Controversy erupted during the 2025 Madrid Open semifinal as Casper Ruud accused a fan of interfering during the match. The Norwegian also clashed with the chair umpire, expressing frustration over what he saw as a lack of strict action in response to the incident.
On May 2nd, Ruud faced off against Argentina’s Francisco Cerúndolo in the semifinal of the 2025 Madrid Open. After a tightly contested match, Ruud emerged victorious in straight sets, winning 6-4, 7-5.
During the match, the temperature rose as Ruud became involved in a heated verbal argument after a fan repeatedly interfered with play. He asked the chair umpire to take action, and the situation later escalated into a dispute.
According to Ruud, a fan repeatedly whistled during each of his service attempts, prompting him to ask the chair umpire to step in. However, the umpire responded that it’s not in their policy to intervene in such matters.
Umpire: “There is no policy. It’s not polite. I’ll make an announcement not to scream.”
Casper Ruud : “How many times can they scream before I can demand something? Why can’t you answer the question? You just say ‘I’ll deal with it.’ But I’m asking a specific question. How many seconds before I can demand let’s say another serve or a replay? If he does it again and again and again… nothing.”
Ruud also mentioned the incident that occurred during the quarterfinal match between Aryna Sabalenka and Marta Kostyuk at the Madrid Open on April 30. The controversy arose when the Ukrainian angrily confronted the chair umpire after Sabalenka missed her first serve. The match was then paused due to rain, and when play resumed, Sabalenka was allowed to start with a fresh first serve, which sparked the dispute.
Ruud: “What about Sabalenka with the rain the other day?”
Umpire: “These are completely different situations.”
Ruud: “It’s funny you can never give a clear answer to this.”
Umpire: “Because there’s no answer to this.”
Ruud’s frustration reached a boiling point during the match as the Norwegian asked the officiating if the situation remained the same if he was given the first serve instead of the Argentinian. The dispute led to a brief interruption in play.
Ruud: “If you call ‘first serve for Ruud’… hypothetically… I know you can’t… but let’s say you do it. Do you think he’s gonna do it again? Probably not. I know you do your best but just saying ‘Please don’t do it again’ is not enough. Some fans are too loud.”
Umpire: “If someone is doing it on purpose we can send security or remove them. What I heard was a couple of times. We cannot go into the mind of the people..”
Ruud: “I know but let’s say you were stricter, they wouldn’t do it again. You just cut it right away. I know it’s tough for Francisco because he didn’t do anything. But the fan is cheering for him… if you give me a first serve he’s never gonna do it again. So there would be no problem.”
Umpire: “I know but we can’t do this.”
Casper Ruud is set to play in the final of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament on Sunday, May 4. He will face the winner of the other semifinal match between Jack Draper and Lorenzo Musetti.
Casper Ruud makes his feelings known after reaching Madrid Open final
After his semifinal triumph, Casper Ruud was delighted as he reflected on the opportunity to play in his first final at the Madrid Open—something he had never achieved before. In 2021, he made it to the semifinals but had to bow out after a straight-sets defeat to Matteo Berrettini.
During the post-match on-court interview, Ruud, elated with joy, talked about the challenges he faces while playing tennis:
“Yeah I don’t know. There’s a lot of things you deal with as a player. It’s a lot of fun of course and living this life and traveling the world is kind of like a dream.. don’t get me wrong. But you have struggles all along.. almost every single week you’re dealing with some minor pain, fatigue, or stress somehow.”
He shared his passion for the sport and talked about what drives him to stay motivated.
“I love what I do and that’s what keeps me gonna and motivated every day. But there are definitely things.. I’m sorry to say to the fans.. but the fans don’t get all the info that we have. There are some things you keep to yourself and especially when it comes to certain pain and things we deal with. There’s probably a bit more than the fans hear about..”
alt=”Dipjit Pal Chowdhury” height=”72″ width=”72″>
Edited by Pritha Ghosh
