IN our newest tennis series during the off-season, we compare and contrast two players and what they do similarly, their points of difference and what they might do in the future. In this edition of Compare the Pair, we look at clay court dominant players, Cristian Garin and Casper Ruud.

Cristian Garin vs. Casper Ruud

DOB: 30/05/1996 | 22/12/1998
Height: 185cm | 183cm
Weight: 85g | 77kg
Nation: Chile | Norway
Turned Pro: 2011 | 2015

These two emerging players on the ATP Tour still have two-and-a-half years between them with Garin turning 25 next year, and Ruud about to turn 22 at the end of December. In terms of their body size, they are fairly similar, with Garin marginally taller and stronger. He has been in the system for four more years since turning professional as a 15-year-old, whilst Ruud was a little later at 16.

GAME STYLES:

Garin has a really well-balanced approach across the court, not necessarily having a massive strength, but also not having a massive weakness too. In Ruud’s case, his forehand is his massive strength, but he also struggles when it comes to his backhand.

Serve:

Garin has a solid without being an outstanding serve, keeping it safe and having a lower ratio of double faults, but also having a lower ratio of aces and service winners than his opponents. Ruud is in the same boat in terms of his aces and service winners but has a lot more potency on his serve both off his first and second serve, and maintaining a high service percentage.

Return:

You would back Garin in here out of the pair, with a stronger and more consistent return off his forehand and is able to attack off the first return serve more than other opponents. His return game is quite strong, whilst Ruud can be a little wild with his return, having a high number of unforced errors and a low return of serve average.

Forehand:

Garin has an impressive forehand with few errors, particularly when crossing the court or able to get consistency into his game and control the tempo. He can tend to miss shots down the line with his forehand, but overall, it is one of his strengths. Ruud’s forehand is an absolute weapon when on song though, able to place it well with a mix of power and spin which makes it difficult for opponents. This is the one area Ruud clearly has over Garin despite Garin being strong in the area as well.

Backhand:

Neither of these players have a particularly damaging backhand but for Garin, like most of his shots, it is more just consistent without being damaging, compared to Ruud who would see it as a deficiency needing improvement in his game. Garin is not afraid to rally off the backhand side for sustained periods of time, while Ruud is strong off the backhand slice, but makes errors when going for too much off his non-dominant side.

Volley:

Garin is the stronger player when approaching the net, even though he seldom does it. He has a high success rate when he does, but he tends to stick back at the baseline. Similarly, Ruud is not one to go into the net too often, though is fairly successful when he does though only when he is controlling the tempo.

Overall:

When it comes to these two players, Garin is just an overall ray of consistency, while Ruud uses his court coverage to get onto his dominant forehand side and control the tempo. He wins a lot of his points via opponents’ errors, whereas Garin is happy to control the tempo and go for more offensive shots. Ruud is still having to work on that aspect of his game.