Casper Ruud was forced into an immediate apology after defeating Jack Draper in the Madrid Open final last year, acknowledging that he had 'stopped the British party'. The Norwegian 14th seed triumphed 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 in the 2025 showpiece to claim the most prestigious title of his career.
Following the match, Ruud joined the Sky Sports team for a post-match interview, where he expressed his regrets to the pundits and viewers watching in the UK. The gracious Norwegian also had warm words for Draper, describing him as a 'threat' on any surface.
He said: 'Sorry to spoil the British party here tonight, but it was, first of all, an incredible match. Jack has been kind of wiping everyone on the floor here in Madrid. I knew if I didn't bring my A+ game tonight, it would be really tough. Luckily, I think I did play really well throughout the whole match.'
Ruud, 27, added: 'Jack has become a threat on any surface. If you look at his career before Madrid, his bigger results had been hard-court or grass. But now he's played so well here in Madrid and shown that he can be a threat and understand the surface. Not like he was a bad clay court player before but he's really taken a big step.'
Draper got off to a flying start, breaking serve early in the opening set, before Ruud staged a comeback from 5-3 down to snatch it. Following an emotional outburst in his chair, Draper regrouped to level proceedings and force a final set.
However, with his serve coming under intense scrutiny, Ruud, a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, broke to take a 3-2 lead before holding serve to claim his first ever ATP Masters title. Draper said: 'This sport is brutal but I will keep trying. I think this loss will make me better. I thought there was a lot of good stuff but in a couple of key moments, I felt like his level maintained and mine maybe just dipped off a little bit. Not quite getting over the line helps fuel my fire a bit more that I need to keep on pushing, I need to keep on improving.'
Draper, who won the Indian Wells title last year, withdrew from this year's Madrid Open, which wraps up with the final on Sunday.
