Casper Ruud Challenges LeBron James Hype as Nadal and Djokovic’s Unsung Heroics Shine in Paris

Who is the best out there? Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic. Tennis fans would split into groups to answer that question, and many parameters would be leveraged to support their favorite. But how does a person debate the greatness of the players from different sports with no common parameters? As apples can only be compared with apples and not oranges! However, Casper Ruud may have an idea about this, as he was involved in a heated defense of his idol, against the NBA stars, with a Norwegian journalist. Guess who won the debate?

It all started with the Norwegian journalist, Magnus Barstad, raving about LeBron James, as he tweeted the Paris Olympics opening ceremony pic. The phrase that became the point of contention was “The biggest star in the Olympics…” Casper Ruud, responding to Barstad, questioned about “Djokovic and Nadal?” World no. 8 wanted to know if the journalist forgot about the tennis maestros or intentionally skipped them while talking about the biggest stars. And it was the latter. What started, thereafter, was a clash between an NBA fan and a top tennis player who is also a Nadal fan.

Barstad confidently pitched James to be the best in the Paris Olympics. While Nadal and Djokovic could get a podium finish according to him, it would be behind the NBA great, if most metrics were taken into account except the Grand Slams. The question arises, what metrics are to be included to define the best in the Olympics 2024? Ruud came up with a few, such as being World No.1 at the end of the year and comparing it with the NBA finals.

While Djokovic has ended the year as the world no. 1 eight times, Nadal has done it on five occasions. Comparing it to the NBA accomplishments, Ruud said, “James and Curry have 4 rings each,” indicating that the two tennis legends he was talking about remained at the top of their game much longer. But the journalist had something else in mind as he said, “I’m betting a lot on Bron beating them well on social media and brand deals etc – which is surely the best indicator of who is the biggest star?”

Well, it’s an impasse when it comes to the war of words between fans. No fan would back down from an argument because they would almost feel as if their favorite lost the battle. Nadal got Ruud hooked on the sport of tennis and like any other fan, the Norwegian tennis star was not backing down. He agreed at the end of the conversation that LeBron might be the biggest star, all things considered, but the 25-year-old pressed the point that purely from a sporting point of view, Nadal’s and Djokovic’s achievements were second to none.

Casper Ruud, being an ardent Nadal fan, is aware of every statistic and record of his idol, but while playing a fun guessing game a couple of months back in May, he was taken aback when he got to know one of the off-court interests of the 14-time French Open champion. What was that?

Casper Ruud’s idol and his musical secret

When someone sees Nadal, the impression is that the prim and proper Spaniard has his world set up in another world. He may not step in the same boundaries that are traversed by a common man. However, Ruud’s idol has another more profound interest than tennis: the musical! The ferocious tennis player with the never-say-over spirit is a bit of a softie.

Once Nadal revealed, “Every year I go to Broadway to see a musical. I saw ‘Phantom of the Opera’ like 6 or 7 times?” When Ruud was asked to guess who said it, he thought it might be Djokovic or Federer. However, he couldn’t be more wrong, as these were the words of Nadal. The Norwegian was left dumbfounded as he said, “Rafa, wow- I had no idea he liked that stuff.”

With Rafael Nadal being in the twilight of his career now and most probably, featuring in his last Olympic Games, his fans would hope that he bows out on a high, possibly with the Gold medal.