Holger Rune’s Night to Forget in the Biggest Matchup of his Season
The key stats that tell the story of Rune’s utterly dysfunctional night against Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Something was off.
Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune had played each other five times in the past three years but a rampage like this had never occurred before:
Djokovic leading the first set 3-0, winning all first 12 points of the match, and halfway to a Golden Set of tennis without losing a single point in the space of seven inexplicable minutes.
At Wimbledon, on Center Court, with its swanky seats and majestic Royal Box, nobody wants to be seen as acting delirious. But equally, nobody could begrudge the Danish supporters and others for cheering so loudly in the ninth minute when Rune scraped his first point in the match, eventually holding serve at 3-1.
Ahead of this heavyweight tie last weekend, the 21-year-old had said that he would “definitely” have to play at his “best level” to stand any chance of attempting what had become a borderline impossible job.
That task related to not just beating Djokovic at the All England Club but doing so on Center Court, a hallowed ground where the Serb’s last defeat to anyone not named Carlos Alcaraz came against the soon-to-be-retired Andy Murray in July 2013.
But the weight of this job was never supposed to deter nor rattle Holger Rune, a player who had completed one of the toughest tasks in tennis by effectively dismantling Djokovic twice at the Paris Masters and then the Italian Open.
It was never supposed to lay siege on the mentality of a player who understood what it meant to perform in big moments, against bigger players, and on the biggest stages.
Nor was it supposed to cripple the wild, savage spirit of a wild, talented prodigy who forged his reputation in the spitting image of nemesis, driving fear into the bones of every Top 10 player he came across earlier in his career.
This night against Djokovic was the moment for Rune to seize control over that flagging reputation. The chance to prove that albeit his little field trip outside the Top 10, the luxury he continues to enjoy as one of the best tennis players in the world is not an echo of his heroics back in 2022 or compensation for his valiant efforts last season when he achieved a career-high ATP ranking of World No 4.
Just look at the shoddy manner he began the match, switching off mentally to get broken at 40–0 in his first service game and making two double faults in a rapid first set that lasted just longer than a boiling egg.
For the first time ever in his career, Rune’s second serve conversation rate was as low as 11 percent, toppling his previous record of 13 percent in Munich when he lost to Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
Throughout the match, he never found the right offensive balance, rhythm, or high-octane energy levels that always ensured he won at least one set against Djokovic since their first competitive match at the US Open in 2021.
Rune showed little attacking intent, and his 19 percent ‘in attack’ rate, the measure of attacking opportunities he created, was below the tour average of 25 percent. For context, Britain’s Jacob Fearnley, ranked No. 277 in the world, generated a higher ‘in attack’ rate when he too lost to Djokovic in the second round.
Where Djokovic maintained a brilliant record of 29 points in 37 attempts, Rune won just seven out of 18 when approaching the net, a preposterous return for someone whose net game is one of the best that modern tennis can offer.
Except for a forehand winner that forced the seven-time Wimbledon champion into an acrobatic sprawl, Rune’s tactical approach was devoid of strategy and variety. He had no established patterns of play to rely on and despite multiple attempts to communicate with his box, the key figure with answers to his questions was missing.
He came up short on the two break point opportunities he carved for himself, and Djokovic, under no immense pressure, broke him four times with ten more break points left to spare.
The 37-year-old, still recovering from a torn meniscus surgery, was cushioned comfortably behind his baseline, covering a lesser distance (2429 meters) than the 21-year-old Dane Rune, who lacked the tactical ingenuity to force the Serbian into covering as much distance as he did himself (2594 meters).
It was tough seeing Rune struggle this way and even worse because this lackluster performance had come against Djokovic, a player who always stirred the best in him and, in his darkest moments, would always stand by him.
In some quarters, Rune’s defeat had come as a surprise.
To others, should anyone really have been shocked that a player who had lost his last nine matches against Top Five opposition could not find the impetus to best Djokovic, on Center Court, and at Wimbledon?
This was not the first time Rune had lost this matchup. In fact, it was the fourth, but the way he lost was overly concerning. And helpfully, Djokovic acknowledged this in his incendiary on-court interview.
“I don’t think he has played close to his best, to be honest,” the 24-time major champion said when asked if he had expected a tougher test from Rune. “It was a tough start for him, he lost all the 12 first points and I think in a way that got to him mentally.
“And waiting all day to come out on the court too, it’s never easy. The tension is building, every hour that passes. You feel more and more tense, and stressed to get out on the court.”
It is tempting to think that the tension Djokovic spoke of might’ve gotten to Rune, especially after the World No. 15 released a post on social media saying he had “felt like a shadow.”
And on further reflection, it became more tempting to swipe through his Twitter page, searching for his conversation with former coach Boris Becker from a few days earlier.
Not that it was Becker’s business anyway, but the German had questioned the veracity of Patrick Mouratoglou’s absence from Rune’s box. Becker claimed he had spotted Mouratoglou in London but had not seen him with Rune.
The 21-year-old explained afterwards that his coach had other commitments and tournaments were shared between them “as planned.”
A quick Google search confirmed that Mouratoglou’s other client, former WTA World No. 1 Simona Halep, had not received a wildcard for this year’s Wimbledon following the reduction of her doping ban by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
So, on one of Rune’s biggest nights of the season, where was Patrick Mouratoglou?
Closer analysis showed he had not been present in the Dane’s box at all since day one and to be absolutely clear, this is not an inquest into the status of Rune’s partnership with his coach.
But it was strange seeing him repeatedly cast worried glances at his box, searching for some answers, some inspiration, to unlock a part of his game that stubbornly remained watertight like his Serbian opponent.
He tried to match Djokovic for power, smacking the tennis balls as hard as he could but was picked off at will, held and broken to 40-0.
Where rallies seemed too long, he panicked, going big on forehands that failed to paint the line and lacking clarity of thought whenever his backhand shots were hurled back at him.
It might sound a bit like nit-picking, and unfortunately for Rune, we’ll never know this for sure.
But would it be a crazy suggestion that had Mouratoglou been there, barking some tactical instructions, providing emotional support, or his mere physical presence alone, it may have been enough to galvanize Rune on a night when everything was in utter dysfunction?
Djokovic, too, was competing without a recognized coach after splitting with Goran Ivanisevic, but it is difficult to pick holes in the psyche of an athlete who has greedily accumulated a record 24 Grand Slam titles and is still hunting for more.
Boris Becker went too far when he asked if Mouratoglou and Rune were “still working together?!?” A better suggestion, perhaps, would’ve been if the team could agree to prioritize appearances at Grand Slam events. Yes, other commitments deserved attention, but perhaps none more so than one of the biggest games of the season.
Like his Danish supporters who screamed “Ruuuune” all through the night, Rune must be rueing his chances now, for Djokovic without even swinging his racket, is now in the semifinals at Wimbledon.
It took Alex de Minaur withdrawing with a hip injury but it must leave a sour taste in young Rune’s mouth as he ponders what would’ve been his first Slam semifinal had this miserable nightmare been all a dream.
