Matteo Berrettini jokingly told Casper Ruud that Holger Rune ‘hated’ him (Image: Australian Open TV)
Casper Ruud opened up on his relationship with ahead of the .
Once fierce rivals, Ruud now regards the world No. 13 as one of his “best friends” on the tour.
And he had a quick response when Matteo Berrettini jokingly claimed Rune “hated” him as they faced off in an exhibition match.
Ruud, Rune and Berrettini were all in action at the Australian Open’s Bassline event on Tuesday night. The light-hearted event saw players face off in tiebreaks while a DJ played music in the background.
Ruud has been spending a lot of time with Rune of late. The pair played multiple exhibition matches in Scandinavia during the off-season and have already hit together since arriving Down Under.
And they faced off again during Bassline after winning their respective round-robin groups. Rune was busy in action against Fabian Marozsan while Ruud was warming up for their showdown on a courtside exercise bike.
With the Dane in the lead, Ruud was preparing to face the 21-year-old in one more tiebreak when he was joined by Berrettini, who was playing interviewer. “So, looks like you’re playing Holger,” the Italian said.
Holger Rune beat Casper Ruud to win the Red Bull Bassline event (Image: Getty)
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Ruud seemed keen to take on his friend, replying: “My best friend. Yeah, we are best friends now. We played together in Denmark, in Norway and we practised this week so it should be fun.”
But Berrettini had some news for the world No. 6. “He just told me he hates you,” he joked.
Ruud wasn’t falling for it, adding: “I hope not! But it should be a really good one.” Berrettini quickly gave the game away. “Okay, okay. He didn’t say that. I was testing your kindness,” he smiled.
Rune won the clash and lifted the trophy at the first Bassline event to be staged at the Australian Open.
While there is no bad blood between Ruud and Rune now, they did have a famous fallout following their 2022 French Open clash. Ruud won the clash and Rune accused his opponent of shouting “JAA” in his face in the locker room afterwards.
Both Ruud and his father and coach Christian accused Rune of “lying”. But the pair have since made up and formed something of a friendship.
The pair are trying to maximise their influence on Scandinavian tennis and played exhibition matches in their respective home countries of Norway and Denmark last month.
Ruud even looked out for his young rival, telling him he didn’t need to answer a question about taxes to avoid landing himself in hot water.