UTS: Tennis gladiator Casper Ruud is 'last man standing'

Casper Ruud, the Iceman, was crowned Bastide Médical UTS Nîmes champion on Saturday, concluding one of the most spectacular tennis events ever staged.  A sell-out crowd of 12,500 people sang La Marseiilaise (French National Anthem) on a sun-soaked afternoon in Nimes as the famous Zeus trophy was awarded to Ruud who defeated Tomas Machac 3-1 12/13 16/14 15/14 15/11 in a thrilling final.

Across two days the 2000 year-old Arènes de Nîmes welcomed over 20,000 fans to watch some of the world's best tennis players do battle on a field which previously hosted gladiator fights.

Machac, took on UTS Grand Final London 2024 champion Alex De Minaur in the first semifinal of the day which went down to a dramatic sudden-death decider 3-2 12/13 12/11 6/20 17/13 2/1.

Above: UTS winner Casper Ruud. Source: UTS.

Ruud faced Andrey Rublev for the remaining final spot and, as was fitting for the venue, once again the winner was decided by a sudden-death playoff with Ruud saving two match points en route to victory 3-2 14/11 17/8 13/15 12/18 3/2.

In the final Ruud kept his cool after losing the first quarter to Machac who went into the final on a seven match streak after winning UTS Guadalajara in February.  As the temperature rose in the sun-filled arena the Norwegian turned up the heat to take the next three quarters and secure his debut UTS title.

When asked if he felt like a gladiator after winning the title in the historic Arènes de Nîmes Ruud said: "When you think about what's happened here in the past it's hard not to feel like a gladiator. I guess it's last man standing and that's what Gladiator (the film) is about.  Maybe I'll try to listen more to the music and watch the movie if I can in the next days.  This stadium was a really cool experience to play in.  I've been fortunate enough to play on all of the centre courts of the Grand Slams but I must say that this was an incredible feeling to step out here and feel like you're playing somewhere that someone fought for their life 2000 years ago, I don't think it can be much more historic than this."

the 2000 year-old Arènes de Nîmes. Source: UTS.

The next stop of the UTS Tour will be UTS Hong Kong on 14 & 15 October 2025.  A ceremony was held on court in Nimes announcing Hong Kong as the next stop and the first UTS event to be held in Asia.

Conceived by renowned coach and entrepeneur Patrick Mouratoglou, UTS is designed to be tennis like never before with an innovative format to engage and entertain. In 2025 the UTS Tour comprises four international events,  including a UTS Grand Final in December. Thanks to UTS’s unique competition structure, every match matters as the eight players at each event compete for winner-takes-all prize-money as well as points towards their UTS Race Ranking. The UTS Race Ranking at the end of the season will determine who qualifies for the Grand Final.

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Source: UTS