Latest / Bleacher Report / Norwegian Tennis Star Casper Ruud on His Love for Golf, Celebrity Look-Alikes _ 2025 Roland-Garros

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Norwegian Tennis Star Casper Ruud on His Love for Golf, Celebrity Look-Alikes _ 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

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  Speaker 1: John Isner here from the Nothing Major podcast at the
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  Speaker 1: Bleacher Report set here at beautiful Roland Garos, and we
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  Speaker 1: have a great guest with us, none other than the
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  Speaker 1: number seven seed, Caspar Rude of Norway. He is through
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  Speaker 1: to the second round after a straight set win yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: Someone who is very competent on clay courts. He won
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  Speaker 1: the very prestigious Madrid Masters of It a few weeks ago.
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  Speaker 1: He is a two time Roland Garros finalist, losing to
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  Speaker 1: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, a one time US Open finalist.
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  Speaker 1: Sorry to bring up our your losses losing to Carlos
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  Speaker 1: Alcaaz at that US So my first question to you
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  Speaker 1: is does it hurt more knowing that you lost those
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  Speaker 1: Grand Slams to a bunch of really no names in
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  Speaker 1: our sport.
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  Speaker 2: I kind of been asked this before, and no matter
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  Speaker 2: who you play in the Slam final, it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be someone good. But like I had Rafa playing for
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  Speaker 2: his twenty second Slam and fourteenth win here, and then
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  Speaker 2: Novak the year after he was playing for his twenty
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  Speaker 2: third to break Rafa's record, So you kind of think, like,
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  Speaker 2: is there anyone who's going to be more motivated than
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  Speaker 2: those two guys on those two specific days. No matter
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  Speaker 2: what happens, they're going to bring their best. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I'll cross. I think we all remember the run he
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  Speaker 2: had that year and and he just caught fire and
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  Speaker 2: no one could stop him.
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  Speaker 3: So it's fine.
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  Speaker 2: I've had some great experiences, but the motivation to win
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  Speaker 2: one one day gross when you lose few finals.
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  Speaker 4: Of course. Absolutely.
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  Speaker 1: In Nadal the year that he beat you in the
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  Speaker 1: final famously was dealing with some sort of foot injury.
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  Speaker 1: And was he not like getting shot up in between
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  Speaker 1: matches just so they could like numb his foot so
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  Speaker 1: he wouldn't feel the pain. And what were you thinking
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  Speaker 1: going into the finals? Do you think maybe eventually his
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  Speaker 1: foot would start to really bother him. Yeah, and I might,
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  Speaker 1: you know, have a good chance at winning this.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: You know, he was fairly open about his foot injury
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  Speaker 2: in the press the days before during.
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  Speaker 3: The tournament, and I don't want to speak for him.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know all the details what he did, but
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  Speaker 2: I do know that he he injected like local anaesthesia
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  Speaker 2: in his foot, which lasted for eight hours at a time,
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  Speaker 2: like these shots that he would throw in there and
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  Speaker 2: then he could move perfectly without feeling any pain obviously,
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  Speaker 2: so he went it went pretty far because he felt
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  Speaker 2: like he had a chance at winning, and he did
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  Speaker 2: that for two weeks and.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't know going into the final that's what he did.
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  Speaker 2: I just knew that he was in the final, so
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  Speaker 2: he must be playing well and dealing with it. But
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  Speaker 2: you never know, maybe he wakes up and feels like
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  Speaker 2: horrible or feels like shit that day, and anything can happen. Really,
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  Speaker 2: And even though I lost, clearly I went. I woke
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  Speaker 2: up that day thinking, you know, I guess how everyone
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  Speaker 2: would think, like, maybe if there's one time he's going
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  Speaker 2: to lose, it might be today.
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  Speaker 3: But it wasn't. No, it was far away from him.
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  Speaker 4: He's been pretty good into French Open finals.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah the finals.
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  Speaker 1: You weren't able to give them that one, but no
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  Speaker 1: one was so. But dude, making it to two French
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  Speaker 1: Open finals is massive. Back to a little bit more
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  Speaker 1: about your tennis. You're one of the best players on clay.
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  Speaker 1: Everyone knows that. What does the red clay do for
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  Speaker 1: your game? Well, why are you so effective on the surface?
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  Speaker 1: In your opinion, I think that.
