“I think he’s very good for our sport” – Djokovic believes 19-year-old Rune is the future of tennis, along with Alcaraz

With Carlos Alcaraz done for the season due to his abdominal injury suffered on Friday in Paris, the white-hot “next big thing” spotlight now rests solely on the shoulders of young Holger Rune, the rising force to be reckoned with that has ripped through the Paris draw, saving three match points against Stan Wawrinka before reeling off four top-10 victories in blinding fashion.

Novak Djokovic, who had a view from the other side of the net when Rune cut his teeth at the majors at last year’s US Open, knows the time has come for the tennis world to start taking notice of the talents that the rising Dane possesses.

“No doubt that he’s the future of the sport, along with Alcaraz and some other guys,” the 21-time major champion said of 19-year-old Rune. “Hopefully I can suspend his first title Masters 1000 event. We get along really well. Good friends off the court.”

Djokovic spoke of that first meeting in New York with Rune, in the first round of last year’s Open, before looking ahead to their final clash on Sunday in Paris.

“I played him only once last US Open, good battle, four sets. He has improved a lot, no doubt,” Djokovic said. “I mean, he physically is a very fit guy. He’s young, so not much to lose. Just swinging through the ball.”

Mouratoglou: “He showed he deserved to be a top player this week in Paris”

Working with Rune alongside his mother and manager Aneke and his longtime coach Lars Christensen, is Patrick Mouratoglou. The prolific French mastermind has had a front row seat to Rune’s heroics this week in Paris, and believes we are seeing the tip of the iceberg.

“When you want to be a top player, you have to show that you belong to this group,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been saying to him for a while. This week, defeating Wawrinka and four top-10 players, he showed he deserved it.”

Mouratoglou adds that it has been to his benefit that Rune has traveled a bit under the radar in 2022, with Carlos Alcaraz rising to world No 1 and keeping the media busy.

“Alcaraz being number one, you pay less attention to him, but without Alcaraz, anyone would say ‘incredible,’ he said. “That’s good, that drives less pressure on him.”

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But the time of going incognito in the media’s eyes may be officially over. Rune will rise to at least No 12 in the world in Monday’s ATP rankings and, if he is able to defeat Djokovic he will rise to No 10.

In other words, all eyes are now on Rune, for the foreseeable future.

This week, defeating Wawrinka and four top-10 players, he showed he deserved it.

— Patrick Mouratoglou on Holger Rune

That includes Djokovic, who considers the young stallion a good friend.

“I know him quite well because we have trained on different surfaces,” he said. “I really like him. Very nice guy. Great family. Great team of people around him. Fantastic work ethic that he has, and he deserves his success. I followed him last three, four years, his uprising through challenger level and then getting now to top 15 in the world.

“I saw him play today. Yesterday, it was just a very impressive game. Kind of reminds me of myself, you know, solid backhand and very good defense and, you know, just competitive, every point leaving his heart and his legs out there on the court. It’s nice to see that. I think he’s very good for our sport in general.”

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