After final-round heartbreak, Casper Ruud takes his biggest step forward yet in Madrid

In my preview of the Madrid men’s final between Casper Ruud and Jack Draper this weekend, I wondered whether the conditions at the Caja Magica might make the difference in the outcome. Ruud was clearly the more accomplished clay-courter; he had 11 titles on the surface, to none for Draper. But Draper had a game that appeared better-suited to the fast dirt and thin air of the Spanish capital. The two had never played before, so there wasn’t much else to go on.

By the end of their first meeting, though, another factor—unforeseen by me—had proven to be more important than the surface or the altitude: Final-round, big-stage experience. Ruud, three years older, had a distinct edge in both. He had played 24 finals—three at the majors—while Draper had played just six. Ruud had never won a Masters 1000, and Draper had, but Ruud had put himself in positions like this far more often. In his three Slam finals, he had lost to three of the best, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Carlos Alcaraz. Something was bound to rub off on him in those defeats, and it showed at a couple of crucial junctures on Sunday.

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Looking at most of the statistics, Draper played the better match. He hit more winners (43 to 40), committed fewer errors (30 to 33), won more points at net (14 to eight), and had a higher first-serve percentage (64 to 59). He got out to a much faster start, and his favorite shot, the down-the-line forehand, looked like it was going to be an unstoppable, difference-making weapon. Draper served for the first set, and twice was two points from winning it. In the third, he had two break chances to take a 3-1 lead. Yet he lost both of those sets, and in the end it was Ruud’s down-the-line forehand that made the difference.

There were two moments in particular where Draper’s relative inexperience showed.

The first came with him serving for the first set at 5-4. After mostly dominating the opening nine games, he suddenly tightened up. He missed first serves. He double faulted. He sent a routine backhand long and a nervous forehand wide. Ruud broke, held, and broke again when Draper, still tight, shanked a forehand at set point. Ruud had stolen the first set.

In the second, Draper relaxed and took control again. But just when he looked ready to do the same early in the third, he faltered once more. With Ruud serving at 1-2, Draper ripped off a couple of winners and earned two break points. But when Ruud came back to hold, Draper’s disappointment showed in his next service game. Up 30-0, he overhit two forehands, missed a backhand, and was broken.

Draper, looking weary, never really challenged again. In the final game, Ruud game him a lesson in how to close. He held at love, and did it by hitting Draper’s own favorite shot—the down the line forehand—for three winners, the last one on championship point, to clinch a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win in two hours and 29 minutes.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Ruud, 26, said of his first Masters 1000 title. “It’s one really big goal I’ve dreamed about.”

“It was an incredible match. I knew if I didn’t bring my A plus game, it was going to be tough. He’s firing from both sides; it’s hard to find a hole in his game.”

Ruud is a two-time Roland Garros runner-up, but his career seemed to have stalled in 2025. He hadn’t won a title, his ranking was down to No. 15, and, for the first time, the tour grind had begun to wear on him. Finally, a few weeks ago, he joined the many tennis players who have sought mental-health advice. It seems to have had an immediate effect on his mood, and his game.

“It’s a tough life in many ways,” he said this week. “But I really seeked help, and it’s been working, so I’m happy to feel more joy and feel like I’m in a better place…it’s been paying off quite quickly.”

On Sunday, Ruud told Sky Sports that his advisor told him to compare himself to a company rising and falling from one week to the next on the stock market.

“In my career, I haven’t really felt any big downs, because I’ve had a lot of fun times on tour, lot of great results,” Ruud said. “If you look at firms on the stock exchange, when they have a big dip, they’ll have an even bigger boost up. Really true now.”

“You need to be able to accept that you need to take a step back in order to take two or three forward.”

Ruud just took his biggest step forward yet. Along the way, he showed that the painful, but useful, experiences he had in his final-round defeats in the past may lead to happier moments in the future.