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  Speaker 2: My game is far from perfect on any surface, and
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  Speaker 2: also on clay. But I think that on clay I'm
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  Speaker 2: a player that is a little tougher to beat than
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  Speaker 2: on a hardcore I'm sometimes sort of like a cockroach
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  Speaker 2: that kind of keeps creeping back and back, even though you.
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  Speaker 4: Know, people try to try to swat you in yeah.
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  Speaker 2: They try to like hit winner, keep like trying and
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  Speaker 2: trying and trying and and and clay is the surface
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  Speaker 2: that allows you to get more balls back. You track
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  Speaker 2: down more balls, and it's tougher to hit winners. So
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  Speaker 2: it's not always about playing perfect. It's about being sometimes
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  Speaker 2: tough to beat. And if I feel like I'm a
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  Speaker 2: fairly tough player to beat in five sets on clay,
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  Speaker 2: while because I love the surface, and I think the
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  Speaker 2: majority of the tour they prefer not to play on clay.
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  Speaker 2: So whenever I play someone on clay, I think that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, this is this is kind of my ground,
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  Speaker 2: and this is the day or this is the week
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  Speaker 2: that I bring my best game. And some players come
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  Speaker 2: to the Paris for roll on Garrison, they're already excited
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  Speaker 2: for the grass to start because it starts in the
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  Speaker 2: week or two, so some are already mentally on grass.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when they come here and be like, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I'm just gonna give you one last chance five sets.
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  Speaker 2: But oh, if I'm playing Carlos, or if I'm playing Onick,
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  Speaker 2: or if I'm playing Rough or someone is going to be
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  Speaker 2: like I might as well just you know, focus on Stuttgard.
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  Speaker 2: So yes, I want to be a player that players
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  Speaker 2: think this about on clay. And I'm not sure if
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  Speaker 2: I am, but if I can be a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of a threat in my opponent's head, that's that's a
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  Speaker 2: good thing, I think.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's really good.
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  Speaker 1: We know all about your great play on clay, and
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  Speaker 1: we're actually done talking about your tennis.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, right now, we want go to your main sport.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, golf.
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  Speaker 4: Caspa Roode is a very very good golfer.
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  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, he has his own golf
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  Speaker 1: Instagram page just Casper Underscore Golfer, Yeah, where he shows
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  Speaker 1: all of his golf highlights and all of his progress
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  Speaker 1: low lights.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah. Well no, not like I played played with him before.
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  Speaker 4: He's very good.
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  Speaker 1: He's one of the best tennis golfers out there. Beautiful swing,
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  Speaker 1: as you can see, was pro golf ever in the
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  Speaker 1: cards or no, it was always tennis.
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  Speaker 3: No, it was never realistically in the cards.
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  Speaker 2: I've I have nights where I, you know, before I
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  Speaker 2: fall asleep, dream about swapping yeah yeah for golf. But
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  Speaker 2: that's just like a fairy tale that I have in
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  Speaker 2: my mind. I'd like to some days think that it
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  Speaker 2: would be fun to give it a chance, just to
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  Speaker 2: see how, like, how far I could get. I would
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  Speaker 2: never never expect getting to a professional level where I
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  Speaker 2: would have an income from golf, but you know, I
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  Speaker 2: I think I would be able to get to a
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  Speaker 2: level where I could play maybe somewhat of international tournaments
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  Speaker 2: or I don't know, but I would never never envision
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  Speaker 2: making you know, prize money on income from golf. But
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  Speaker 2: I think when you've done twenty as you know, twenty
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  Speaker 2: twenty five years of your life dedicated to a sport,
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  Speaker 2: it would be tough to kind of turn around and
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  Speaker 2: start all over, because tennis is tough enough as it is.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, you you you know what the retired life.
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  Speaker 2: Is like now, I'm yes, I don't think another sport
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  Speaker 2: is what's what you're looking most forward to when you
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  Speaker 2: retire from tennis? Now?
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  Speaker 1: Tennis is Please answer me this. Tennis is a lot
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  Speaker 1: tougher physically than golf. Is that I've always been a
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  Speaker 1: little jealous of the golfers. They can they can win
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  Speaker 1: Grand Slams at forty five years old.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not happening for you and fit phil one,
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  Speaker 2: that's fifty exactly.
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  Speaker 3: Okay.
