Injured Ruud criticises ‘rat race’ ATP points system

Casper Ruud, a Norwegian tennis player, has criticized the ATP’s ranking system, calling it “like a rat race” that makes players compete with their injuries.

Ruud, a two-time French Open champion, lost to Portugal’s Nuno Borges 2-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 on Wednesday in a second-round meeting.

The seventh seed comfortably won the opening set, but his knee injury, which he has been carrying since April, prevented him from playing until the match’s conclusion.

He claimed that “it’s been with me for the entire clay season.”

“As we all know, it’s a hectic clay season, and I decided to sort of push it away by taking some painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications to combat it, which have been effective in some ways but not enough.

I’ll need to wait a while for it to heal and rest for a while.

Ruud claimed that it is challenging to allow an injury to heal while competing on the ATP Tour.

He said, “It’s kind of like a rat race when it comes to the rankings as well.”

You feel compelled to play in accordance with the ATP’s requirements for the mandatory events.

The ATP has been contacted by BBC Sport for comment.

Players are required to compete in a certain number of tournaments each year under the ATP and the WTA Tour’s mandatory requirements.

The only exception is Monte Carlo, which requires the top-ranked ATP players to compete in eight of the nine required Masters 1, 000 events annually.

Ruud missed his first major clay-court competition of the year, Monte Carlo, but he did play in Rome’s Italian Open following his first ATP Masters title triumph in Madrid.

The world no. 8 also worried that he would lose out on qualifying points for a tournament, which are used to determine a player’s seeding and eligibility for direct entry.

Ruud continued, “You feel like you lose a lot if you don’t show up and play, both economically and pointlessly, ranking wisely, and playing opportunity wise.”