The UTS season is well and truly underway in 2024, with Andrey “Rublo” Rublev becoming the first two-time UTS winner when he lifted the Zeus trophy in Oslo on February 11th.

While Casper “The Ice Man” Ruud, Alex “The Demon” de Minaur and Dominic “Thieminho” Thiem all fell short at the Norwegian event, they did provide plenty of action still. The trio caught up for dinner in Oslo, producing a brilliant episode of UTS’s ‘All on the Table’ podcast. 

Everything from playing Rafael Nadal at Roland-Garros to The Demon’s first ATP final was discussed, with plenty of great insight into the player’s lives and backgrounds coming through in the conversation. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.

Ruud on playing Nadal in the 2022 Roland-Garros final

A big point of conversation between The Iceman, Thieminho and The Demon was their mutual experience of facing Nadal on clay.

“His tactic, I’m not going to say it’s simple, but he just kind of locks you in the backhand. And there’s nothing you can do in the end. He makes it too physical in the end,” a frustrated Ruud shared.

The Norwegian went on to confess that he actually rated his chances of winning the 2022 Roland-Garros final, despite Nadal’s incredible record on the Parisian courts.

“I was actually thinking the night before, ‘You never know, if there’s one year where someone might surprise them it could be this one.’”

How hard it is to win a title

Conversation also turned to the physical challenges of winning a title on the ATP Tour.

“You are hurt everywhere, that’s what I felt,” said Ruud, reflecting on his Grand Slam final runs. “Blisters everywhere, hurt in the shoulder, the back, everything is hurting.”

Thiem chipped in with some sage reflection, “But I think, nobody likes to take too much pain killers, but if you do it once a year or whatever, you do it in a Slam final.”

With several Grand Slam finals and a host of titles between them, these three had plenty to share about the struggles of making a deep run.

The crazy technique of Medvedev

Something else that Ruud, de Minaur and Thiem agreed on was just how crazy Daniil Medvedev’s technique is. 

“I walk out of that match thinking, you know, this was the best chance I’m ever going to get to win a title,” said The Demon, of the first time he played Medvedev in an ATP final. “I don’t understand how I lost that match. I’ve got to look myself in the mirror, tell myself what am I doing with my life… I proceeded to play him like four times that year, he beat me every single time, and he finished like top 10.”

Watch the full ‘All on the Table’ episode on our YouTube channel now.