Rune’s Complicated Relationship with Tiebreaks — It’s a Curse that must be Broken
Denmark’s Rune keeps winning tiebreakers, but his rancid record when failing to do so tells an ever darker story
Within seven minutes of madness, confusion, and epic chaos, Holger Rune looked stunned as his 2024 season unraveled right before him.
He stood, for the most part, behind the baseline on Court Philippe-Chatrier, and with his back turned to the spectators, burst into an explosive rant aimed at no one in particular.
Livid with himself, he bared his teeth, clenched his fists, and roared frustratingly at his box, resisting the biting sensation to smash his signature nimble racket — the Babolat Pure Aero 98 — for dropping a fourth set he needed to win.
Ten days earlier, the Danish star had expressed his intent to defy the odds here at Roland Garros, but on a night when he needed to come up clutch once again, Rune’s resolve faltered, besmirched by his worst tiebreak result (2–7) since June 2023.
Germany’s top-seed Alexander Zverev was all that was standing in his way.
Rune led their round of 16 clash by two sets to one, but with the fourth set level at 6–6, he needed to win the ensuing tiebreak to dispatch the German accused of being a violent and abusive boyfriend.
Zverev’s criminal case has since been settled out of court.
Half of tennis fans will tell you that Rune, a perpetual predator in tiebreaks, does not lose in these situations, especially 96 hours after watching him stage an improbable escape in one of the most thrilling moments on day 5.
And yet, in seven minutes and 10 seconds, the little prince lost this tiebreak and contrived to surrender two service games in the decider, en route losing this round of 16 tie in five dramatic sets.
Tiebreaks are an intrinsic, almost indispensable aspect of Rune’s attacking options. Currently, only few tennis players can boast a tiebreak winning rate better than Rune’s 80 percent.
As of June 2024, figures pulled from Infosys, the official ATP stats platform, show that Rune has one of the most incredible tiebreak records this season with 16 wins out of 20 tiebreaks — a blistering record second only to Daniil Medvedev with 13 wins out of 16 (81.25 percent).
Karen Khachanov completes the top three with 11 tiebreak wins in 18 (61.1 percent), followed closely behind by Australia's Aleksandar Vukic.
Before losing to Zverev at the French Open, Rune held the best tiebreak record with 16 wins in 18 tiebreaks, including pulling off an insane comeback against Italy’s Flavio Cobolli to equal Novak Djokovic’s record of 13 consecutive tiebreak wins set in 2023.
Ideally, Rune would prefer to bagel his opponents instead of undertaking the tremors of tiebreaks. But the tennis star thrives in big moments and is proud of a tiebreak heritage that, at this current pace (88 wins in 137 attempts), will see him join the exclusive ranking of his childhood idol Roger Federer as the fastest and youngest players to reach 100 tiebreak wins aged 21 or younger.
“Tiebreaks, I don’t lose,” the Danish unicorn remarked lavishly after overturning a 5–0 deficit in a fifth-set tiebreak to defeat Cobolli on day 5. “I usually find my best tennis in these situations... I just need one point to kick-start myself and get going.”
But a crestfallen Rune failed to get going and could not find his best tennis in the tiebreak against Zverev.
Two years after stunning the German in Munich, he had come so close to bundling the former World No. 2 out of this French Open. Nearly, but not quite.
Rune was becoming all too familiar with the egregious pattern that once he lost a tiebreak, elimination almost certainly followed. An unvarnished, dreadful tale of purgatory mucked up by his rancid record of two wins in 14 matches, dating back to 2023 when he defeated Ben Shelton in Acapulco and Casper Ruud in Rome.
The 21-year-old was aware of this tiebreak record — its brilliance and voodoo — and how something so trivial held so much power over the outcome of his matches.
It was a ghoulish reality he could not escape from, a conundrum of mysteries, and a vicious cycle of defeat that rubber-stamped his complicated relationship with tiebreaks.
Rune is a ridiculously talented player and one of the most fabulous sensations of his generation, but six years from winning his first tiebreak on his debut, his greatest challenge remains that his win rate in matches remains dangerously reliant on the results of his tiebreaks.
Admittedly, he is a player with a boiling pot of issues and can drive opponents and spectators crazy with his irritating on-court tantrums, stalling tactics, and occasionally, a head loss that even by his standards, reeks of complacency.
Even then, none of these shortcomings possess as much power over the young Dane as the voodoo of his tiebreaks.
Between 2018 and 2020, when he turned professional, Rune enjoyed 11 wins in 13 matches after winning a tiebreak. On the flip side, he lost all but one of eight matches where he lost a tiebreak in this period.
In 2021, he secured 14 wins out of 17 matches in similar circumstances but lost eight matches out of 11, failing to lay a glove on his opponents in subsequent sets after losing a tiebreak tussle.
Aside from a minor blip in Belgrade where he lost to Japan’s Taro Daniel after winning a second-set tiebreak, Rune’s 2022 was impeccable as the Danish star clinched his first Masters title in Paris, sandwiched with 13 wins in 14 matches featuring tiebreak victories.
If all these had been a one-off even by the most remote possibility, then it would not be such a grave concern.
Yet, even in his breakout season where he was voted ATP Newcomer Of The Year, Rune failed to win any match he suffered a tiebreak defeat in until September 2022. He won again in October against former British No. 1 Cameron Norrie.
