Casper Ruud's 17-year-old sister signs with University of South Florida to play college tennis

Casper Ruud's 17-year-old sister Charlotte recently signed with the University of South Florida to play college tennis.

Charlotte is currently active on the ITF Juniors Singles circuit and is ranked 1501. She has collected a total of 26 wins, from which 21 have come on clay. The teen has faced defeat on 23 occasions to date.

Charlotte followed in the footsteps of her brother Casper Ruud and joined the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy earlier this year. Recently, the University of South Florida announced her arrival on social media.

The Norwegian would represent South Florida Bulls Tennis at the American Athletic Conference under the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division-I.

Ruud took to social media and congratulated her younger sibling, writing:

"Horns Up."

Charlotte is on the way to achieving her dream of becoming the top-ranked women's tennis player in the world. She voiced the same during an episode of Ruud Talk for Eurosport earlier this year.

"It's always a big dream to become No. 1. I have a pretty good example as my brother. There is still a long way to go," Charlotte said.

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Casper Ruud: "Charlotte has a great backhand"

Casper Ruud

During the episode, Casper Ruud stated that his sister Charlotte has a powerful backhand, a trait he believes she inherited from their father Christian who is a former World No. 39.

"Charlotte’s tennis is powerful. She has a great backhand. You know, obviously, my dad… he used to, from what I heard have a better backhand than forehand. So, I think she has sort of inherited that… [it] skipped me and gone to her," he said.

The World No. 7, however, added that his sister needs to gain control over her forehand a little more. He said:

"She has a very beautiful and clean backhand. Her forehand is a bit wild maybe sometimes. But she goes for the winners, which is good. She’s aggressive and yeah she’s improving a lot."

Ruud also acknowledged Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy's contribution to Charlotte's game saying:

"It’s great to see, I mean she started a bit late compared to maybe other players her age. But she’s improved a lot and the academy has helped her a lot so I think she’s enjoying and she’s improved from it."

Casper Ruud continued:

"It’s great to see I mean who knows how far she can reach but she comes to the tournaments sometimes and tries to learn from women’s players, how they do and how they practice and stuff. It’s good for her."