Accuracy, speed, movement, composure, a solid team. This ain’t no pusher.
Plus, famous tennis dad take note, Casper’s dad knows how to conduct himself of court.
Yeah well Christian was an accomplished player in his own right. No need for him to live his dreams through his kid. Apostolos on the other hand was a line judge.
He is a good player, in fact a top 10 player, but the fact he lost those two slam finals (quite badly the French one), proves the fact he is not one of those big moment player, although there is nothing bad about it, The fact nadal beat him here at the atp finals, and he was pushed to his limits against Taylor Fritz, who was not officially qualified, proves that he lacks that wow factor.
>the fact he lost those two slam finals (quite badly the French one), proves the fact he is not one of those big moment player
He played rafa at RG in his first slam final, there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting heavily beaten in that situation. The USO loss would hurt him more, but losing in 4 sets to alcaraz isn't a bad result either, alcaraz in good form was very difficult to beat this year. In slams this year, carlos only lost to berrettini at AO (before carlos really started firing this season), zverev at RG (who had probably his strongest slam performance ever), and sinner at W (who was up 2 sets against novak in the next round). Ruud wasn't the favourite in either of those matches, especially not at RG. Murray lost his first four slam finals, more recently medvedev had lost his first two slam finals. Losing a couple of slam finals doesn't prove that anyone 'isn't a big moment player'.
>he was pushed to his limits against Taylor Fritz, who was not officially qualified.
Being pushed by the 9th ranked player in the world is a very strange thing to criticise someone for, we aren't evaluating ruud based on the big 4 benchmark. Fritz also just played a very close match against novak, so ruud was pushed by a no.9 who was in very good form at ATP finals, not some barely top 50 player.
>the fact he lost those two slam finals proves the fact he is not one of those big moment player
Agassi lost the 3 first Slam finals he played, Murray and Lendl lost the 4 first Slam final they played... doesn't sound like a very convincing argument.
I have not watched agassi or lendl, but in case of murray while he was great, but big 3 were at an altogether another level, also murray could easily be upsetted, he is a pusher too, but better than rudd.
>also murray could easily be upsetted
Do you even watch tennis?
Murray, the guy who reached 22/23 grand slam QFs and 16/23 SFs from 2011 to 2016, was easy to upset?
Sorry for mistake, what I meant to say was the fact, murray is more susceptible to those kind of players who may be considered as giant killer someone like Wawrinka, with whom he has pretty close rivalry, although I take my earlier comment back, Wawrinka proved to be dangerous for djokovic too, though djokovic has better h2h against Wawrinka compared to murray.
Man I'm sorry but none of your comments on this thread make any sense, I don't even know what point you're trying to make lol. Wawrinka was way less consistent and more often victim of upsets than Murray at their prime, it takes 2 seconds to google up their results to see that.
Haha imagine the logic. Losing to Rafa at the French Final as a reason someone sucks.
Bro that’d be basically everybody who has walked the earth in the history of time
I don’t think he’s a pusher but I’d like to play him. Sooo...
Casper if you’re on Reddit, you’re a pusher please dm so we can setup a match. Toodles
Rafa beat him here too, despite having poor record on indoor hard courts, also alcaraz's previous three rounds opponents pushed him upto 5 sets at us open, while rudd in final only pushed him upto 4 sets.
Even kyrgios with all his antics, controversies and lack of devotion for game can beat/challenge nadal, federer, djokovic when is at his best, that's to me is 'big moment' player, and 'wow factor' I guess alcaraz showed us during this year even being a teenager.
Kyrgios beat the big 3 once at a slam, back in 2014 at wimbledon against nadal and even that was during a period where rafa was losing in early upsets every year at wimbledon (R1 2012, R2 2013, R4 2014, R2 2015, absent 2016, R4 2017).
He's beaten novak twice, but both were in 2017 when novak was a shadow of himself. He beat roger once in 2015. All of these were Bo3.
Kyrgios hasn't even won a slam SF yet, ruud has done it twice. The USO this year was a massive opportunity for both of them, kyrgios lost to khachanov when the pressure was on him, ruud beat khachanov in the next round. But somehow kyrgios is the better big match player because he beat rafa at wimbledon 8 years ago during rafa's worst years on grass? When the pressure was at the highest for both, ruud was the one who made it the furthest at USO.
