Fears are growing that Casper Ruud may withdraw from the US Open after footage emerged of the Norwegian appearing to be in pain during a practice session.
The 27-year-old’s pre-US Open preparation has not been ideal, with the former world No 2 suffering an early loss in Canada and then withdrawing from Cincinnati through injury.
In his first match at the final Masters 1000 event before Flushing Meadows, Ruud lost the first set to Christopher O’Connell and then called for a medical timeout.
The back issue that was impeding him would not go away, leading to the former US Open finalist retiring at 2-1 up in the second set.
Fears over an injury may have diminished after he partnered Diana Shnaider in the mixed-doubles event earlier this week, as the pair made it to the quarter-finals before losing to Mirra Andreeva and Andrey Rublev.
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Again, though, there seemed no sign of trouble ahead going by his Instagram post on Wednesday, as he thanked the Russian for a “fun event”, while looking forward to the singles.
However, later that day, footage emerged of Ruud appearing to be in some difficulty while hitting with Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
On social media, prominent tennis presence, @AnnaK-4ever, claimed Ruud ended the practice more than an hour early, he “couldn’t serve” and even the groundstrokes caused him “considerable pain”.
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Today’s practice session with Etcheverry was supposed to last for two hours. Casper stopped it after 50 minutes — 11 minutes after they began playing practice games. He just couldn’t serve and even groundstrokes seemed to cause considerable pain. https://t.co/JrRIiy0435 pic.twitter.com/pkGxeSxUjg
— Oleg S. (@AnnaK_4ever) August 26, 2026
By Ruud’s high standards, this has been a difficult season on the tennis court. He is currently 25-16 for the year, and has dropped to 20 in the rankings.
In 2022, his best year on tour, he won 51 matches, lost just 22 times and finished the year at third in the rankings. That dropped to 11 at the end of 2023, before rising to sixth the following year.
At the end of 2025, Ruud was 12th with a 71% win percentage for the year, but in 2026, that has dropped to 61%. If he withdraws from the US Open or plays through the pain, he is unlikely to go far in New York.
A total of 20 players have withdrawn from the US Open due to injury and at this rate, some would not be surprised to see Ruud follow suit.
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