Casper Ruud – You shouldn’t just talk about Saudi Arabia · tennisnet.com

Casper Ruud does not only see problems with the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.

Casper Ruud is currently busy in Stockholm, where he will face Tallon Griekspoor in the quarter-finals today. This match is not only about ATP points but also about 36,000 euros, which the man collects for making it to the semi-finals in the Swedish capital. A “slim thaler”, as they now say rather unpleasantly.

At the same time, a few colleagues in Saudi Arabia are collecting a sum of $1.5 million for playing games that last just over an hour and winning just three games. Now you don’t have to start a collection for Casper Ruud, which should ensure hot meals for the next few years. But the discrepancy is striking.

What “sports washing” entails is just everything. The purpose of the “Six Kings Slam” is solely to paint a different picture of Saudi Arabia than human rights organizations do.

Ruud with only one appearance in China 2024

Casper Ruud certainly agrees with this criticism. “I didn’t have an offer for the Six Kings Slam,” explained Ruud in Stockholm. “But there have already been offers for me to play there. And I decided not to accept it. It is of course a country that needs to be viewed critically in many respects, but there are other countries for which this also applies. And where we travel and play.”

Would you like an example? “You definitely have to discuss China and human rights there.” But we still stop there every year. There has been a lot of fuss about Peng Shuai and her fate. “I just want to say that if you’re going to point the finger at Saudi Arabia, then you should also mention other countries that you’re not talking about right now.”

Casper Ruud definitely kept his stay in China in 2024 as short as possible: he lost his only match against Aleksandar Vukic in the second round in Shanghai in two sets.