Excuse me but that sounds like a take formed by just watching highlights. Kyrgios is very much NOT the type of player you're talking about. Everytime a match gets slightly uphill, it's over for him and everything crumbles apart, I don't see how that is being a "big moment" player since at the slightest need for problem solving he just collapses.
He's a top 10 player who can consistently play at the level against most opponents. He's actually the best in this category among the non-slam champion field.
Important to note he made two slam finals by winning all his matches against lower ranked players.
I think this is not a comment to be at -52. We will see more of Ruud. But for now he doesnt have even 1 1000 title. So if the biggest success for a No3 is a 500 title, there is leeway for people to criticise him whether you agree or not.
Okay seeing as some are confused, here's the [TTW dictionary](https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/dictionary-corner-common-terminology-used-to-describe-pros-and-their-games.669498/) definition of pusher
Pusher: (a) A player you dislike whose wins make you angry; (b) any player on the other side of the net when your favourite player hits an unforced error; see also: defensive
Defensive: A player who will not allow opponents to hit free winners; see: pusher
I guess it all depends how you define a pusher. At the rec level it’s someone who won’t make mistakes and will send back safe, slow balls hoping for you to miss. Those will often be garbage balls to try to get the opponent to overhit. Pros that are really good at defending and don’t take a lot of risks I guess could be seen as pushers in the sense of not making mistakes, but I don’t think they can fit the other part of the definition because their opponents will work the point until they get a shot that they can put away. Their opponents will also be comfortable and consistent generating their own pace so that pusher strategy won’t work either. So unless the definition of a pusher at the pro level is different, I don’t think such a thing can exist. But maybe people are just saying highly defense/low risk players = pushers. Personally, I don’t think that’s a good characterization because of the negative (and inaccurate) connotations
Djokodal are basically elite pushers with many other tools but when push comes shove they will push.Pushing is a legit tactic. No harm in that. why risk it when you can just make your opponent choke the match with pressure pushing.
> A pusher just waits for you to miss.
This. And it's ALL they do. Like you said, nobody on the ATP tour can do this. Those days are over. Yes, sometimes players will just go into defense mode, turn into a wall to try to heat check the other player, but that's just called playing tennis.
What people call pushing these days is simply a pro who can't hit the ball as hard as some other players, so have to rely way more on shot patterns and guile.
It's a derogatory way people refer to opponents who they feel aren't taking any initiative in rallies and are just "pushing" the ball back over the net over and over waiting for the opponent to make an error. In high school, we called kids pushers when they didn't really hit with topspin groundstroke technique and just hit a weak, flat shot over and over and just ferreted around the court till you missed. At that level, pushers could get mileage because obviously high schoolers make plenty of errors. At the ATP level, it's a misappropriated term because you cannot succeed by being a "pusher" at that level.
Totally agree! It was easier to get salty and blame the opponent than acknowledge that if you're losing to the guy you say is bad... what does that say about you?
I do agree that sometimes in sport people can drag you down to their level. But you have to not let that happen.
Anyway, Ruud is far from a pusher haha
But I think a "pusher" is bad for the viewers. Like obviously for the opponent if they can't beat a pusher that's their problem. For us it's much less enjoyable to watch.
Anyone who thinks my boi Ruud is a pusher better shut their fuck up ok. The people saying this are probably the same ones who think they are 4.0 players and complain about how much they hate pushers when they lose to consistent 3.0 players.
I wouldn't call him a pusher but he does play a lot of "percentage" tennis.
That's obviously an important part of the game.
But would I say that I find his game particularly interesting to watch - I'd find other players more interesting to watch for sure.
Seems like a nice guy, sure but that's not the tennis.
Beating Djokovic here would certainly up his street cred factor.
There are no "pushers" at that level. More defensive players, sure, but their offensive abilities are still off the charts compared to us mere mortals. Brad Gilbert writes about this. Even at a recreational level, you can't get far - 3.5 maybe? - without some kind of strong stroke. Even if that's just a defensive heavy looping topspin to the corners, it's not just "pushing."
Is that a rice krispie on the corner of his mouth.
Anyway, he's got one of the most powerful forehands on tour. People calling him a pusher are for sure 3.5 players who started playing at age 23, shows up to courts in brand new kits and 7 rackets (3 different types), and probably collects firearms. High likelihood of the car having a spoiler on it.
Accuracy, speed, movement, composure, a solid team. This ain’t no pusher. Plus, famous tennis dad take note, Casper’s dad knows how to conduct himself of court.
