Holger Rune:- Novak Djokovic makes sure he keeps the title of World’s No. 1 reserved for himself.
The opening match of the Nitto ATP Finals 2023 is the talk of the town right now. It was past midnight in the Italian city of Turin, when Novak Djokovic completed a 7-6 (4), 6-7 (1), 6-3 win after three hours and four minutes of being on the court.
Holger Rune’s debut at the eight-player event had Novak Djokovic have a troublesome time as this 20-year-old opponent of his gave Djokovic a hard time before pulling off a third win in five meetings. Of all the rivals Novak has played against in the past couple of years, Rune has fared well, beating him in Paris last autumn and Rome in the spring before a tapered defeat in Paris a week and a half ago.
The 36-year-old Serbian player went on to win the Masters series title, continuing to keep his record of not having lost a single match since the Wimbledon final.
Match highlights:- Holger Rune
Rune struck first with a break to lead 3-2 however Novak hit back straight and the extraordinary set was a tie-break. Novak Djokovic took the forehand to smash a cross-court past his helpless opponent, nonetheless, Rune reacted well, reaching again to lead 2-0 in the following second set. Novak did not hold himself back and gave an immediate response and a strong serve impeded the young Dane when he was forced a set point set at 4-5.
Djokovic directly broke away to decide the set, only for Rune to recover the shortfall right away, reminding the already annoyed Djokovic to stamp on two rackets and snap the frames. Not keeping himself back, Djokovic broke again 4-2 and this time there was no way back for Rune.
Rune has won at least a set against Djokovic in every match they have played, although he had a helping hand in setting up a decider, his opponent playing a highly unexpected tie-break. Holger Rune sat heavily after reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals before hiring Boris Becker, Djokovic’s former coach, last month. But there were enough moments here to show his huge talent and fearsome ball-hitting skills.
There were enough moments
“It took everything. I saw in the first game when he fired shots from the baseline, I knew it was going to be a tough night for me. I thought he played great. I played great in some moments. Overall a win is a win. It was a very emotional win and a tough win knowing the significance of tonight’s match. After a really terrible second-set tie-break I think I played a really solid third set.” Novak told to Amazon Prime Video
“We have had great matches always when we played,” Rune said. “Unfortunately I couldn’t do it today, but that’s how it is. I have to look forward and take the things out of the match I was happy with, take the things out of the match that I wasn’t happy with, and go back to the practise tomorrow and try to make them better.” Says Rune despite his defeat to World’s No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
