Top News

Casper Ruud is ready to withdraw from the Australian Open if his new wife Maria Galligani calls him with some good news. The pair announced her pregnancy in September and will welcome a baby girl to the world very soon. The 12th seed in Melbourne began his tournament with a routine first-round win over Mattia Bellucci on Margaret Court Arena, setting up a match against Spain's Jaume Munar on Wednesday.

But afterwards, Ruud admitted he is on standby to pull out of the first Grand Slam of 2026 if he receives a call to say that his wife has gone into labour. The Norwegian said on court: "It's an interesting situation. I mean, I have to thank Maria for letting me go [to Australia] in the first place. I know she's back home resting, getting ready. Except for when I'm playing a match, the ringer is on [on my phone], all hours of the day, just in case. If she calls, if she goes into labour, I probably won't be here the next day.

"But that's the way it goes. There's more to life than just tennis, but I'm going to be here for as long as I can and as long as Maria lets me." The three-time Grand Slam finalist added: "When I'm out here, I'm strictly focused on tennis. I went on court knowing nothing had happened, so I could focus.

"Knock knock, hopefully I can get to finish and play my matches with everything going well at home, and when I come back - when I'll be back next year [for the 2027 Australian Open] - I'll be a father."

Speaking to the ATP Tour before the Australian Open got underway, Ruud said that he and his wife were both "really excited" to become parents and declared his plan to take his daughter around the world with him to tournaments in the future.

The 27-year-old added: "I look forward to hopefully becoming a good parent. Even though this life requires a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of travel and these things, I look forward to trying to be there as much as I can and when I have downtime - time off from the court - I will spend it where I want to go with my future daughter.

"I know for a fact that everything goes well, the next time I'll leave my house, I will have another person at home. She'll be very little and small, but she'll be there.

"I hope to bring them or her and my wife, Maria, to the tournaments together and be a happy family travelling around and to the places where it seems reasonable to travel. I'm not just doing this for myself anymore, and I have someone extra to play for."

Ruud and Galligani only got married recently. His manager Tina Falster told Norwegian outlet TV 2: "It is true that they have formally married, but outwardly they do not want attention to this as the actual wedding celebration will take place at a later date. Beyond this, we have no comment."

It has been claimed a ceremony was held at Oslo City Hall in December last year. The pair got engaged in 2024 having made their relationship public six years earlier.

Ruud has won five of his six meetings with his next opponent Munar, the world No.39. But the man from Oslo has also lost in the second round of the Australian Open three times already, including last year, and his career best effort in Melbourne came back in 2021.

That year, he reached the fourth round before having to retire injured while two sets down to Andrey Rublev. He has not progressed past round three at this Slam since and fell to Czech teenager Jakub Mensik in a major upset.