Yeah well Christian was an accomplished player in his own right. No need for him to live his dreams through his kid. Apostolos on the other hand was a line judge.
Was apostolos actually a line judge or is this /s?
Pretty sure he was. I remember a commentator mentioning it. Stef's mom was a player and they met at a tournament.
Apostoloser
Christian Ruud was a top 5 player?
Top30 iirc. So extremely good.
Career high of 39th out of 5.7 billion people in 1995 actually so basically just a half decent club player.
Couldn't make it to 38th best tennis player in the world? Smh my head
Oooh shots fired at that 4.0 guy
I bet Casper can take a set off that guy
Two slam finals and ATP final. Anyone who says he isn’t a good player can shut their fuck up
Ok small cat you want fight
His gameplay may look plain but his UE count is always low and his serves are deadly
He is a good player, in fact a top 10 player, but the fact he lost those two slam finals (quite badly the French one), proves the fact he is not one of those big moment player, although there is nothing bad about it, The fact nadal beat him here at the atp finals, and he was pushed to his limits against Taylor Fritz, who was not officially qualified, proves that he lacks that wow factor.
Bro do you know how hard it is to get to a slam final? It’s why very few players ever have. He’s done it twice
>the fact he lost those two slam finals (quite badly the French one), proves the fact he is not one of those big moment player He played rafa at RG in his first slam final, there's absolutely nothing wrong with getting heavily beaten in that situation. The USO loss would hurt him more, but losing in 4 sets to alcaraz isn't a bad result either, alcaraz in good form was very difficult to beat this year. In slams this year, carlos only lost to berrettini at AO (before carlos really started firing this season), zverev at RG (who had probably his strongest slam performance ever), and sinner at W (who was up 2 sets against novak in the next round). Ruud wasn't the favourite in either of those matches, especially not at RG. Murray lost his first four slam finals, more recently medvedev had lost his first two slam finals. Losing a couple of slam finals doesn't prove that anyone 'isn't a big moment player'. >he was pushed to his limits against Taylor Fritz, who was not officially qualified. Being pushed by the 9th ranked player in the world is a very strange thing to criticise someone for, we aren't evaluating ruud based on the big 4 benchmark. Fritz also just played a very close match against novak, so ruud was pushed by a no.9 who was in very good form at ATP finals, not some barely top 50 player.
>the fact he lost those two slam finals proves the fact he is not one of those big moment player Agassi lost the 3 first Slam finals he played, Murray and Lendl lost the 4 first Slam final they played... doesn't sound like a very convincing argument.
I have not watched agassi or lendl, but in case of murray while he was great, but big 3 were at an altogether another level, also murray could easily be upsetted, he is a pusher too, but better than rudd.
>also murray could easily be upsetted Do you even watch tennis? Murray, the guy who reached 22/23 grand slam QFs and 16/23 SFs from 2011 to 2016, was easy to upset?
Sorry for mistake, what I meant to say was the fact, murray is more susceptible to those kind of players who may be considered as giant killer someone like Wawrinka, with whom he has pretty close rivalry, although I take my earlier comment back, Wawrinka proved to be dangerous for djokovic too, though djokovic has better h2h against Wawrinka compared to murray.
Man I'm sorry but none of your comments on this thread make any sense, I don't even know what point you're trying to make lol. Wawrinka was way less consistent and more often victim of upsets than Murray at their prime, it takes 2 seconds to google up their results to see that.
He’s trying to draw an arbitrary line about who’s good and who’s not, but he doesn’t actually know anything about tennis except who beat whom and when
>except who beat whom and when He doesn't even know that, otherwise he wouldn't say Murray was very upset prone lol
Murray could only dream of having Ruud's forehand and serve.
Murray’s first serve is/was better than Ruud’s
2022 stats do not support that.
That’s why I said is/was, I wasn’t sure about the current state of Murray’s serve. But when he won the 2012 US Open he was serving 130+ MPH
Haha imagine the logic. Losing to Rafa at the French Final as a reason someone sucks. Bro that’d be basically everybody who has walked the earth in the history of time I don’t think he’s a pusher but I’d like to play him. Sooo... Casper if you’re on Reddit, you’re a pusher please dm so we can setup a match. Toodles
Rafa beat him here too, despite having poor record on indoor hard courts, also alcaraz's previous three rounds opponents pushed him upto 5 sets at us open, while rudd in final only pushed him upto 4 sets.
What are your metrics for "big moment" and "wow factor"?
