4.5 million NOK in strong showings in the ATP playoffs.
Starting point
On November 11, the ATP pools were withdrawn. Rudd then ended up in a group with world number one Djokovic, world number four Stefanos Tsitsipas and world five Andrei Rublev. In the second group were Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini and Hubert Hurkacz.
They were in the top eight of the 2021 calendar. Medvedev was the first to prepare for the semi-finals before Djokovic and Zverev followed suit. The top three tennis players in the world secured three of the four semi-final spots.
Tsitsipas, ranked No. 4, had to break. It all culminated in a last-place finish in the semi-finals when Rublev and Rudd met: the fifth-best tennis player in the world against the eighth-best player in the world.
Rod pulled the longest straw and thus the semi-finals were between number one, two, three and eight in the world – a unique feat for the 22-year-old from Snarøya in a year where he also won all five championships on the ATP Tour.
On Saturday 21, the second semi-final match will take place between Djokovic and Zverev.
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