Holger Rune is the new winner of the Paris Masters

The Paris Masters is one of the few well-funded ATP 1000 tournaments on the ATP Tour. No wonder the greats of international tennis like to come here, provided they are not injured. Novak Djokovic, 6-time Paris Masters winner and undisputed record holder of the tournament, did not miss the opportunity to come with the clear goal of winning his 7th title in Paris. In addition to Djokovic, stars such as Carlos Alcaraz, the current No. 1 in world tennis, Andy Murray, Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Roberto Bautista Agut, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud, Jannik Sinner, Felix Auger-Aliassime (winner of the Swiss Indoors 2022), Daniil Medvedev, Stan Warinka and many other tennis greats came to do the honors and play the ball.

The young Dane was almost eliminated at the beginning of the tournament against the Swiss veteran Stan Wawrinka. Wawrinka had already won the first set and was 5:4 games ahead in the second set and the score was 40:15 for Wawrinka. One would think that Wawrinka would have a clear case, he only needs one more point, only one more shot, but it turned out differently, as it did in many subsequent pairings. Wawrinka missed the clear lead by being too cautious and making silly mistakes and Rune shone with impressive passing shots, long lines and convincing winners. Although under pressure, he played freely. With this fresh straightforward style and an "I have nothing to lose" motto, he fought his way to the quarterfinals. There he met the number 1, Carlos Alcaraz, which was assumed to be his final stop, but it was not to be! Carlos Alcaraz retired at 3:6 and 6:6 (1:3 in the tiebreak) due to an abdominal muscle injury. In the semifinals, his opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime was waiting, who had beaten him in the final at the Swiss Indoors a week ago. But this time it went the other way and the young Dane prevailed to meet the grandmaster NovakDjokovic in the final. The latter had impressively played his way to the top of the tournament and expected only a victory from himself. Although things went according to plan for Djokovic and he dominated the first set, Rune's talent flickered at times when he scored with fabulous stop balls or unstoppable passing shots. Holger Rune returned balls you can't return in the second set, that had to be grueling for the Serb. The young Dane thus drew the crowd to his side. But Djokovic had not come here to lose to a young rookie, the old master wanted his 7th title. the consequence: the match remained super close. After Djokovic won the first set and the Dane the second, they played to 6:5 Rune:Djokovic in the third. At 40:40, Djokovic had to take the next points. But Djokovic was challenged first, first hitting an unstoppable passing shot from the Dane into the net for 6:5 Ad:40 and then his stop ball landed in the net for the win for Holger Rune. A clear line, tireless work, a relaxed approach, straightforwardness and tremendous talent were the trump cards that Holger Rune used against Djokovic and led him to victory. And with this victory and the 1000 points added to it, the Dane moved up from 19th to 10th place in the world rankings. Now, along with Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime, there is another representative of the young generation in the top 10 of world tennis.