Casper Ruud rips into ATP after rival Sinner’s Paris Masters match ends at 3am
Casper Ruud has hit out at ATP tournament organisers with a sarcastic social media post criticising their ineffectual protection of player welfare after controversially forcing a player to play twice in the space of 15 hours. Officials at the Paris Masters have been called out for risking the health of tennis players after Jannik Sinner was scheduled to play twice in quick succession, with his coach raising concern about the tennis star’s welfare.
The order of play was published at around 9pm on Wednesday evening while Sinner was still waiting to get out on court to play against Mackenzie McDonald.
The 22-year-old was forced to come from behind after dropping the first set in a tiebreak to seal a 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 victory against his American opponent. However, the match did not finish until 2.37am on Thursday morning (local time), an issue that has already left some fans and players fuming.
But it raised another problem for Sinner, with the Italian expected back on court on Thursday afternoon to face 13th seed Alex de Minaur.
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That would give him a maximum 15 hours between finishing his match against McDonald and facing De Minaur, the energetic Australian.
And Ruud stood up on behalf of his fellow pro by calling out the ATP’s baffling schedule in public with the 24-year-old left unimpressed.
“Bravo @atptour [two clapping emojis] way to help one of the best players in the world recover and be as ready as possible when he finished his previous match at 2:37 am this morning [two thumbs up emojis],” he wrote. “14,5 hours to recover.. what a joke [facepalm emoji].”
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And Stan Wawrinka responded: “@CasperRuud98 @atptour It’s crazy [facepalm emoji] tournament doesn’t care and ATP just follow what the tournament will want [shrugging emoji]! Always the same story …”
Ruud crashed out of the tournament after suffering a surprise 7-5, 6-4 defeat at the hands of Argentinian qualifier Francisco Cerundolo. But that did not stop the Norwegian from firing shots at the tournament organisers for giving Sinner a difficult schedule to contend with.
De Minaur, who beat Andy Murray in the first round, defeated Dusan Lajovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Court 1 in the day session and would therefore have more time to rest before his clash with Sinner.
It was pointed out that Sinner should have been given the night match slot instead of Novak Djokovic, who had sailed past Tomas Martin Etchevarry 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday in the day session.
And that is something his coach, Darren Cahill, appeared to agree with after airing his own thoughts on social media.
Uploading an image of him celebrating alongside Sinner and the rest of the coaching team, Cahill wrote: “Happy for the @janniksin win but zero care for the players welfare with the Paris schedule.”
Instead, the world No 1 was pencilled in for the night time session slot, with play beginning at 7.30pm local time, as Djokovic takes on the Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor.
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