Two wins in 12 matches wrapped up his struggles. Losing a tiebreak unofficially became a precursor to the determination of Rune’s final destinations.
It’s a sunny afternoon in West Kensington, a residential area with affordable housing in London, and a popular tourist center at this time of the year.
Rune, now the World No. 15 after crashing out to Zverev in the fourth round at Roland Garros, has bounced on to the lush green meadows at the Queen's Club.
The Cinch Championships, famously known as Queens, is steeped in rich history and tradition as one of the longest-running ATP Tour events established since 1889.
Queens is also one of several tennis tournaments held on grass courts in the UK, beginning with the Lexus Surbiton Trophy and headlined by tennis’ most prestigious prize: Wimbledon.
Rune, alongside Spanish conquistador Carlos Alcaraz, made his grass-court debut in Queens last season but was knocked out in the semifinals. The World No. 15 is back here on Center Court, hoping to avenge that semifinal loss to the lightning-quick Alex de Minaur.
A semifinal he lost in two sets and let’s pretend (clears throat), did not feature his worst tiebreak result that year, 2–7.
Setting aside the debate on the unsavory impact of Rune’s tiebreaks, this is the first round at Queens and the 21-year-old has had tremendous success in these rounds this year, winning 10 of 11 previous encounters except a lethargic performance in Miami.
It doesn’t take long for Rune to settle on the grass surface as he snatches the first set 6–4 in 35 minutes, taking a crucial 10th game from his opponent, Australia’s Jordan Thompson, without facing a single break point.
For all the technical and tactical nous of Thompson on grass, Rune has a brilliant game plan executed with a voracious appetite to discard the oopsies he accumulated against Zverev.
A grass court, tricky and slippery, is the least favorite of Rune’s playing surfaces but the aggressive manner he strikes the ball completely obfuscates this notion.
On a grass surface that is all about timing and technique, Rune is dragging Thompson outside his natural habitat, forcing the Australian into unforced errors with body serves pinged like a bullet at his feet. Right now, the little prince looks like a maniac but with a tiny, lucid head firmly attached.
“I feel that I play twice as well now compared to when I was ranked number four last year,” the Dane said after exiting Roland Garros.
He is determined, decisive, and disciplined, stepping onto the net only when he needs to, and moving with the freedom you would not expect from someone so messy on grass.
His crisp drop volleys are so delicate that Thompson, a grass-court specialist, applauds in awe. Even though the Aussie keeps holding to 40–0 in the second set, Rune refuses to be flustered.
He serves an ace to level his fifth service game at 15–15, makes a double fault, but wraps it up immediately with a flurry of three consecutive aces that fly past Thompson at 215 km/hour. The Australian ducks to avoid being stung by one of them, turns, and beams at Rune.
Undaunted by his opponent’s guile and skill, the Danish prodigy fends off two break points in the 11th game from 15–40, brushing Thompson aside to lead the second set 6–5.
He’s planning to win this match, and hoping to do so via the best way he knows how to — a tiebreak.
It is complicated trying to unpick what goes on in Rune’s mind within the precarious confines of tiebreaks. He claims he has “something” he says to himself but refuses to share “in case other players are listening.”
He goes ahead to explain that this mysterious lucky charm has “worked really well so far” — absolutely — and that in fact, “it’s a very simple thing.”
And so, it’s hard to be critical of a player, who in the last 52 weeks, outrightly leads the ATP Tour with the highest tiebreak winning rate under pressure.
It also explains to a greater extent, why much hasn’t been made of his treacherous records in matches featuring tiebreak losses.
To do so might involve having to accuse Rune of being overly naive and making it too easy for Zverev in the fifth set by utilizing an unreasonably high number of drop shots.
To pose these questions might involve having to seek answers on why he’s able to hold his nerves during the emotional ding-dong of tiebreaks but inexplicably, fails to rediscover that composure when his mysterious lucky charm malfunctions.
To pose these questions might involve having to ask Rune why the game plan suddenly went out the window once he lost the tiebreak to Thompson in Queens. Why he slipped at 30–40 to get broken 0–2 at the start of the deciding set, and if indeed, that fall was caused by the wet grass on a sunny afternoon in West Kensington or rather, was symptomatic of a deeper malaise.
This is a player that since 2023, has two wins in 14 matches after losing a tiebreak and has lost all four this season — Grigor Dimitrov in Brisbane, Arthur Cazaux in Melbourne, Zverev in Paris, and now Thompson in Queens.
Rune complained to the chair umpire that the court was “too wet” and even asked for the supervisor to be summoned. “I fell three times,” he stressed.
But the gnarling veracity is that since the Dane made his debut six years ago, he’s been on a slippery slope and skidding backward in matches after failing in tiebreak resolutions.
Somewhere between those six wins in 45 matches, he keeps staring into the sunset and isn’t prepared to look away. Somewhere between what happens during these tiebreaks and after, Rune keeps slipping, physically and subconsciously, into stasis and isn’t prepared to snap out of it.
“You think I’m falling on purpose?”
The chair umpire couldn’t respond because, in a sense, it was rhetorical and reflective of Rune’s flagrant incapacitation — losing a tiebreak had become a one-way street. There was no room for respite.
This was his season and career in a microcosm: a player who lived on opposite spectrums of one of tennis’ high-tension lines.