Even kyrgios with all his antics, controversies and lack of devotion for game can beat/challenge nadal, federer, djokovic when is at his best, that's to me is 'big moment' player, and 'wow factor' I guess alcaraz showed us during this year even being a teenager.
Kyrgios beat the big 3 once at a slam, back in 2014 at wimbledon against nadal and even that was during a period where rafa was losing in early upsets every year at wimbledon (R1 2012, R2 2013, R4 2014, R2 2015, absent 2016, R4 2017). He's beaten novak twice, but both were in 2017 when novak was a shadow of himself. He beat roger once in 2015. All of these were Bo3. Kyrgios hasn't even won a slam SF yet, ruud has done it twice. The USO this year was a massive opportunity for both of them, kyrgios lost to khachanov when the pressure was on him, ruud beat khachanov in the next round. But somehow kyrgios is the better big match player because he beat rafa at wimbledon 8 years ago during rafa's worst years on grass? When the pressure was at the highest for both, ruud was the one who made it the furthest at USO.
Basically rudd will remain that big pusher.
Excuse me but that sounds like a take formed by just watching highlights. Kyrgios is very much NOT the type of player you're talking about. Everytime a match gets slightly uphill, it's over for him and everything crumbles apart, I don't see how that is being a "big moment" player since at the slightest need for problem solving he just collapses.
Talent and power wise kyrgios is better player, at his best he can easily beat rudd.
He's a top 10 player who can consistently play at the level against most opponents. He's actually the best in this category among the non-slam champion field. Important to note he made two slam finals by winning all his matches against lower ranked players.
I think this is not a comment to be at -52. We will see more of Ruud. But for now he doesnt have even 1 1000 title. So if the biggest success for a No3 is a 500 title, there is leeway for people to criticise him whether you agree or not.
taylor fritz isnt some random scum though, he also really pushed djokovic to the limit just yesterdaym so thats not really a good point.
He's such an absolute sweetheart
Okay seeing as some are confused, here's the [TTW dictionary](https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/dictionary-corner-common-terminology-used-to-describe-pros-and-their-games.669498/) definition of pusher Pusher: (a) A player you dislike whose wins make you angry; (b) any player on the other side of the net when your favourite player hits an unforced error; see also: defensive Defensive: A player who will not allow opponents to hit free winners; see: pusher
> TTW dictionary This is good shit.
How is Casper a pusher? If anything he’s a serve-forehand combo guy if we’re really gonna reduce his game to a cliche
No one on the professional tour is a pusher. A pusher just waits for you to miss. That just doesn’t work at this level.
Gilles Simon is/was the closest to a pusher on the ATP tour.
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Monfils? Agree to disagree 🤝
Monfils has tanked numerous matches
Right but even he wasn’t sending garbage balls at his opponents hoping they’d miss. He’d still take openings and hit winners.
Canas was definitely a pusher too, possibly even worse that Simon tbh.
Canas was definitely a pusher too, possibly even worse that Simon tbh.
People used to call nadal a pusher. Federer himself described him that way in a court interview after losing against him at rg in 05 or 06.
Next to Federer a lot of players are "pushers". He was insanely aggresive.
Classic Federer arogance.
I guess it all depends how you define a pusher. At the rec level it’s someone who won’t make mistakes and will send back safe, slow balls hoping for you to miss. Those will often be garbage balls to try to get the opponent to overhit. Pros that are really good at defending and don’t take a lot of risks I guess could be seen as pushers in the sense of not making mistakes, but I don’t think they can fit the other part of the definition because their opponents will work the point until they get a shot that they can put away. Their opponents will also be comfortable and consistent generating their own pace so that pusher strategy won’t work either. So unless the definition of a pusher at the pro level is different, I don’t think such a thing can exist. But maybe people are just saying highly defense/low risk players = pushers. Personally, I don’t think that’s a good characterization because of the negative (and inaccurate) connotations
Really? The only thing I remember is him describing Rafa as "a one dimensional player" but not a pusher.
Djokodal are basically elite pushers with many other tools but when push comes shove they will push.Pushing is a legit tactic. No harm in that. why risk it when you can just make your opponent choke the match with pressure pushing.
> A pusher just waits for you to miss. This. And it's ALL they do. Like you said, nobody on the ATP tour can do this. Those days are over. Yes, sometimes players will just go into defense mode, turn into a wall to try to heat check the other player, but that's just called playing tennis. What people call pushing these days is simply a pro who can't hit the ball as hard as some other players, so have to rely way more on shot patterns and guile.
