Norway’s Ruud withdraws from Rio Open with abdominal injury

Norway’s Casper Ruud withdrew from the ATP 500 clay-court tournament in Rio on Thursday after suffering an abdominal injury, organisers said. 

Ruud, who won his seventh ATP tour title at the Argentina Open last weekend, pulled out shortly before his second-round match against Francisco Cerundolo. 

The 23-year-old said he picked up the muscle problem while playing against Diego Schwartzman in the final in Buenos Aires. 

“It was one movement I made in the final last week, when playing against Diego, in one of the last two games. I did a twist that caused a strain in my abdomen,” Ruud said. 

“The tournament here in Rio was really nice to me, they gave me a Thursday debut to give more time to recover but unfortunately it was not enough time.” 

World No 8 Ruud earlier suffered an ankle injury that forced his late withdrawal from the Australian Open last month. 

“At the end of the day you have to think about the future and not make it worse, so I had to listen to my body,” Ruud added. 

“It’s a long year and I don’t want to make the problem worse because a strain can become a tear and I really don’t want that. Luckily it’s a muscle problem, but now I have to rest and let my body heal.” 

SuperSport/Nnenna.O