Rafael Nadal vs Casper Ruud Prediction: Expecting the Sensation and Total Over

As we expected, the final pair of Roland Garros for men was Nadal - Ruud. The Spaniard outplayed Zverev, but the match was not played to the end, and Ruud knocked out the sensation of the tournament, Marin Cilic. The bookmakers are quite logically on the side of the Spaniard. However, there is a feeling that the Norwegian will give a real fight to the world No 5.

Despite the fact that Alexander Zverev formally lost the semi-final, Alexander looked very decent and if he hadn't gotten injured, it's quite possible that he would have won the fight in the end. The German had 4 match balls in the first set! In the second game the encounter broke off and ended just before the tie-break. Zverev committed a lot of faults, but he also forced Nadal to make mistakes. The differences in form between the two players were evident and surprising. In any case, Zverev showed that Nadal is vulnerable now and there are doubts that the Spaniard can play another match at the same level as he did against Djokovic. In incomplete two sets Rafa actively won 21 balls with 26 unforced errors. 

The condition have been the slower conditions I played since long time ago here, because have been very humid this afternoon and if we had big humidity with indoor, the ball was super big and difficult to create a spin on the ball.By the way, he started the match playing amazing, honestly. Have been a miracle that first set. But I was there fighting and trying to find solutions all the time. But honestly under these conditions — well, when Sascha is playing well in any conditions, he’s an amazing player. Under these conditions, even was more difficult for me to put him away from the court. Because probably with these heavy conditions, he felt that my ball is not creating the impact that normally creates against his forehand or against his backhand. For example, when I hit the forehand down the line or when I hit my forehand in and out for against his forehand, I mean, my ball was not bouncing as usual here. So he was able to recover well from that position.

Nadal after the match with Zverev

Ruud again failed to win to nil, the match against Marin Cilic ended with a score of 3-1. However, the Norwegian had an excellent match and achieved a confident victory. The match lasted two hours and 57 minutes, Casper lost the first game, but instead of getting nervous, found his style, rebuilt and won three straight sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. He made 16 aces on the court, winning 71% of his first-serve points and 64% of his second. The winners/unforced errors statistic is also a remarkable - 41/21.

He's the last player of the ‘Big Three’ and the very, very top players in the world I have never faced. I guess this is perfect timing and it was worth the wait. To finally play him in a Grand Slam final will be a special moment for me. Hopefully a little bit for him as well. He has played so many finals, but at least he's playing a student from his academy this time. It's going to be a fun one, hopefully.

Ruud before the RG finals

We believe that Сasper Ruud is worthy of the Roland Garros final, as he beat strong Sonego, Hurkacz, Rune and Cilic in the tournament. It is clear that the Norwegian is inferior to the Spaniard in experience, but he is definitely superior in health. As the match against Zverev showed, Nadal is unlikely to show the same level of tennis again as he did against Djokovic in the quarterfinals. We believe that the final will be quite protracted and we will not be surprised if the French Majors ends up with a big sensation.

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