No. 10 of '22: 19-year-old Holger Rune arrives with win over Novak Djokovic in Paris Masters final

HIGHLIGHTS: Rune d. Djokovic, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5

How did 19-year-old Holger Rune feel as he tried to serve out his first Masters 1000 final, against Novak Djokovic in Paris-Bercy? According to him, he experienced a sensation that many of us know well, even if few of us have described it the way he did.

“My heart was in my brain,” Rune said.

Rune’s heart and brain, it turns out, make for a promising team. Together they pulled off the most mind-boggling service hold of 2022. To do it, the soon-to-be-great Dane saved six break points—three of them with winners—against the best returner in men’s-tennis history, at 6-5 in the third set, before a full house of fans who had trouble keeping themselves quiet long enough to let him serve the ball.

By persevering through all of that, the unseeded Rune capped off one of the most improbable, spectacular—and, to at least one opponent, annoying—weeks of tennis in 2022. Rune beat five Top 10 opponents in Bercy, a Masters 1000 record. He out-played Carlos Alcaraz, ended Felix Auger-Aliassime’s three-tournament win streak, and came back from a set down against five-time tournament champion Djokovic.

Before he could do any of that, though, Rune had to save three match points in the first round against three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, who told the jumpy, hyper-competitive teen to stop being a “baby” on court. Playing-wise, if not behavior-wise, Rune took Wawrinka’s advice to heart. He started the week as an unseeded hopeful, an overemotional kid who was still learning to deploy his many weapons effectively. He ended it in the Top 10. Just as one 19-year-old—Alcaraz—was staking his claim to be the future of the ATP, another 19-year-old had come along to challenge that claim.

The key against Djokovic, Rune said, was “to be brave and be solid at the same time.”

“I had to tell myself to calm down, but still, you know, believe in my serve and go for my shots. I’m not going to beat him just by pushing the ball back.”

Rune erred on the side of bravery in the first set, when he went for two huge second serves, missed both, and was broken. But he found the balance in the second, and never lost it after that. He put his serve in the corners. He belted his returns deep and with pace. He stayed solid with his forehand, rolling it high with topspin, and used his backhand as his kill shot. If he wasn’t drilling it down the line for winners, he was dropping it just over the net, and just out of his opponent’s reach. It was, in many ways, a Djokovichian performance, with an added layer of youthful bravado and go-for-broke risk.

“I just tried to use my young power, willpower, to do everything I can to put him under pressure,” Rune said.

The most Djokovic-like aspect of this match was the way Rune ended up on top in a topsy-turvy contest that could have gone either way. Down 1-3 in the third, with Djokovic serving at 30-0, Rune hit two passing-shot winners and broke. At 5-5, he tracked down a drop shot and pushed it down the line, over the high part of the net; Djokovic, expecting a crosscourt ball, wasn’t ready for it. Finally, serving at 6-5, it looked like Rune would crack at last. He grew tentative from the baseline, and double faulted on his first match point. But he held anyway.

“I really stayed in the moment,” Rune said.

Another veteran in Djokovic’s position might have brushed past Rune with a drive-by handshake after such a frustrating defeat. But Novak went the other way, giving him a hug and telling him he liked his attitude—no “stop being a baby” comments here.

I just tried to use my young power, willpower, to do everything I can to put him under pressure. Holger Rune

“Their energy on the court, just wanting, motivating themselves and wanting to do well and staying mentally present, it’s impressive,” Djokovic said of Rune and Alcaraz.

Was Rune redlining in Bercy, or is this a game he can replicate week after week, indoors and outdoors? That will be one of the most intriguing questions of 2023. What we know is that Rune can already do everything. He can attack and defend. He can bail himself out with his serve, and pressure his opponent with his return. And when he has an open court or a smash, he doesn’t miss it.

Most important, though, is Rune’s passionate desire—his need—to win, which is the same no matter who he faces, GOATs like Djokovic included. If he keeps his heart in his brain, he’s going to have many more wins like this one.