Casper Ruud arrived at the 2025 Shanghai Masters with a wave of hard-earned confidence, poised to make a strong push for a coveted spot in the ATP Finals. His season has been a mixed bag, filled with early exits, disappointing ones, and a surprise finals showing with Iga Swiatek at the US Open mixed doubles tournament. And months before, the Norwegian had triumphed at the Madrid Open, his only title of the season so far, which he stated brought him unexpected joy and relief.

He carried this renewed belief into the Asian swing, reflecting, “I’ve played several very good matches lately. I felt great in San Francisco, and continuing that level of play in Beijing meant a lot to me. Overcoming jet lag and the hardships of a long journey. Avoiding the first match of the tournament, where I was close to losing, changed something in my mind and my tennis.”

After an excellent showing at the Laver Cup and a stellar run to the semifinals at the Japan Open, where he nearly defeated Carlos Alcaraz, Ruud was optimistic about leveraging his current form in Shanghai to accumulate crucial points in the Race to Turin. However, Ruud’s campaign at the Shanghai Masters was abruptly cut short during his Round of 64 match against Belgium’s Zizou Bergs. As reported by edgeAI on X, in a dramatic and unfortunate conclusion, Ruud was forced to retire from the contest while trailing 1-4 in the third set.

The match had been a tough battle, with Ruud taking the first set 6-3 before Bergs fought back to claim the second set 7-5. Also, this early exit is a particular setback for Ruud, for whom the Shanghai tournament has historically been one of his less productive Masters events, with early exits in 2023 (4th round) and 2024 (2nd round).

This situation just adds to the story of the Norwegian star facing physical challenges as the season went on. Earlier this year, Ruud had to pull out of Wimbledon because of a nagging knee injury. His manager mentioned that he just needed a bit more time to heal up before he could handle the demands of a best-of-five sets match.

The way these interruptions keep happening really shows just how tough the tour can be, and it definitely makes it harder for Ruud to reach his goal of qualifying for the ATP Finals. But as another year of tennis reaches its end stages, Ruud isn’t the only one feeling the burn.

Casper Ruud isn’t the only player to withdraw from Shanghai

Casper Ruud didn’t sustain his injury in a vacuum. Rather, it comes amidst a backdrop of many players dropping out of the tournament after injury struck. The most high-profile withdrawal is none other than that of Carlos Alcaraz, who played through Tokyo with an ankle injury and chose to recover instead of adding more strain in Shanghai.

The toll of nonstop tennis aside, the excessive heat of Shanghai has made for difficult on-court conditions. Earlier, Terence Atmane retired from his first-round match, later revealing that his whole body was shaking and he felt unable to breathe. “My body sent me a signal, the signal to stop this immediately. I’m still confused about what happened today, and I don’t remember much. The heat stress I faced today could have been worse than losing consciousness for an hour and a rapid heartbeat,” he wrote on social media afterward.

Then, in another opening round withdrawal, Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic couldn’t adapt to the heat in his match against Arthur Rinderknech. Medjedovic initially requested to leave the court to change out of his sweaty clothes. But after returning and winning the first set tiebreak, Medjedovic decided he could not continue in the heat and retired.

With a spate of exits early into the tournament, the Shanghai Masters is proving to be a brutal test of who can adapt and survive the best. But for Casper Ruud, it only makes his path to Turin all the more precarious. Do you think he can qualify? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.