Casper Ruud lands himself in hot water with press conference gaffe

Casper Ruud accidentally revealed an unknown change to the ATP Tour calendar during a press conference in Acapulco on Wednesday. The world No 4 discussed his plans to return to the tournament next year after crashing out to Taro Daniel and let slip that the Los Cabos event would also be moved to earlier in the season.

Ruud suffered a blunder in his press conference as he was left asking if he did something wrong after outlining his schedule hopes for 2024. The second seed in Acapulco was upset by qualifier Daniel in the second round but is still alive in the doubles draw, where he and William Blumberg defeated former world No 1s Joe Salisbury and Nicolas Mahut.

After an early exit in singles, the 24-year-old shared his hopes to return to the ATP 500 event next season and said he planned to play Acapulco and Los Cabos back-to-back, despite the latter tournament usually being staged in the summer. “I feel great support so makes me want to come back for sure,” the world No 4 said.

“Let’s see how the schedule looks for next year but I think that could be an option.” Going on to let the Los Cabos calendar change slip, Ruud added: “I think also Los Cabos is going to be the week before or the week after Acapulco next year if I’m not mistaken so could be an option to play both.

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“Let’s see. But I think I’m looking forward to coming back, especially to here and to Mexico in the future.” Ruud’s press conference wrapped up after the question, and some confusion over Los Cabos’ new position in the ATP calendar prompted the nine-time title winner to ask: “Did I say something wrong?”

After being left red-faced over his schedule reveal, Ruud pulled a face and said sorry before smiling and leaving, adding: “Now you know.” The Los Cabos Open is a relatively new tournament, starting in 2016 and being staged in the first week of August.

While the ATP 250 event has attracted high-profile names like reigning champion Daniil Medvedev, its position in the calendar between the grass-court season and North American hard-court swing makes it a less popular option for those who don’t want to switch between three surfaces in the space of a month, and moving it in line with February’s Latin American clay-court series could see more top players sign up, especially if they will already be in Mexico for the Acapulco event.

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Ruud’s doubles campaign in Acapulco will continue as he and Blumberg will face the Austrian duo of Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler in Thursday’s quarter-final. The Norwegian star now has a 3-4 record for the year so far in singles, a tough start to the season after a career-best 2022 which saw him reach two Major finals and peak at a career-high of world No 2.

“It hasn’t been the best start to the season, but I have to give all the credit to my rivals,” the current No 4 said after his loss to Daniel. “Being in the top 10 generates pressure, something your opponents don’t play with, this has happened to me several times. Today I am not disappointed with my level, although I know I could have done better, I hope to be more prepared for the tour in March.”

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