A ballgirl at the Davis Cup was visibly stunned as Casper Ruud suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of Henrique Rocha. Ruud went down in straight sets despite being the overwhelming favourite to win, with Rocha claiming the biggest victory of his young career.
The 20-year-old, representing Portugal, made a fast start to proceedings and capitalised on his opponent’s mistakes to claim the first set. He managed to keep up his form in the second, with Ruud struggling to get himself back into the contest before slumping to a 6-3 6-4 defeat.
Ruud’s surprise loss to Rocha, who is ranked 150 places lower than him, went down as one of the biggest shocks of this year’s Davis Cup. One of the ballgirls was visibly taken aback by the outcome, with her reaction to the winning point saying it all.
Rocha’s victory was confirmed when Ruud made an unforced error during a rally, with the Norwegian getting his bearings wrong and firing wide. In response, the ballgirl dramatically fell to her knees and put her hands on her head in utter disbelief.
It was certainly a major surprise, given that Rocha had only secured one win over a player in the top 100 before beating Ruud. He has enjoyed a productive year, winning the Murcia Open and reaching three semi-finals at other tournaments.
Rocha recently linked up with coach Pedro Sousa, who has known him for several years and believes he has the potential to emerge as Portugal’s greatest tennis export.
“His power is not normal,” said Sousa. “His forehand, his explosion were very good and impressive for a kid who was 15. The way he already moved and hit the forehand, it’s unbelievable.
“At least in Portugal, we are not used to seeing that a lot of times. We don’t have that many players, but even for the rest of the world, it’s not that common the power he can put in his shot, especially in his forehand.”
Ruud, meanwhile, will be hugely disappointed after failing to avoid an upset defeat while representing his country at the Davis Cup. He was outgunned by Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals of the US Open earlier this month and is yet to rediscover his best form.
