Quote of the Day: Casper Ruud scores a big win "for the family" at Wimbledon

WATCH: At Wimbledon, Casper Ruud's reaction to being called an "international playboy" was priceless

In between rounds of golfing, sunbathing and seeing The Weeknd in concert, Casper Ruud has been preparing to play a Grand Slam.

The Norwegian player competed in a whopping seven tournaments during the clay-court season, and then opted for an extended break after reaching the final at Roland Garros for the second year in a row. That all left Ruud very rested and relaxed, but without any grass-court matches ahead of his Wimbledon start and with question marks surrounding his preparations.

Ruud, who famously joked that “grass is for golfers”, is taking any criticism all in stride. After hearing that he’s been dubbed an “international playboy” by British press for his relentless vacationing, the 24-year-old seemed equally amused and exasperated.

“Everyone is entitled to have their opinion,” Ruud said after his first-round win. “But to me, honestly it's a long year, and at some point during the summer there has to be some kind of break for the players."

“To me, the natural and the obvious choice is to skip a couple of the grass court events because I play every single tournament on clay every week. You get exhausted in the end," he added.

“Also topping it off with making the final of Roland Garros, I was quite tired afterwards.”

Safe to say he’s feeling way more rested now, evidenced by a relatively comfortable 6-1, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Laurent Lokoli in the first round. The biggest issue for Ruud on Monday actually seemed to be a bit of nerves, as he revealed he was playing for more than just himself when he took Court No. 1 for the first time:

Q. You said on court it was your first time on No. 1 and you were a bit nervous, but you're a Grand Slam finalist. Could you explain why you felt nerves on that particular court?

CASPER RUUD: Well, I think it's just this place is a bit special. My father and I, we don't have the greatest record at Wimbledon (smiling).

Any time we can pick up a win, it's big for the family.

Walking from Centre to Court 1 is like a tunnel, and you have all these pictures of memorable matches and players and legends of the game, so walking past those pictures was kind of like, ‘Oh, I'm going out there to play on one of these big courts myself.’

Indeed, Ruud’s grass-court ‘allergy’ seems to be genetic as his father, former world No. 39 Christian Ruud similarly struggled on the surface and never made it past the first round in five attempts. The younger Ruud seemed destined for the same fate after exiting at the same stage in his first two trips to Wimbledon, but finally broke through with a run to the second round in 2022. With Monday’s win over Lokoli, he has already equaled his best result at the All England Club.

Up next, Ruud will next face Liam Broady, a home favorite determined to ensure that’s as far as he will go.

While Ruud was battling nerves on Court No. 1, Broady was hard at work out on Court 15 putting together a 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 victory against Constant Lestienne. But come Wednesday’s match, the Stockport-born player says he doesn’t care on which court organizers schedule him as long as he walks away with the victory.

“Look, everybody wants to play Centre Court at Wimbledon,” Broady admitted. “That's just what it is. It's like playing a Champions League final. It's just what you want to do.

“I'd happily play him on Court 12 out in the bullpen, on the outside of Centre Court as well.”

Q. You'll take a No. 2 or 3 court maybe?

LIAM BROADY: I'm playing the No. 4 in the world second round of Wimbledon. I'll play him back up in Stockport if I have to. I don't mind.

No. 4 seed Ruud and wild card Broady will meet in the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday. Court assignments TBD.