Holger Rune, the world No. 6 player, faced a player ranked more than 100 places below him in September, two months after making it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals. Earlier in the year, Rune had successfully defended a title in Munich and advanced to the final of two Masters 1000 tournaments (Monte Carlo and Rome). Despite this, he faced a seventh consecutive defeat.
Rune, one of the most exciting prospects in men’s tennis along with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, appeared mentally and physically exhausted when Thiago Monteiro won the third set of the Davis Cup rubber 6-2. He finished his terrible run of late-summer form with three more losses in his next four games, finishing with 11 wins and 10 losses.
The signs were still concerning last week when Rune set out to defend his biggest career title at the Paris Masters, the tour’s last major event before the ATP Finals, even though the ship was somewhat steadied at the Swiss Open in his first back-to-back victories since SW19. Nonetheless, the 20-year-old’s outstanding performance—which included battling through a close, three-set quarterfinal loss to the eventual champion, Novak Djokovic—marked a turning point in his career. His comeback performance in an exciting match that mirrored last year’s final was the highlight of Paris-Bercy.
