Casper Ruud and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina played a point so different and lackluster that fans started to debate if it was the worst point of the year.
On Monday, Ruud and Davidovich Fokina played against each other in the Round of 32 of the 2026 Madrid Open. Ruud was easily dominating the matchup, and then there was that point that is grabbing attention.
Ruud and Davidovich Fokina played a wild 32-shot rally that stood out in the one-sided affair. Ruud made a deep return on Davidovich Fokina’s serve, after which the latter suddenly switched tactics and started hitting multiple moonballs. On the other hand, Ruud applied patience as the rally stretched to 32 shots.
It ended with Ruud taking control using an attacking forehand, while Davidovich’s final passing shot went long.
The unusual rally, much of Davidovich Fokina’s doing, received interesting reactions from the netizens.
“welcome back, Angelique Kerber and Caroline Wozniaecki,” one fan wrote, referencing a similar rally that happened between the two WTA players a while ago.
“Ruud was patient and dealt with that well. If that was a non Spanish player the crowd would have started booing,” another fan added.
“Ruud, should have just ended that nonsense, on the first one,” one fan reacted.
“Quite possibly the worst point of the year,” one fan wrote.
“What a ridiculous thing! ATP without Carlos and Sinner is this,” one fan commented.
“This is tennis too, isn’t it? And that’s just fine,” one fan reacted. “It’s great to go at it with hard-hitting rallies, but exchanges like this with lobs are pretty darn good too.
Well, I use a lot of lobs myself, though (lol).”
Casper Ruud to Face Stefanos Tsitsipas in Round of 16
Defending champion Casper Ruud is scheduled to face Stefanos Tsitsipas, who defeated Daniel Merida in the fourth round of the Madrid Open.
With this win, Tsitsipas joined Ruud and two others as the only players to win 100 tour-level matches on clay this decade. Ruud leads the list with 133 wins, followed by Carlos Alcaraz’s 108 and Alexander Zverev’s 102.
Tsitsipas and Ruud will meet for the first time since the 2024 Barcelona final, where the latter prevailed. He leads the head-to-head between the two with 3-2 record. He will be hoping to enter the quarterfinals by ending the challenge of Tsitsipas.
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