Is David Beckham in football the closest parellel to Casper Ruud's career? He has been argued by many to not have ever been top ten level even though he has been ranked as high as world number 2 just like Beckham has been said by many to not have been truly world class even though he was a Ballon D'Or runner up and he is said to have benefited from his celebrity status. In my view Beckham was a great footballer but was overrated because he was misprofiled as a winger which did not allow him to maintain a world class level after the season in which United won the treble. Similarly Ruud is "overrated" because the media has treated him at times as a top top player and while I think he was top ten level, I do not think he was ever on that level. Had he defeated Zverev to reach a fourth slam final in 2024 he would be on that level but unfortunately he had a stomach parasite which did not allow him to properly compete in that match even though he won the first set. I think he would have won the match but I can not prove it. Basically we do not know how good Ruud was/is exactly because in one of the biggest matches of his career he had a stomach parasite and his results started declining shortly after . I posted another video because I could not find a video of Casper.