Djokovic Earns An Eighth Year-End No. 1 With Rune Victory In Turin

Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic (photo: ATP Tour video)

TURIN/WASHINGTON, November 13, 2023 (by Michael Dickens)

Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune, who met in the Nitto ATP Finals Sunday evening, brought their budding rivalry to the Pala Alpitour and out on quite a show to end Opening Day. It came barely a week after their gut-wrenching – and lengthy – three-set quarterfinal battle at the Rolex Paris Masters.

It was at that time in Paris-Bercy that the World No. 1 Djokovic beat the 20-year-old Rune to level their head-to-head at 2-all, and it snapped a two-match losing streak against World No. 8 from Denmark. Djokovic, 36, would go on to capture his seventh Rolex Paris Masters title – and win his 40th ATP Masters 1000 crown – and arrive in the capital city of Piedmont in northern Italy with an 18-match winning streak to his credit.

Let’s not forget that earlier this year, Djokovic lifted three of the four Grand Slam trophies. Only World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain prevented Djokovic from winning them all and it was the Serbian’s Wimbledon defeat in the final that was his last loss.

While Rune came close to knocking out Djokovic in their Turin opener, in the end it was Djokovic’s night to enjoy. He clinched a record-extending eighth ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone with his 7-6 (4), 6-7 (1), 6-3 victory over Rune. In a match filled with accomplishments, the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals champion from Serbia earned his 19th consecutive win as well his sixth straight victory in Turin.

By clinching Year-End No. 1, Djokovic will enjoy his 400th week at the top of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, beginning 20 November. This season, he’s been ranked No. 1 for 25 weeks, changing places with No. 2 Alcaraz seven times.

“It means a lot,” Djokovic said of his year-end achievement, in his on-court interview after the match. “You could see there were a lot of emotions on the court. I could feel it. I was very eager to win tonight’s match, get that monkey off my back. I won Paris, which put me in a much better position rankings-wise, and I knew coming into Turin I only needed to win one match. A big goal is achieved, everything else now is a bonus.”

As Djokovic began his quest for a record-setting seventh Nitto ATP Finals crown as well as Year-End No. 1, Rune, who was making his Turin debut, came out swinging big and wasn’t about to go down without a fight – although his endurance management came into question by the conclusion of the match.

By the end of their 71-minute first set, Djokovic prevailed in a tie-break 7-4. With one flick of his right wrist, hitting a huge forehand cross-court return winner, the Serbian raised the level of his game when he needed to most and kept Rune from crossing the finish line first.

“It took everything,” said Djokovic, who hit 36 winners against Rune, including 14 in the opening set. “I saw in the first game, when he fired shots from the baseline in the first three or four points, I knew that it was going to be a tough life for me. If I wanted to win this match, I was going to have to work really hard. … He was feeling the ball well, he was sharp. Very aggressive, every short ball he was coming in and he served terrific.”

Next, Rune jumped out quickly in the second set to break Djokovic for an early 2-0 lead. Although he was unable to consolidate the break, he got hyper-aggressive as the set wore on. After Djokovic saved a set point at 4-5, 30-40 and went on to hold serve for 5-all – eliciting cheers of “Novak, Novak, Novak” from the crowd – Rune continued to be the aggressor and eventually wore down Djokovic in a tiebreaker, winning 7-1, by taking advantage of some uncharacteristic unforced errors from both wings.

“You cannot wish that he misses a shot or wish that he has an off day,” Rune said in his ATP Media interview on Friday. “He loses probably four to five matches a year, so he doesn’t have off days. The only wish you can have in yourself is to try to play your best tennis and be the most focused on the court in your life. You have to be ready to give everything.”

After nearly two-and-half hours, it was on to a deciding set, and Djokovic jumped ahead quickly 2-0 with an early break of Rune’s serve. However, Rune got the break right back in the next game. A visibly frustrated Djokovic smashed a pair of racquets upon arriving at his bench at the changeover that would become souvenirs later for some lucky fans, while Rune received a quick visit from the trainer to get medication to help manage his cramping and to settle down his nerves. The contrast between the two competitors couldn’t have been more different. But it sure contributed to this drama within a drama.

Soon, Rune saved a break point by winning a back-and-forth, 27-shot rally. However, Djokovic eventually broke the Danish whiz kid to go ahead 4-2 – his fourth break of Rune’s serve. As the tussle neared the three-hour plateau after midnight in Turin, the finish line was finally in sight for Djokovic. He consolidated the break to surge ahead 5-2.

Although Rune battled valiantly from first ball to last ball – hitting 18 aces and 49 winners to 29 unforced errors – and held his serve one final time, it was clearly evident that he was low on energy by the close of the long match. Finally, as the match clock on the court hit 3:04, Djokovic closed out his triumph over Rune with one last, three-shot forehand winner. With victory secured, the Year-End No. 1 honor was all Djokovic’s to savor.

“I thought he played great,” Djokovic said. “I played great at some moments. At some moments I dropped the level, but overall, a win is a win. It was a very emotional win and a tough win because of the significance of tonight’s match, obviously knowing that if I won, I was going to clinch the year-end No. 1. So that was added pressure and tension, but after a terrible second-set tie-break I think I played a really solid deciding set.”

In his post-match press conference, Rune remained upbeat despite the loss.

“Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it today, but that’s how it is,” he said. “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 practice tomorrow and try to make them better.”

Around the Pala Alpitour

No. 5 seeds Marcel Granollers of Spain and Horacio Zeballos of Argentina rallied from a set down to upset No. 4 seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France, 2-6, 6-3, 10-7, in an hour and 29 minutes, Sunday evening in the first match for both teams.

The Spanish/Argentine duo, making their fourth Nitto ATP Finals appearance, garnered 80 percent of their second-serve points in the second set compared to just 43 percent in the first set. Their net savvy in the match tie-break helped them to their first win in the Green Group against Gonzalez and Roger-Vasselin, who were making their Turin debut.

The victory improved the 2023 win-loss record for Granollers and Zeballos to 35-17. On Tuesday, they will face No. 1 seeds Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the United States, who won their opener over Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni, 6-4, 6-2, Sunday afternoon.

“It was very important. I think we played a great match today,” Dodig said, interviewed by the ATP website. “To win 6-4, 6-2 is a great start for us. It’s still the group stage and it’s the first match, but it was very nice to play today in a full stadium. We had a good time, great fun with a good crowd, so great to be back in Turin and great to start with a win.”

By the numbers

Sunday evening’s clash between Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune was their fifth and they have had three-set battles in four of their five meetings. Before Sunday, they last met on November 3 in the quarterfinals of the Rolex Paris Masters, where Djokovic prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (3), 6-4 en route to winning the title.

“Quotable …”

“That’s the beauty of the Nitto ATP Finals. It’s not over until it’s really over. You can always re-bounce and you can always come back. It’s a good format. It allows for great competition and for some good comebacks that we don’t really see in the sport because our tour is based on knockout rounds, a single opportunity in every tournament.”

– Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, who lost his opening match 6-4, 6-4 to Italy’s Jannik Sinner on Sunday, from his post-match press conference.

 

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