Grand Slam grant showed people believed in me, says Ruud
Three years ago, Norway’s Casper Ruud received a Grand Slam Player Grant for $25,000. At the time, he was ranked outside the Top 100 and had yet to play a main-draw match at the Grand Slams.
Fast forward to 2021 and the 22-year-old is one of the youngest players ranked inside the Top 20. He has been seeded at every major that has taken place since last year’s US Open and his career earnings have surpassed $3million.
“The grant from the Grand Slam Development Fund helped,” Ruud said after defeating Benoit Paire 5-7 6-2 6-1 7-6(4) in the opening round of Roland Garros on Monday. “It showed that they believed in me and that’s a nice feeling.
“It’s humbling for players that are from small tennis countries to get some help financially because it’s a sport that can cost a lot. The more you develop, the more the cost will come because you will bring in more and more people – at least that what I have been feeling in my career. But, in the beginning, it’s crucial to have the financial backing.”
Ruud’s trajectory has been on the up ever since he received the grant back in 2018. That season he came through qualifying at the Australian Open, Roland Garros and the US Open, winning a round in Melbourne and Paris. A year later he broke into the Top 100 for the first time, finishing 2019 ranked just outside the Top 50. He ended 2020 inside the Top 30 thanks to winning his first ATP title at Buenos Aires and reaching the semi-finals in Rome.
His steady progress on the court is mirrored in his off-court manner. Despite his section of the draw opening up at this year’s Roland Garros after Dominic Thiem lost on the first day, the Norwegian remains focussed on simply showing signs of improvement.
“I would be very satisfied if I was to end the year Top 20 and I am on a good road for that,” he explained. “Of course, you’re always aiming for higher but sometimes you have to also be realistic. I am having a great clay court season, but then I need to develop my game on hard court. There are many nice events to come in the Fall and I hope I can do some damage on the hard courts.”
Ruud’s career path shouldn’t come as a surprise given he is a former junior world No. 1, but there are plenty of players who have achieved that feat and found it difficult to transition to the professional tour. The Norwegian has fond memories of his time on the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors circuit and credits his experience there for getting him used to life as a professional tennis player.
He said: “I think you get a small taste of how the travelling life is when you play on the ITF Junior tour. The years that I played I was travelling already worldwide – I was in South America and the [United] States for tournaments, I went to Japan for a big Grade A event and, of course, the Junior Grand Slams.
“The ITF is doing a very good job with the junior events and I had a great time on the junior tour. I think they try to make you ready for the ATP Tour, where they put the tournaments and some of the players you play with in Juniors you will probably play with for the rest of your career.”
Ruud’s junior class who have gone on to feature prominently in the ATP rankings include the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov, Alex De Minaur, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Miomir Kecmanovic.
“There are guys on tour, we kind of grew up together,” said Ruud. “Playing against each other in the juniors, it’s nice to have some of those rivals, or opponents, that you have seen since you were 12 or 13 years old.”
Ruud’s second-round opponent at Roland Garros is Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak, who is another player who has spoken positively about the financial support he was given as part of the Grand Slam grant programme.
Introduced in 2017, the Grand Slam grants programme provides total annual funding of $650,000 to selected players from around the world as a contribution towards their competition-related costs, with the aim of helping them to develop as professional tennis players and compete in Grand Slam tournaments.
In total, 18 players started this year’s Roland Garros having benefitted from a Grand Slam grant, while a further 19 have either been part of a Grand Slam Touring Team or received a travel grant in the past.
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