By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday November 19, 2021

Casper Ruud has a goal of winning Grand Slams and becoming No.1 in the world, but the Norwegian, who will face Daniil Medvedev in semifinal action at the ATP Finals on Saturday, has another dream: he wants to go through his whole career without breaking a racquet.



“I always try to be a nice guy, even though I win or lose,” Ruud told reporters on Friday from Turin, via Zoom. “I think that's a big value that my family has raised me to think about. Of course, I can show some frustration on the court, but I think it's always nice to try to stay calm and be a nice, down-to-earth guy. It's important values to me.”

The 22-year-old hopes to follow in the footsteps of the great Rafael Nadal and avoid losing his temper. Think of him as the anti-Nick Kyrgios.

“I've said to myself when I started on tour that I will try to go my full career without maybe breaking a racquet on tour,” he said. “I can only name one player of the top 10 who has done that, and it's Nadal. Federer also has been exceptional, except one time in Miami that he broke the racquet. Those two guys have been exceptional in their behavior.

“Of course, it's also allowed to show emotion. I'm not saying everyone should be stone-faced or not do anything. That's not the values I stand for. “It's funny because when you look at the tennis match, people are winning, they are always smiling, it's going to be fine, behaving well. I think many times on the tennis court when things don't go as well as you hope, I think many players show who they really are, start breaking racquets, they can get very angry. My goal is not to do this. I will try to go for the next years without doing it and hope I can stay to this mentality.

“It's nice, of course, that the other players can see that I am trying to be a nice guy. Even if I win or lose, I always try to be respectful, nice to my opponents.”