Casper Ruud has pulled out of Wimbledon 2025, making him the latest big name to skip this year’s championships. The Norwegian’s been dealing with a knee injury that’s kept him off court for weeks.
It all started going wrong at the French Open just a few weeks ago.
Ruud was playing Nuno Borges in the second round and actually won the first set. But then his knee started acting up, and things went downhill fast. He couldn’t move properly and got completely overwhelmed in the next two sets, losing 1-6, 0-6.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casper Ruud | 26 | 4,025 | 39 - 10 |
Pretty brutal stuff for a guy who’s made it to two French Open finals.
The 26-year-old was supposed to play at the Mallorca Championships this past weekend. But two days before it started, he posted on social media saying his knee wasn’t ready. At that point, he seemed optimistic about getting better in time for Wimbledon.
Turns out that extra rest wasn’t enough.
Grass Just Isn’t His Thing
To be honest, missing Wimbledon probably doesn’t break Ruud’s heart too much. The guy’s never made it past the second round at SW19 – and that’s happened three years running now.
He’s pretty open about not liking grass courts. The ball bounces differently, you have to move differently, and it’s just not his style.
Ruud’s all about clay courts and hard courts. Those surfaces got him to world No. 2 and made him a two-time French Open finalist.
While it’d be totally unfair to say he’s faking the injury, you have to wonder if he’s being extra careful about playing hurt at a tournament where he’s never had much success anyway.
Better Options Ahead?
Here’s the thing – Ruud’s scheduled to play in Gstaad the week after Wimbledon ends. That’s a clay court tournament, and he actually won it before.
Even though it’s just an ATP 250 event, he probably has a way better shot at earning ranking points there than struggling through Wimbledon on one leg.
When he won Gstaad, that was worth 250 points. To beat that at Wimbledon, he’d need to reach the quarterfinals. Given his track record on grass and this knee issue, that seemed pretty unlikely.
Part of a Bigger Trend
Ruud’s not the only big name missing from this year’s Wimbledon. Nick Kyrgios announced weeks ago that he’s skipping the entire grass season because of his own injury problems.
That one stings a bit more since Kyrgios was the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up and used to be one of the most dangerous players on grass.
Sebastian Korda’s out too. Remember when the American said he was one of the favorites to win Wimbledon a couple years back? He hasn’t won a main draw match there since.
All these withdrawals are starting to add up. It’s looking like this year’s men’s draw is going to be missing quite a few familiar faces when the tournament starts.
The good news for Ruud? He’ll have time to get that knee right and get ready for the clay court swing later this summer. That’s where he does his best work anyway.
