Holger Rune continues teen takeover on ATP with first Masters final in Paris

WATCH: Rune rallied from a set down to score his fifth Top 10 win of the week in Paris over Novak Djokovic.

Nineteen-year-old Holger Rune has made a lightning-quick rise up the ranks. Just over a year ago, Rune earned a chip at the high-stakes pro tennis casino when he took a set off Novak Djokovic at the 2021 US Open. To continue the casino analogy, since then, Rune has raked in enough winnings to fill a wheelbarrow.

Ranked No. 103 at the start of ’22, in May, Rune won his first ATP singles title on clay at Munich. Later that spring, at his Roland Garros main draw debut, Rune upset ’21 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and went all the way to the quarterfinals. In October, there came a second victory lap, Rune winning an indoor event in Stockholm, in the finals once again beating Tsitsipas. This fall, he’s also been the runner-up in Sofia and Basel.

Now comes an even greater breakthrough, Rune having reached the finals of the Rolex Paris Masters. Ranked No. 18 upon arrival in Paris, Rune will soar to 12 should he lose tomorrow—and ten with a victory. With this week’s run in Paris, Rune has now been a finalist in four straight tournaments.

“To do one percent better every day, that's really what I'm trying to do,” said Rune today following his 6-4, 6-2 semifinal win over Felix Auger-Aliassime. “To improve every small thing, to try to get things better, no matter if it's warmup, a little more better every day, because it's the small things that make the big difference.”

Rune’s dazzling ascent reminds me of a conversation I had with Jim Courier five years ago. The Top 50 by then teemed with far more players over the age of 30 than had once been the case. Amid advances in fitness, nutrition, equipment, and other sports science disciplines—and that other workplace factor known as increased compensation—a view had taken hold that it was far less likely for teenagers to blossom as they once had.

The ATP Tour, so went the traditional wisdom, had simply become too physical and cluttered with proficient players. Those under the age of 20 would need to build their skills and wait their turn. Certainly, that was how I was seeing it then too.

Courier had a different belief. Perhaps because three of his greatest rivals—Andre Agassi, Michael Chang, Pete Sampras—had all made a major mark in their teens, Courier’s belief was that if a player truly had that kind of precocious greatness, his success was meant to be. View a tennis player’s development this way and you begin to see the pro game less as a factory and more of an athletic bazaar, a marketplace of artisans, each sharpened in their own way, on a highly personal timetable. Most recently, we’ve seen it with the emergence of Carlos Alcaraz.

And now there is Rune, six days older than Alcaraz. All year long, Rune has accumulated results—not just notable victories, but also demonstrating sustainability by going on to win titles. Paris this week has been even more amazing. Returning to the casino concept, Rune has hit the jackpot. He began with an escape, fighting off three match points to beat Stan Wawrinka. Since then, a quartet of victories over top tenners—No. 10 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 9 Andrey Rublev, No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 8 Auger-Aliassime.

Having lost the Basel final to Auger-Aliassime, Rune’s sense of urgency was apparent right from the start. On the first point of the match, he drilled a backhand return down the line that elicited an error. Though Auger-Aliassime held serve in that opening game, Rune had set the tempo, that first backhand the start of a series of penetrating drives. Rune broke Auger-Aliassime at 1-all and was scarcely threatened from that moment forward. Rune served brilliantly. He made a staggering 83 percent of his first serves, hit five aces, never faced a break point and seemingly sprinted through the match in 88 minutes.

I actually just told my coach I was really two or three centimeters from losing in the first round here. I had a forehand which I played inside out and was like this from the net. But often it's like this. You're on the edge to lose and then you go deep in the tournament. Hopefully I can go all the way. Holger Rune

“Well, he wanted to play better than the previous final,” said Auger-Aliassime. “He wanted to be more aggressive. He wanted to give his all, and it worked. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he's going to miss some points,’ but he didn't. He managed to be consistent, to be accurate.”

“Yeah, I was almost out,” Rune said today of his great week in Paris. “I was down with three match points. I actually just told my coach I was really two or three centimeters from losing in the first round here. I had a forehand which I played inside out and was like this from the net.

“But often it's like this. You're on the edge to lose and then you go deep in the tournament. Hopefully I can go all the way. You know, it's just about staying in the moment. I'm super happy on how I progressed the whole tournament playing better and better, improving small things. Yeah, today was really good from my side.”

The fresh, raw qualities of Rune’s game mesh with an intriguing and emerging personality. Fun: His Twitter feed is extensive and engaging, Rune even tweeting minutes prior to a match. Concern: There have been reports of tiffs between Rune and other players. Encouraging: An Instagram post from Rune after his loss at Roland Garros that said, “Still I should be able to find a way to win and this requires more emotional control. I am aware of this and will improve.”

And so, yet another teen tennis prodigy demonstrates this principle: Why wait when you can win?