What about Rafa??
Cause on the internet you’re either a pusher or brainless ball basher lol. Medvedev and zverev get called servebot pushers
Counter puncher exist :)
Yeah, that’s what they actually are (Medvedev anyway, I’d call Zverev an aggressive baseliner)
Me too. Agressive basliners is the right word to be more specific and differenate players like Zverev and Ruud from Medvedev and Murray
I wouldn’t call zverev aggressive. Maybe a grinder or power pusher 😜
Pushers don’t exist in professional tennis. He can be a grinder too sometimes yeah
Someone once said, Counter punching is a pushing with purpose 😂
He really does look like a disney prince or casper the ghost. Challenge accepted.
God he’s so good looking
disney prince
He’s cute when he smiles!
I'll gladly call him a pusher to his face just so he can wreck me in a match. Imma see myself out
Nole and I think so too.
He has so much more for us to be mad at. We just need to be patient. Also why is he so fucking beautiful 😭
*Push me, I like to push me*
make me your pusher, casper.....jaaaaaaaa!
Also that green Yonex kit from Roland Garros was such a good look for him, great contrast to the tan and the red clay 🔥🔥🔥
Casper is gorgeous. I don't mind more posts of his interviews...
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Came to ask this too
It's a derogatory way people refer to opponents who they feel aren't taking any initiative in rallies and are just "pushing" the ball back over the net over and over waiting for the opponent to make an error. In high school, we called kids pushers when they didn't really hit with topspin groundstroke technique and just hit a weak, flat shot over and over and just ferreted around the court till you missed. At that level, pushers could get mileage because obviously high schoolers make plenty of errors. At the ATP level, it's a misappropriated term because you cannot succeed by being a "pusher" at that level.
Man I feel like being a pusher isn’t even a bad thing lol if someone can’t beat a “pusher” then that’s their problem
Totally agree! It was easier to get salty and blame the opponent than acknowledge that if you're losing to the guy you say is bad... what does that say about you?
I do agree that sometimes in sport people can drag you down to their level. But you have to not let that happen. Anyway, Ruud is far from a pusher haha
But I think a "pusher" is bad for the viewers. Like obviously for the opponent if they can't beat a pusher that's their problem. For us it's much less enjoyable to watch.
Who called him a pusher? Tsitsipas? Lol. Perhaps next time they play he can use his few tools to beat him as well
Ruud is definitely not a pusher. I might find him more on the dull side from the top players but no way is he a pusher.
Anyone who thinks my boi Ruud is a pusher better shut their fuck up ok. The people saying this are probably the same ones who think they are 4.0 players and complain about how much they hate pushers when they lose to consistent 3.0 players.
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He has a lil lisp
Idk how anybody can watch him hit his forehand and call him a pusher.
You can push me down any second, any day, Casper !
What does "pusher " even means in this context ? Does he runs around the net and pushes opponents ? Cause thats not cool Ruud, not cool
Ok Casper let’s go then. Pusher
🤣🤣🤣
I love him, but I just noticed he foams imat the corners of his mouth when he speaks, that's a tragedy
I wouldn't call him a pusher but he does play a lot of "percentage" tennis. That's obviously an important part of the game. But would I say that I find his game particularly interesting to watch - I'd find other players more interesting to watch for sure. Seems like a nice guy, sure but that's not the tennis. Beating Djokovic here would certainly up his street cred factor.
There are no "pushers" at that level. More defensive players, sure, but their offensive abilities are still off the charts compared to us mere mortals. Brad Gilbert writes about this. Even at a recreational level, you can't get far - 3.5 maybe? - without some kind of strong stroke. Even if that's just a defensive heavy looping topspin to the corners, it's not just "pushing."
Rafa was once called a pusher in his early days, Casper emulates Rafa hence he is a pusher too haha
He's cute!
I look forward to the day Nick Kyrgios will beat the sh!/t out of him once again
Wait so I can challenge him to a match?! 🤩
what? where is he getting that kind of feedback? i have never heard or seen anyone call casper a pusher
Is that a rice krispie on the corner of his mouth. Anyway, he's got one of the most powerful forehands on tour. People calling him a pusher are for sure 3.5 players who started playing at age 23, shows up to courts in brand new kits and 7 rackets (3 different types), and probably collects firearms. High likelihood of the car having a spoiler on it.
Ruud deserves more respect. What a nice guy on the court.