What Casper Ruud said about Carlos Alcaraz after he won his first ever Grand Slam title back in 2022 at the US Open

Carlos Alcaraz is now a five-time Grand Slam champion, following his triumph over Jannik Sinner in the French Open final.

Alcaraz made an astonishing comeback against Sinner, when after going two sets down, he pulled it back to win in a thriller that lasted five hours and 29 minutes.

The match between the top two seeds took the tennis world by storm and is being discussed as one of the greatest matches of all time

Sinner had three match points in the third set and had a chance to clinch his second major of the year, but ultimately couldn’t get over the line against the defiant 22-year-old.

One player who also knows what it’s like to come up against Alcaraz in a Grand Slam final is world number 16 Casper Ruud, who faced him in the 2022 US Open final.

Ruud lost to the Spaniard over four sets and had some words for his teenage opponent after the match had finished.

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What Casper Ruud said about Carlos Alcaraz after the 2022 US Open final

When asked about Alcaraz after losing to him in the final, Ruud said: “I mean, it’s incredibly impressive what he has achieved already as a teenager.

“It’s sometimes hard to believe he’s only a teenager. But, yeah, he is. He’s more than four years younger than myself. It’s incredible.

“I think I’ve said it at least before, he’s one of these few rare talents that comes up every now and then in sports. That’s what it seems like. Let’s see how his career develops, but it’s going all in the right direction.

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“He has shown incredible fighting spirit and will to win. He was down a match point a couple of matches ago and was able to turn around and end up winning the tournament.

“You can also say he’s been not fortunate because he deserves to win the tournament. But things have also kind of went in his favor sometimes, to put it this way.

“He’s riding that wave. At the moment, he’s the best player in the world in my eyes. He deserves that spot.

“I’m happy that we played each other in the final and that we played for the title and the world No. 1 spot.

I think it’s deserving that after great results, both of us having good results throughout the year, we are 1 and 2 in the rankings tomorrow.

“I’m very proud of being No. 2. In a way, it’s a good thing because I can still chase the last spot. There’s only one more spot to conquer, but it will be tough for sure (smiling).”

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Casper Ruud’s ranking drop since the 2022 US Open final

Since achieving the spot at world number two after the US Open final against Alcaraz, Ruud has dropped down the rankings and has failed to get back to his career high since.

The following season, he dropped to world number nine after the 2023 US Open and fell as low as 11 before the end of the year.

Ruud has since re-entered the top ten and managed to get back to fifth, but dropped again in 2025 and now sits at 16.

On the other hand, Alcaraz has stayed at the top, adding four more Grand Slam titles to his name, and not dropping below three in the ATP rankings.

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