Mubadala Tennis: Norwegian Ruud eyes No.1 spot in 2023

World No. 3 Casper Ruud is hoping the two matches played at Mubadala World Tennis Championship (MWTC) in Abu Dhabi will help kick-start his 2023 season in the best possible way.

The 23-year-old Norwegian had a fruitful 2022 where he won three ATP Tour titles and finished second at Miami, Roland Garros, the US Open and the Nitto ATP Finals.

“This has definitely been the best year of my career. But at the same time, I still feel like there are some matches I could have avoided losing. The year has been a little bit up and down. The start of the year was a bit tough. I was not able to play at the Australian Open as I rolled my ankle the day before my match, and it took some time for me to settle into the season. Since then, I’ve had some great results and fantastic tournaments. I have also won matches I didn’t think I had a fair chance of winning,” he told Khaleej Times.

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This year, Rudd hit a career high of No.2 before slipping a place by the end of this season.

“This year has been incredible, I’ve had so many experiences and feelings and it's been great overall.”

At the 2022 US Open final where the No.1 spot was at stake, Rudd fell to Carlos Alcaraz in a four-setter close fight. And Rudd knows he is getting closer to his long-time dream of being No.1.

“Dreams that I had when I was younger are slowly becoming more achievable. I’ve always wanted to be World No. 1 and I was really close this year. I was one match away in the end. I did not always believe it was possible to be in that position but when I was in New York I enjoyed it and I am really motivated to get back to that position.”