“I need to reaffirm that I am still there with the young players, that I am able to compete with them and win close matches like this,” pointed out Novak Djokovic before the final. Nobody had resisted the 35-year-old Serb at the Masters 1000 in Paris since his defeat, at the same stage of the competition, in 2018. On Sunday, he fell on the Dane Holger Rune, only 19, who deprived him of a seventh Paris Bercy tournament. The young wolf, very fit at the end of the season, was playing his fourth final in as many tournaments (victory at the ATP 250 in Stockholm, defeats at the ATP 250 in Sofia and the ATP 500 in Basel), but was a novice at this stage in a tournament of the importance of Bercy.
To achieve this, Rune (18th player in the world) had already created a sensation on Saturday by dominating the Canadian Félix Auger-Aliassime (8th). “Now, I know almost all the players on the circuit and their way of playing. I know that if I give them the initiative, they will put pressure on me and probably beat me. So it’s up to me to play aggressive first.” had analyzed the Dane at the end of his half.
Eager for matches and victories in a season truncated by his decision to refuse the anti-Covid vaccine, the Serb, who is currently ranked 7th in the world, was playing his 56th in Masters 1000 (a record). Djokovic defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th in the world) in the semi-final on Saturday after a match he judged “wonderful at this stage of [sa] career” and won 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7/4).
