Chris Oddo| @thefanchild | Friday, May 30, 2025
Paris – The struggling player called again to shorten the season.
After dropping out of school in Roland-Garros’ second round Casper Ruud and Alex de Minaur Both point to the strictness of this trip calendar and say it is almost impossible to suffer mentally and physically during the Rat Game season.
“I’m just tired. I’m mentally tired. If anything, I’m a little burned.” Alex de Minaur said after blowing two plates of love with Alexander Bublik.
Australia says that two days off-seasons for several consecutive years are the secret to collapse.
“The solution is simple: you shortened your schedule, right?” De Minaur told reporters. “What’s abnormal is that over the past three or four years, I’ve had two days off two days after the Davis Cup and I’ve gone straight into the preseason and into the new season.”
De Minaur is always on the Australian Davis Cup team very soon, meaning he extends it to the Gills when the season finally ends.
“Once you start, you won’t be able to finish until November 24, right?” he said. “So, it’s never ending. It’s the fact. The solution is that you shorten it because what will happen is that the player’s career will get shorter because they’ll just burn in spirit. Too much tennis.”
Casper Ruud was injured in Paris and succumbed to Nuno Borges in four sets in the second round. It’s a tenacious loss for someone who has two Roland Garros finals on his resume.
“When rankings are involved, it’s like a rat game, too,” Ruud said. “You feel you’re obliged to do a mandatory event under certain rules that are going on in the ATP. If you don’t show up and financially, in terms of focus, rankings and opportunities, you’re going to lose a lot.” Ruud said some of the Byzantine rules used to keep players on the hamster wheel add to the stress.
“If you don’t participate in a mandatory event, they’ll cut 25% of your year-end bonus,” he said. “When I don’t think it’s very fair, you kind of force the player to get hurt or get sick or anything.”
Norwegians are looking forward to a break, to say the least.
“Anyway, like I said. I was able to cope with the pain. Not bad. Some days are worse than others. I just look forward to not being on pain medication for a few days now.”
