Casper Ruud Reflects on the Stigma Surrounding Mental Health After Returning From a Knee Injury

Casper Ruud is set to feature at the Canadian Open after returning from a knee injury, which he suffered at the French Open. It is the former World No. 2’s second tournament on tour since recovering from the injury. In Toronto, he shed light on how male players struggle to open up about their mental health.

It was at the Madrid Open that Ruud first opened up about how he had struggled with his mental health. The World No.13 had entered the clay-court season with optimism, having been known to play his best tennis on the surface. But, he failed to defend his runners-up finish at the Monte Carlo Masters and title at the Barcelona Open.

In Madrid he secured his first title of the season after beating Jack Draper in the final. But after that, he struggled to get to the semi-final of any tournament. At Roland Garros, he suffered a shocking loss to Nuno Borges and then revealed that he was struggling with a knee injury for several weeks.

He was meant to compete at the Mallorca Open a week before the Wimbledon Championships, but the 26-year-old withdrew from the event and also the grass-court Grand Slam event. It was the first time since the 2022 Australian Open that the Norwegian star was skipping a major tournament.

During a participation in a discussion at Tennis Canada’s Mental Health Panel in Toronto, Ruud opened up on the stigma surrounding mental health among players and how it is linked to performance on the court. The World No.13 revealed via ATP that he found talking to a psychologist helpful in his career:

I had a good experience talking with a psychologist, and I felt like you go to the gym with a public trainer to work on your fitness, but talking to a psychologist is sort of like working on your mental aspect in the same way. You work out your brain in a [way] and get your thoughts sorted and find a new way to motivate yourself so I just found it really helpful.

Ruud played at the Gstaad Open as a warm-up tournament ahead of the North American hard-court swing. The Norwegian star won just one match before losing to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the quarter-finals. He’s set to kick off his Canadian Open campaign against Russia’s Roman Safiullin as the eighth seed.

Casper Ruud aside, Andrey Rublev opens up about what leads to his mental health struggle on tour

Andrey Rublev was part of the panel discussion on players’ mental health. The Russian star has been the most vocal player in the men’s circuit on depression and mental toughness on the court. He has also not had the best 2025 season in terms of consistent results, although he has one title to his name this year while holding a 23-17 win-loss record on tour.