Casper Ruud suffered a disappointing early exit from the Cincinnati Open as he continues his preparations for the US Open.
Ruud, currently 13th in the ATP Tour rankings, reached the US Open final in 2022, losing to Carlos Alcaraz.
The Norwegian also reached the final of the French Open in 2022 and 2023, but again lost out to Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic respectively.
His focus will soon return to the US Open, having recently attempted to fine-tune his game for the Grand Slam at the Cincinnati Open.
But he suffered defeat in his first match at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, losing 7-6(7-5), 4-6, 2-6 to Arthur Rinderknech.
Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesCasper Ruud shares how most players treat each other on the ATP Tour
Ruud has, however, maintained his integrity despite his frustrations in Cincinnati, with such an attitude helping him win the 2022 Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award.
Discussing that achievement, he said on The Sit-Down podcast: “You can see that it’s a complete generational shift that has happened in tennis.
“Okay, Novak is still around but other than Novak the majority of the players are early 20s or in their 20s which is really fun and I think we will have some different winners in certain other categories in the years to come.
“There will be fan favourites and all these nominations but I think there are a lot of good kids around and players I see in the locker room are very nice to each other, many are very friendly.
“I saw Arthur Fils was a guest at [Alejandro Davidovich] Fokina’s wedding here a few weeks ago, and I think many players consider each other good friends these days and respect each other. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.
“There are many that could win the sportsmanship award this year, for example, there are many who are good candidates so I just try to behave as well as I can and sure we all get frustrated and angry but I try not to let it go out on my opponent or be disrespectful to my opponent, that’s the most important.”
Which players have won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award alongside Casper Ruud?
Ruud’s honour represented his first ATP Award, and arrived after he managed to rise to number two in the world rankings.
That year, the Norwegian was recognised for his fair play, professionalism and integrity, both on and off the court.
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It was undoubtedly a very proud moment for Ruud, not least given that he was selected by his fellow players.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal remarkably combined to win the award every year before that since 2004.
YearWinner1996Alex Corretja1997Pat Rafter1998Alex Corretja1999-2001Pat Rafter2002-2003Paradorn Srichaphan2004-2009Roger Federer2010Rafael Nadal2011-2017Roger Federer2018-2021Rafael Nadal2022Casper Ruud2023Carlos Alcaraz2024Grigor DimitrovStefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award winners
The legendary Swiss figure was awarded the honour 13 times, compared to the five wins from the Spanish star.
Grigor Dimitrov was last year’s winner of the award, which was renamed in honour of Swedish icon Edberg in 1996.