Salad scare: Ruud keeping strict watch on his diet

After food poisoning wrecked his Roland Garros a year ago, two-time finalist Casper Ruud remains on guard for what is put on his plate.

The seventh seed won his opening round on Monday, sending out Spanish veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

But while unable to account for the origin of most of the food he eats, the Norwegian remains vigilant in hopes of avoiding any future culinary mishaps.

“The majority of us don’t travel with our own chef, where you can really know what to eat all the time – I think Novak is the only one. 

“That’s an investment that I’ve thought about in the past, but it’s practically quite hard because you would need a place with a kitchen, to have fresh food all the time. It’s not easy at all.

‘I try to eat clean and strict. It’s kind of boring: just a lot of rice, some pasta every now and THEN and some kind of protein.”

Ruud warned that health hazards can lie in apparently healthy items.

“Salad and vegetables are tough sometimes. If you’re in countries where the water is not clean enough, how can you be sure that it’s not cleaned in the wrong way. 

“In Acapulco this year, I got food poisoning. I don’t know where it came from. Also here last year I had a stomach bug towards the end.

Salad and vegetables (have) quite a big risk when they’re not cooked or cleaned well. 

“You’re always thinking, where did I go last year and didn’t get sick, I’ll go back to that restaurant probably.”