Holger Rune beats Novak Djokovic, wins Paris-Bercy and sets a new record

• Sports

Holger Rune conquers the Paris throne, dethroning what until now was the undisputed King. The Danish tennis player wins the Paris-Bercy title by beating the reigning champion and six-time French indoor hardcourt winner Novak Djokovic in three sets.

After a first one-way run for the Serbian, the 19-year-old Scandinavian rises higher and higher and crushes the former number one, from whom he removes his serve twice in the decisive set. Also removed all hope of a tiebreak that the Grand Slam champion has never lost on the indoor side of the Parisian city, in the end it is the Dane who wins with the result of 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The victory against Novak Djokovic, however, is just an icing on a cake made up of important and above all of great weight victories during this week spent on the banks of the Seine. After overcoming a difficult first round against Stan Wawrinka, where the Swiss also had match points, the remaining opponents were all players who play in the Top 10: Hubert Hurkacz (# 10), Andrey Rublev (# 7), Carlos Alcaraz ( # 1), Felix Auger Aliassime (# 6) and Novak Djokovic (# 8).

Thus, Rune manages to set a new record: he is the first player since 1973 to defeat, in the same tournament, 5 players from the Top 10.

A matter of earliness

Holger Rune, therefore, signs a true masterpiece in Paris-Bercy: victory of the first 1000 title of his career, after starting the season as a player outside the Top 10; tournament won by beating two world number ones; record set in the history of the tournament.

The fifth winner of a 1000 title this year, however, also marks another milestone, which concerns his young age. The new Top 10 player, in fact, is the youngest player to win the Paris-Bercy title from Boris Becker in 1986: the Dane won the Parisian trophy at the age of nineteen; the German took the title at the age of eighteen.

Not only records concerning the opponents, but also an important fact about the player's precocity. Rune said: "It's incredible. It's a great feeling to be here with the trophy. It was a hard thing to expect: I started the week facing three match points.

I will accomplish everything I have done beyond. I felt so many emotions after the match, the best in my entire life and career. It was like making a small dream come true, even though I have even bigger dreams. It is a great step forward to play a game like this against one of the greatest tennis players.

Winning that last game was the greatest relief of my life. I was very tense and I'm glad I got through that moment. I tried to stay focused, I told myself I couldn't lose that game. "