Tennis-Ruud glad to be back at Wimbledon after parasite scare

By Pritha Sarkar

LONDON (Reuters) - No one would blame Casper Ruud if he gave the elaborate salad bar laid on for competitors in the Wimbledon player's restaurant a miss this year after he spent a few weeks in bed trying to shake off a stomach ailment caused by a "small parasite".

The 25-year-old Norwegian's bid to reach a third successive French Open final last month was scuppered after he struggled to deal with what was then an unknown stomach issue and he ended up fading to a four-set defeat by Alexander Zverev.

"I went home the day after (losing at Roland Garros) and kept feeling quite bad for a full week... lying in bed all the time. I had no appetite," Ruud told reporters after he reached the Wimbledon second round by defeating Australian qualifier Alex Bolt 7-6 6-4 6-4.

"I took some tests and found out that I had this kind of

uncommon small parasite that I had been infected with through not sure where. The most normal place where you can get infected from it is through unclean water.

"If you are unlucky... through most likely like vegetable, fruit, or salad being washed with unclean water. It can take up to 12 days before it kicks in and you feel symptoms, so it's very difficult to know where I got it."

Considering the only foreign countries Ruud had been to in the four weeks leading up to the claycourt major were Spain, Italy and Switzerland, he has no idea where and how he ended up getting the ailment but the timing could not have been worse.

Not only did the issue ruin his French Open dreams but it also prevented him from putting in the hours on grass in the lead-up to Wimbledon.

"I didn't get it in Norway... the doctors were a bit surprised that this was the case," he said.

"I did think if this keeps on going on for too long, Wimbledon might be at risk, I didn't have any appetite. I had very low energy and slept a lot and was just in bed pretty much the whole time."

Luckily for the world number eight, he managed to shake off the ill-effects of the parasite before heading to London last week and is ready to face Italian maverick Fabio Fognini as he looks to reach the third round at the All England Club for the first time.

(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ed Osmond)