Nicolai Budkov Kjær has had an adventurous rise on the tennis court and is now ranked number one in the world in the junior team. The 18-year-old, along with Casper Ruud and the rest of the Norwegian team, will play against Portugal in the Davis Cup this weekend.

– He’s become a kind of older brother to me, Nicolai Budkov Kjær said of his national team teammate Ruud.

Kjær is only ranked 737th in the senior ATP rankings, but he is playing singles alongside world number nine Casper Ruud in qualifying for next year’s Davis Cup major.

– We have a good conversation together. He paves the way and shows that everything is possible. He often puts me in my place, so it’s great to have such a close role model.

– When did he put you in your place?

– There is no specific time, but he puts me in my place when he feels he needs it, Kjær said.

Kjær meets Jaime Faria in the first Davis Cup match. Ruud plays match number two against Henrique Rocha. Rocha is ranked 159th in the ATP rankings, two places behind Faria. Ruud smiles at his brother’s stamp.

– I hope he means at least that he admires me on the tennis court. We have trained a lot together and I hope I can continue to inspire, Ruud said.

– He had a really great summer. He almost managed to do something that not many people have done before, which is to win two Junior Grand Slams in the same year. That was very impressive, and of course he won Wimbledon. It was very cool to see a Norwegian win a junior Grand Slam. It’s never happened before. He grew, got bigger and stronger and took new steps.

Ruud is scheduled to play two singles and two doubles matches over the two match days.

Friday’s match at the Nadderud Arena starts at 6 p.m. Saturday’s start is at 2 p.m. Then the first doubles between Casper Ruud/Viktor Durasovic and Francisco Cabral/Jamie Faria.

Then there are the singles matches, Ruud – Faria and Kjær – Rocha.