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  Speaker 1: So I want you to compare the four tennis majors
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  Speaker 1: to the four golf majors. Okay, So I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: give you a tennis major and you give me the equivalent. Yeah, okay,
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  Speaker 1: roll on Garros, British Open, Yeah, I agree, all right,
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  Speaker 1: US Open in golf, US Open Tennis, all right, the
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  Speaker 1: Masters wimblem, all right, and then that leaves the Australian
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  Speaker 1: Open as PG Championship. I would have said the exact
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  Speaker 1: same four Yeah. So us at the Nothing Major podcast, yep,
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  Speaker 1: long time ago, we made a sixteen man We.
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  Speaker 4: Called it the Hotty Bracket, the best.
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  Speaker 1: Looking players on the ATP Tour. You had a good run, Casper. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: you made it to the semi finals per are fan voting.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm going to show you some celebrity doppera gangers.
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  Speaker 4: Casper look alikes. Okay, on a scale.
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  Speaker 1: Of one to ten, you need to tell me how much.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think they look like you, Jake Jillenhall, God,
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  Speaker 1: that's pretty.
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  Speaker 4: Don't be honest, don't be model.
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  Speaker 3: It's hard to say for yourself, but I think like
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  Speaker 3: ten is like looking really like men.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say, or he's older than me, so
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  Speaker 2: I would look like him.
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  Speaker 3: But I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Six maybe Okay, you don't have to be modest, No,
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  Speaker 2: but I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Patrick Dempsey, you got a lot of lookikes, dude,
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  Speaker 1: think about this.
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  Speaker 3: It's like four okay, Okay, I saw the other one
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  Speaker 3: that I was gonna be.
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  Speaker 4: Okay, all right, here we go.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is the one. I've seen the mode.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, fellow golf nutt.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I will give him like maybe an eight.
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  Speaker 4: Nile is say it.
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  Speaker 3: I've seen that a lot online. Okay, all mess, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: do you even know that is? No? But similar hair? Right, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: a little bit similar? Like look he is also eight,
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  Speaker 3: I think maybe.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so okay, we have we have the
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  Speaker 1: last one, Ryan Gosling.
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  Speaker 4: Look at the hair.
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  Speaker 3: I mean it's yeah, that's pretty.
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  Speaker 4: The facial hair got the same little shadow going on.
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  Speaker 3: Should we give him the nine then? Or I think we.
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  Speaker 1: Give Gosling that yes, you're almost a Ryan Goslin lookalike, Casper,
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  Speaker 1: and I don't think you were.
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  Speaker 4: You were being modest there.
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  Speaker 3: I think that that's really good.
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  Speaker 2: My uncle thinks I look a lot like Dombt Tim's
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  Speaker 2: brother Mats.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I know, but I can see that. But they're
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  Speaker 1: not gonna have any idea who that is, so we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna keep it to the celebrity. So anyway, but yes,
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  Speaker 1: I can see that, but let's stick with Ryan gospel
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  Speaker 1: of Dominic Team's brother. Anyways, all right, this is we're
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  Speaker 1: gonna end right here. You've said that raff and a
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  Speaker 1: Doll is your idol. You have trained with him a
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  Speaker 1: bunch before. You have golf with him, You've spent time
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  Speaker 1: in Majorca at his tennis academy. You've learned, you've learned
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  Speaker 1: a lot from him. So that they did the big
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  Speaker 1: ceremony for raf On. He has that little plaque on
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  Speaker 1: the court right beside the net. You think they should
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  Speaker 1: retire the same locker that he used each and every year.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that that should be like some kind
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  Speaker 2: of golden locker or something totally that's not not for
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  Speaker 2: you reuse, not for exactly. That's like his should have
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  Speaker 2: something in there that's a good thing.
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  Speaker 4: I'll you could have fourteen.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, locker lockers.
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  Speaker 2: Be cool if he had number fourteen, But I don't
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  Speaker 2: think he always is in the same area.
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  Speaker 4: When you win fourteen times.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, do what you want to do, all right, I.
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  Speaker 1: Got the last question for you, Yes, Casper, give us
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  Speaker 1: three names. Okay, can't name yourself. You cannot name you
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  Speaker 1: Onick Center the number one seed, or you cannot name
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  Speaker 1: Carlos Alcaz the number two seed that you think could
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  Speaker 1: win here this week.
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  Speaker 2: Three names Novak, Moussette, and Draper.
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  Speaker 3: I think those three are a good pick. Yeah, I'll
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  Speaker 3: go for those.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining the Bleacher Report desk up here. I
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: really appreciate you, buddy.
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: Thank you.