15:14
Djokovic 0-1 Ruud
Djokovic’s next attempt to stop with his backhand gets stuck on the edge of the net. Then Ruud unpacks the forehand longline and gets the game to zero.
15:13
Djokovic 0-0 Ruud
Then the Serb tries a stop. Ruud climbs it effortlessly. After that, the Djoker fails a volley lob and the Norwegian uncompromisingly scores the point.
15:11
1 sentence
Now Ruud opens the match. The first serve comes straight away, is 195 kilometers per hour fast. Djokovic ends the short rally with his backhand into the net.
15:07
Conditions
After a little drizzle, the roof of the Court Philippe-Chatrier had been closed in the meantime. In the meantime, Roland Garros is building on stable conditions despite the muggy and cloudy weather and is playing the game under the open sky.
15:03
Entry and coin toss
At that moment, our protagonists enter the square. After a few moves, you meet with the French chair umpire Damien Dumusois to vote at the net. The coin falls in favor of the 4-seeded Norwegian, who decides to serve. Then both play a bit.
14:55
Ruud 2023
This season Ruud won the 250cc at Estoril on clay. The Norwegian won a total of nine of his career titles on this surface. In addition, the 24-year-old also knew how to please as a semi-finalist in Rome this year. Most recently in Geneva, the right-hander was in the quarter-finals.
14:45
Head 2 Head
For the fifth time, these two professionals face each other in an official match. So far there has been nothing at all for Ruud to get. The Norwegian has not yet won a single set against Djokovic. 2020 at the Masters in Rome on sand (semi-finals), 2021 at the ATP Finals in the group phase, 2022 again in Rome and again in the semifinals and at the last ATP Finals in the final – the Serb always came through smoothly.
14:36
Always inferior in big finals
Ruud was number 2 in the world last year and is currently ranked 4th. A win today would see the 24-year-old up a place and overtake Daniil Medvedev. In total, the right-hander has ten career titles and has won them in 17 finals. The successes, however, were without exception at 250 tournaments. The Scandinavian has also played finals at larger events, but in 2022 he always lost out at the Miami Masters, the US Open and the ATP Finals.
14:27
Ruud at Roland Garros
Ruud is in the main draw at the French Open for the sixth time since 2018, having failed in the second qualifying round the year before. Twelve months ago, the Norwegian reached his first Grand Slam final here and had no chance against Rafael Nadal there. This year, his path led through the Swedish qualifier Elias Ymer, the Italian Giulio Zeppieri, the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang (four sets each), the Chilean Nicolás Jarry, the 6th seeded Dane Holger Rune (four sets) and the ailing and 22nd seeded German Alexander Zverev.
14:18
Djokovic at Roland Garros
In Roland Garros, Djoker is there for the 19th time since 2005. Today he is playing his seventh final, holding the trophy in 2016 and 2021. As number 3 on the seeding list, everything went quite smoothly at first. He largely eliminated the American Aleksandar Kovacevic, the Hungarian Márton Fucsovics, the Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (29th seed) and the Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas. Only in the quarterfinals did Djokovic lose a set against the 11th seeded Russian Karen Khachanov. And that also happened against the top seeded Carlos Alcaraz, who was then no longer a serious opponent for two more sets, plagued by cramps.
14:08
Title and record hamster
Djokovic would no longer have to prove anything. The man has won just about everything there is to win in tennis and holds other records. The right-hander leads with 38 Masters titles, is the only one to have made the Golden Masters and won the ATP Finals six times. World No. 1 has not been as long as the Serb, who has claimed two of his 93 tournament wins this season – earlier in the year in Adelaide and at the Australian Open.
13:58
Grand Slam record
Djokovic is on a mission. Today is the 23rd Grand Slam title. This would mean that the Serb would be the sole leader in collecting major trophies and could shake off Rafael Nadal, who has been tied so far. At the same time, a success today would bring the 36-year-old back to the top of the world rankings. In addition, he could really show it to the Paris audience, who are always particularly critical of him.
1:48 p.m
bon jour!
Welcome to the French Open! The second Grand Slam tournament of the year ends today in Roland Garros with the men’s final. At 2:30 p.m. Novak Djokovic and Casper Ruud face off in the fight for the clay court crown.