Casper Ruud, Arthur Fils to miss Wimbledon with ongoing injuries

Casper Ruud and Arthur Fils will both miss Wimbledon due to injuries that were exacerbated during Roland Garros.

Ruud, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, was eliminated by Nuno Borges in the second round of the clay-court major last month. The Norwegian, who had picked up his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Madrid, revealed afterwards that a left-knee injury had been bothering him leading into Paris.

“When you're practicing, leading up to the tournament, it's easier to avoid certain movements that are painful. It's not painful. Everything is not painful. But certain movements out there are kind of what makes it painful. Certain shots are painful to do,” he told press following his loss to Borges.

“When you're playing matches, you can't really control it in the same way. You do everything you can to get to every ball. Sometimes you kind of forget that this is a shot I shouldn't go for maybe in terms of pain in the knee. That's pretty much all.”

The scan didn't know show any structural damage, which is a good thing. There's liquid of inflammation in there that needs to settle. As we know, it's a hectic clay season, and I decided to kind of push through it doing some antiinflammatory pills and painkillers to try to get rid of it, which has helped to a certain degree but not enough. Casper Ruud

The last time Ruud missed a major was the 2022 Australian Open after rolling his ankle during a pre-tournament practice. The former world No. 2 would have been looking to advance past the second round at the All England Club for the first time.

As for Fils, he’s still recovering from a stress fracture in his back. The 21-year-old valiantly rallied to beat Jaume Munar over five sets in the second round of the French Open, but the toll of that victory came with a price tag.

The Frenchman required treatment during the contest to continue and ultimately withdrew prior to his third-round encounter with Andrey Rublev.

“We decide with the team it was better to stop now, because if I'm stopping now, I could stop for only four to six weeks. If I was pushing myself too much, I would probably stop for a couple of months,” Fils said, before sharing that the pain is located in the L5 of his vertebra.

Fils and Ruud, both projected to be seeded in the 13-16 group at Wimbledon, join Sebastian Korda, Alejandro Tabilo, Kei Nishikori, Shang Juncheng and Zhang Zhizhen among direct entry competitors that have withdrawn. Emil Ruusuvuori and Nick Kyrgios, who had entered under protected rankings, also previously pulled out from the season’s third major.