For Casper Ruud, it is the powerful topspin forehand and the physically demanding baseline play that have been essential in building his tennis career. His off-court discipline was recently shown in a training clip Ruud shared on Instagram a few hours ago, in which he trained through an indoor rowing session.

He captioned it: "RO!! 🚣🇳🇴🚣🇳🇴🚣🇳🇴." The caption bears a strong resemblance to the Viking Row chant that has become the rallying cry of Norway's football fanbase during the country's World Cup run.

Playing in such a way requires strong forearms and hands, as the style demands five-set matches on clay. Hence, physical conditioning has been a key part of his game.

There were three videos in the post, and at the end he intelligently added an AI-generated video of himself rowing in the ocean with Norway's flag on his back.

The timing of the post could not have been better, as it landed on the same day Norway faced England in the World Cup quarterfinal, adding weight to the moment.

Ruud himself is coming off a demanding season, currently ranked No. 12 with 14 career ATP titles, three Grand Slam finals to his name, and a career-high world No. 2 ranking.

The Rowing Session Fits Into a Season Casper Ruud Is Actively Managing

The rowing clip comes at a telling point in Casper Ruud's calendar, just a few weeks after an early Wimbledon exit that ended his season on grass.

The Norwegian fell short in his first match against Hubert Hurkacz, and he did not dwell on it; rather, he explained why he lost and stopped running after improvement on that surface.

In his remarks to Ubitennis, Ruud confessed that playing on grass means giving up all that has made his tennis possible until now – from the spin to his footwork. "I don't feel good moving on grass," he said.

Ruud associated this problem more with the schedule than the level of skills itself. With the grass season only four to five weeks long, he cannot see enough value in changing his entire style for that period.

Does skipping grass improvement actually pay off once hard-court season begins?

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Written by

Proma Chatterjee

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil