Casper Ruud mocks Italian Open crowd and cracks up Jannik Sinner after loss | Tennis | Sport
Casper Ruud trolls the Campo Centrale crowd about the Italian national football team during his speech (Image: Sky Sports Tennis)
Casper Ruud trolled the Italian Open crowd about their country’s failure to qualify for the World Cup this summer just moments after losing the final to Jannik Sinner. Ruud gave a brilliant speech after being beaten 6-4, 6-4 on Rome’s Campo Centrale showcourt. The world No.1 has now completed the Career Golden Masters – one thing Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal never managed – at the age of just 24 after winning his home tournament for the first time.
Ruud had been hoping to win his first title of 2026 and his second career Masters 1000 title after Madrid last year. But the Norwegian ran into a Sinner on a remarkable run of form. The Italian has 34 consecutive wins at Masters 1000s and has won the last six back-to-back Masters tournaments, having lifted the trophy in Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome this year alone. Runner-up Ruud gave a brilliant speech to the crowd in Rome, taking the opportunity to troll the spectators as well as congratulate Sinner and Italian tennis as a whole.
At the end of his speech, Ruud said: “The last two things before I’m done and Jannik can make his way up here, I just wanted to say to the Italian Tennis Federation – you are doing an incredible job. With what Jannik is doing but also after Jannik you have six, seven, eight unbelievable players who are taking tennis by storm. I know that in football it’s a different story at the moment…”
The cameras then cut to Sinner cracking up on his bench. Ruud laughed: “Sorry! When you are losing to Norway, we have to be able to make a bit of jokes. All jokes aside, I want to say thank you to the fans here. The atmosphere is amazing every single day. I can’t wait to come back next year.”
Before that, the 27-year-old showed his class with his words towards Rome’s new champion. “First of all the only thing to do is to congratulate Jannik for his first title here,” the world No.25 said. “What you’re doing this year, it’s hard to describe with words. As someone who is also playing tennis at the high levels at times, to realise what you’re doing is really hard to describe.
“It’s really an honour to watch you play and to be able to share the court with you today in a beautiful arena at your home Masters 1000. Congratulations to you to making history, for yourself, for your country, for your team, it’s fantastic to witness.
“Second I would like to thank my own team. It’s a bit hard to talk and look at them. It’s been a little bit of an interesting year for me, on and off the court. Very good year off the court. My fiancee and I had a daughter earlier in the year.
EXPRESS SPORT ON FB! Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page
Jannik Sinner laughs at Casper Ruud’s comment about Italy’s national football team (Image: Sky Sports Tennis)
Jannik Sinner beat Casper Ruud in straight sets (Image: Getty)
“I just wanted to say quickly that we brought her to Rome, our daughter, and she has been a very good luck charm for us. We’ll try again next year to bring her and see if we can win the tournament for her in the future. It was a very good time for us.”
Beating Ruud secured Sinner his 29th match win in a row and he has not lost in 87 days. The world’s highest-ranked player is 36-2 this year heading into the French Open later this month. Roland Garros is the only Grand Slam Sinner has not yet won after losing last year’s final to Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set epic.
After sealing the 29th title of his career, Sinner reflected in English: “Casper, first of all, congrats to you and of course your whole team. It’s great to see you back playing at the highest level of our sport. The most important tournament for you is coming up so I wish you only the best.
“I’m very happy for you also that things are going very well off the court for you and your fiancee. I wish you only the best for your future events. I also need to speak in English because of Darren [Cahill] and Uli [Ulises Badio] but guys thank you so much for everything you are doing for me.
“I know you are a very important on court but I would like to thank my physical staff to put my body week after week in the best possible shape and being ready for this kind of result. Grazie mille.”
