Casper Ruud Eyes Title Defense at Barcelona Open

BARCELONA, Spain — Casper Ruud is gearing up to defend his title at the ATP Barcelona Open, set to commence this week, after finishing as runner-up in 2022 and 2023. Despite his past successes on the clay courts, Ruud faced a rocky start to the 2025 season, suffering a second-round loss to Alex De Minaur at the Monte Carlo Masters.

As the defending champion of the Barcelona Open, where he claimed the biggest title of his career last year, Ruud now faces the pressure of defending 500 points. The Norwegian currently holds the world number 10 ranking but has seen a drop in his point total after losing significant points from last year.

“Most of my points come from clay court tournaments,” Ruud noted in a pre-tournament interview. “I have some other results on hard courts, but honestly, last fall was quite disappointing for me. I didn’t win many matches at all.”

Ruud salvaged his season by reaching the semi-finals at the ATP Finals in Turin, providing him with some cushion. Ahead of the Barcelona Open, he is optimistic about opportunities to gain points in Madrid and Rome, where he has minimal points to defend.

“This week, obviously, I’m the defending champion, but in Madrid and Rome, I have almost no points to defend, so that really helps me relax a little,” he added.

Last year in Madrid and Rome, Ruud won only two of his four matches, contributing just 110 points from those events. Currently, he has won 11 of his 18 matches this year, placing him 28th in the ATP Race to Turin standings. Overall, he has 2,490 points to defend until the end of the 2025 season, with 67% of those points coming from clay court tournaments.

Ruud’s campaign in Barcelona will start against Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan, who has lost to Ruud in both of their previous encounters. The tournament presents a critical opportunity for Ruud as he seeks to regain momentum in his clay court season.