London: When Holger Rune began his 2022 season, he was No.103 in the ATP Rankings and needed to enter qualifying at his first tournament of the year. The Danish teen will not need to worry about doing that again anytime soon.
By defeating Novak Djokovic in the Paris Masters final on Sunday, Rune guaranteed he would crack the Top 10 in the ATP Rankings for the first time on Monday. Rune, sitting 10th in the rankings, is the first man from Denmark to accomplish the feat.
Only two active players broke into the Top 10 at a younger age than the 19-year-old – Rafael Nadal (18) and Carlos Alcaraz (18). Rune did so earlier than a laundry list of current and former superstars, including Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Juan Carlos Ferrero.
“I didn’t expect that at all four or five weeks ago but now I’m here,” said Rune.
“I’m super happy how I officially ended my season, and if there possibly are more matches, I’m just super excited for it. Right now I just can’t wait to get some sleep, get some food, just relax totally.”
This time last year, Rune and Carlos Alcaraz were competing in the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. Now Rune is in the Top 10 and Alcaraz is well-positioned to finish year-end World No.1. This is the first time two teenagers have been ranked inside the Top 10 in more than 15 years. Djokovic and Murray were teens in the elite group on May 14, 2007.
According to one of Rune’s coaches, Patrick Mouratoglou, the 19-year-old still has places he can improve his game.
“We have to be very transparent about this. He can progress. He can improve much more. There are elements where he can actually improve very much,” Mouratoglou said.
“We are reaching the end of the season. We will work on that. It’s not really that there is a danger, but there is a lot of work to provide. He’s Top 10. It’s not his ambition. It’s wonderful, but it’s not his ambition.”
