Casper Ruud Set To Leave Australian Open If Wife Goes Into Labor
Most tennis players at the Australian Open are obsessed with metrics. They are stressing over first-serve percentages, unforced error counts, and the suffocating heat of the Melbourne hard courts.
Casper Ruud is worried about his ringtone volume. The 12th seed and three-time major finalist is currently playing a dangerous game of chicken with “Mother Nature.” While he’s busy dispatching opponents, his wife, Maria, is back home, heavily pregnant with their first child. And he has made one thing abundantly clear to the press, the fans, and probably his travel agent: if that phone rings, he is gone.
“If she calls, if she goes into labor, I probably won’t be here the next day,” Ruud said. “But that’s the way it goes.”
The Ringer Is On 24/7
Ruud cruised through his first-round match on Monday, dismantling Italy’s Mattia Bellucci in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. On the court, he looked clinical. He looked focused. But the moment the umpire called “Game, Set, Match,” Ruud’s mental state shifted from baseline tactician to expectant father.
“Except for when I’m playing a match, the ringer is on all hours of the day just in case,” Ruud said.
You have to appreciate the level of trust involved here. Ruud thanked Maria for “letting him go” in the first place, acknowledging that leaving a partner in the final stages of pregnancy to fly halfway across the world to hit a yellow fuzzy ball takes a special kind of hall pass.
“I know she’s at home resting, getting ready,” he said. It’s a gamble, sure. But for a guy looking to bounce back from a few early exits in Melbourne recently, it’s a gamble he felt he had to take.
A New Perspective For Ruud
There is an old sports cliché about “Dad Strength”—the idea that athletes suddenly unlock a new tier of performance once they have a kid to provide for. We might be seeing the prequel to that with Ruud.
He noted that he’s “not just doing this for myself anymore,” and that he has “someone extra to play for.” That shift in mentality can be dangerous for opponents. When you realize that losing a tennis match isn’t the worst thing in the world because you’re about to become a dad, you tend to play looser. You take risks. The pressure evaporates a little bit.
Ruud has been traveling the tour with his own father, Christian, for years. The family dynamic is already baked into his team. Now, he’s looking forward to expanding the roster.
“I know for a fact that if everything goes well, the next time I’ll leave my house, I will have another person at home,” Ruud said. He painted a picture of the future that feels a world away from the grind of training blocks and ice baths: traveling the tour as a “happy family,” bringing his wife and daughter along for the ride.
What’s Next For the Norwegian?
For now, the show goes on. He is scheduled to face Spain’s Jaume Munar in the second round. Munar is coming off a brutal five-set marathon where he had to save a match point just to survive. In theory, Ruud should be the fresher player. He breezed through his opener while Munar was fighting for his life.
But Munar only has to worry about Ruud’s forehand. Ruud has to worry about Munar and the vibrations of his smartphone in the locker room.
“There’s more to life than just tennis, but I’m going to be here for as long as I can and as long as Maria lets me,” Ruud said. It’s the ultimate day-to-day status. Usually, when we talk about a player withdrawing, it’s an ankle sprain or a lower back issue. For Ruud, it’s the best possible reason to scratch from a tournament.
So, if you see Ruud checking his bag nervously during a changeover, or if he sprints off the court a little faster than usual after a win, you know why. He’s chasing a trophy, but the bigger prize is waiting for him at home.
