"What happened to Casper Ruud? Why is he struggling so much" - Fans concerned for Norwegian after Shanghai Masters exit

Casper Ruud experienced another early exit, falling to Aleksandar Vukic in the second round of the 2024 Shanghai Masters. Fans have expressed their worries for the Norwegian, who appeared to be in solid form earlier this year but has since experienced a slump in performance.

Ruud was in exceptional form during the clay court season when he won the titles in Barcelona and Geneva before reaching the semifinals of the French Open. A month later, he faced a second round exit at Wimbledon but picked up form again at Roland Garros to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics.

However, since then, Ruud has not been able to win more than three matches in a row. Less than a fortnight ago, the Norwegian faced a first round exit in Tokyo. In Shanghai, he received a bye in the first round but fell to a 4-6, 4-6 defeat to qualifier Vukic in the second round.

The score was posted on Reddit and fans were concerned about the World No. 9's form.

Shanghai Masters R2: [Q] Vukic def. [8] Ruud, 6-4 6-4 byu/pizzainmyshoe intennis

"Is this the same Casper that reached USO and WTF finals 2 years ago?" one fan asked.

"I’m just really sad for Casper again I hope he’ll get some better results to end the season," another fan wrote.

"what happened to Ruud? why is he struggling so much to win a match?" another fan asked.

Comment byu/pizzainmyshoe from discussion intennis

"Who remembers the start of the year. I thought Ruud was winning everything and ending world no 1," yet another fan wrote.

One fan joked that Casper Ruud donates a top 10 win to his opponent. They wrote:

"One thing about Casper, he's gonna donate a top ten win to someone"

Another fan joked that the clay court season is near and Ruud will pick up his form again soon. They wrote:

"Chin up, Casper. Clay court season is basically right around the corner at this point."

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Casper Ruud still on course to qualify for ATP Finals after early exit at Shanghai Masters

Casper Ruud at the Laver Cup 2024 (Image: Getty)

Even after enduring early exits at some of his recent tournaments, Casper Ruud is on course to qualify for the ATP Finals. Currently, in the Race to Turin, the 25-year-old is placed sixth with 3,805 points. Andrey Rublev follows Ruud with 3,580 points, Alex de Minaur with 3,305 points, and Novak Djokovic with 3,270 points.

The Aussie is out with an injury and his return date is unknown, however, Rublev and Djokovic are still competing in Shanghai. The top eight players will qualify for the year-end championships in Turin and there are several more ATP 250 and ATP 500 events along with the Paris Masters yet to be played.