'It was a good day': Casper Ruud claims beating Carlos Alcaraz again, but this time not in tennis

Norway’s Casper Ruud has revealed that he managed to beat Team Europe’s teammate Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz despite being in the same team. The 26-year-old is currently taking part in the Laver Cup where he is one of the member of the defending champion Team Europe.

One of the other participant of the team is the reigning world number one Alcaraz. Ruud managed to secure a win for his team on the opening day of the competition after beating America’s Reilly Opelka in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 7-6.

After the match, Ruud spoke to the Tennis Channel, where he shared that he defeated his own teammate Alcaraz, but not in tennis. Ruud stated that he partnered with the former world number one, Roger Federer, as the two managed to defeat the pair of Alcaraz and current world number three, Germany’s Alexander Zverev, in a golf contest of six holes.

That [playing golf] was fun,” said Ruud. “He [Alcaraz] has a smooth swing, just as you would imagine, and we played well. We had a little fun match on the course with Roger [Federer] and I. We teamed up and played against Carlos [Alcaraz] and Sasha [Zverev], and it was a really fun, good time. We all enjoy it. We all play at our level, but it was a good match, and it was fun to see him out there. What was the score? We only played five holes, I think, or six holes. Roger came a bit late, and then Carlos had to leave, but, you know, spoiler alert, we got them by one, so it was a good day for us. We went one down early. Carlos made this incredible birdie out of the rough, like he sunk a chip, which was crazy. And then I got one hole back, and then Roger clinched and got one up for us at the last hole, so it was all him.”

Ruud then spoke in detail about what went right for him on the day against Opelka. The most impressive aspect of Ruud’s performance in the match was his serve, where he managed to outdo his opponent, who is also famous for his serve. Ruud admitted that he has no idea how he managed to serve that well against an opponent who has been well-known for serving big on any surface.

Serve was really working well today, says Ruud

“Yeah, I don't know, it was interesting,” said Ruud. “So, I can't remember serving that well in a while, so, happy that it worked. Obviously, I lost early in US Open, so I had some extra days back home to practise, and I guess I used those days well, and particularly the serve was really working well today."

Ruud made an interesting comment after securing a win against Opelka, where he claimed that the head of his racquet, which he used in the first match of the Laver Cup 2025, was a bit ‘smaller’ compared to the ones he used before. Ruud was asked how it affected his game. In response to that, Ruud stated that he felt he had more control over the shots compared to the racquets he used before.

“Well, I feel like I have a little more control on the shots, and that I can swing a little bit more full, especially on hard courts and indoor and faster courts,” said Ruud. “This is not particularly fast, but I've had the struggle the last couple of years, really, where on a fast, hard court, I hesitate too much, and I don't feel like I can swing free, because I feel like the ball just flies out of my racket a bit too much. So, it was time to try something, just minor change and different, but, yeah, it's been working so far the last two weeks, and happy that it was working well today in the match, because it's always different. Practise and match are two completely different things.”