PARIS / OSLO (VG) In 2018, Casper Ruud came to Rafael Nadal’s academy to approach the world top. On Sunday, he will try to beat the teacher at the French Open.

In the summer of 2018 the Rafael Nadal Academy could welcome Casper Ruud. The Norwegian went on to rank about 140 places in the world.

“Hey Casper!” Welcome to the Rafael Nadal Academy. Everyone here is glad you came. I wish you good training, good time and you want to have fun here”, said Rafael Nadal himself in a welcome video.

After this year’s French Open, Ruud will be ranked sixth in the world. Then the question is whether he will be the winner of the recent French Open on Monday, or whether it is Rafael Nadal who snatches his 14th title in the gravel in Paris.

– Casper’s development in these years (after he first came to the academy) has been extraordinary, said Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and coach in a video published Saturdayaccording to, among others AS.

As the final between them was in the box on Friday night, Nadal Academy posted a carousel of photos of the two on its Instagram account:

– He is one of the players who has taken the biggest step. He has put in an incredible effort with his father, and I think we have contributed too. We are extremely proud of this collaboration, and we are fortunate to have worked with one of the most educated players on the ATP tour. “We are delighted to see a player from the academy reach the final at Roland Garros,” said Toni Nadal.

Ruud already trained with Rafael Nadal in 2017. This was the first time Uncle Toni had seen the Norwegian.

– He’s still young, but he’s playing really well. He was 18 at the time, and he had great potential. We think he can be a very good player, says Toni Nadal Nordic Tennis fall 2018.

Toni Nadal was the coach of the nephew from the start of his career until 2017. He is now director of the Rafael Nadal Academy, in addition to coaching top-flight Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime, world number nine. Auger-Aliassime lost 2-3 in sets against Rafael Nadal early in the tournament.

He will also be stationed on the Philippe Chatrier pitch in Paris when the final is played on Sunday.

– If we have to lose to players, then it’s better to lose to Casper. If Ruud has to lose to someone, I also think it would be better if it was Rafael. He had already said that Rafael was his idol since childhood, and now he had the opportunity to play in the final of the most important gravel tournament. “We expect a good game, and then we will see who can lift the trophy,” said Nadal.

Sunday’s match will be the first between the two. Nadal had won the French Open 13 times previously, winning 111 of 114 matches at the gravel in Paris. Only Robin Söderling (fourth round 2009) and Novak Djokovic (2015 quarter-finals and 2021 semifinals) have beaten Nadal there.

Ruud himself told a news conference on Friday that he had played a number of training sets with Nadal at the academy. So far no luck.

– He almost always wins. There were several regular sets, which ended 7-6, 7-5, but always in his favor. But that’s because we play in the academy and I want to be nice to him,” said Ruud with a sly smile.

Both Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud trained inside the facility at Roland Garros on Saturday afternoon. Under the scorching sun, more than a thousand spectators came out to watch Nadal practice.

Not many people watch Ruud’s training, where the Norwegian trains so hard that he has to stick a cotton swab into his nose to stop a nosebleed.

ivind Sørvald is a tennis expert for Discovery + and head of analysis at Team Ruud. Sørvald was sitting in the stands when Ruud trained on Saturday, and said that Ruud had seen Nadal more than any other player.

– There are so many similarities between the two. There are no copies, because they are made differently, but Casper has learned a lot from him, Sørvald told VG during training.