Casper Ruud believes many tennis fans have the wrong impression of Jannik Sinner

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Jannik Sinner has played at a remarkable level over the past couple of months.

He became just the eighth man to achieve the ‘sunshine double’ in March, picking up titles in both Indian Wells and Miami.

He then took back the world number one ranking from Carlos Alcaraz after beating him in the Monte Carlo Masters final.

Sinner then went on to Madrid, where he became the first player ever to win five straight Masters 1000 events. His streak continued on Saturday with a win over Sebastian Ofner in Rome.

Sebastian Ofner lost his serve three times and managed just seven winners, but Ruud believes it was more about Sinner’s performance than any struggles from Ofner.

Ruud pushes back against ‘robotic’ Sinner criticism

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Ruud, who returned to the top two in the rankings earlier this year, spoke about Sinner’s form ahead of his straight sets win over Jiri Lehecka on Sunday.

“I played him [Sinner] last year in Rome and I can already think at that point, I said quite openly that was a crazy level that I felt and saw and was a witness of, and also playing the match” Ruud told Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport.

The Norwegian will next face Lorenzo Musetti or Francisco Cerundolo, made it clear he disagrees with the notion that Sinner’s style lacks personality.

Sinner’s groundstrokes have often been described as robotic due to their consistency and mechanical precision.

“I see a lot of people kind of, not criticising, but saying that Jannik is a little bit too much of a robot,” Ruud continued.

“When you realise how difficult tennis is and you can make tennis look robotic, it shows how good you are.