Holger Rune, Patrick Mouratoglou and the morning before the Paris final
Holger Rune had what was probably the most impressive run of the year at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris-Bercy. Now coach Patrick Mouratoglou has spoken about the morning of the final.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Dec 11, 2022, 08:17 pm
The bookmakers were actually quite sure: top form, four wins over top 10 players in a row and great talent or not - in the end it will almost certainly be Novak Djokovic who won the trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 event from Paris-Bercy to the sky. The Serb acts too confidently in games like these - and the Serbian high-flyer already has too many of these matches on the record. But Holger Rune should teach her otherwise and with the final success in the French capital one of the surprises of the season should come.
While the Dane radiated the entire match with an impressive conviction that he could really defeat the 21-time Grand Slam winner, the situation on the morning before the final was very different. "We talked in the morning before the final. But I felt that he wasn't like the other days. I felt pressure. So I said to him: Come back, we have to talk again," explained trainer Patrick Mouratoglou. Rune himself emphasizes that he goes into every match with the conviction that he can end it as a winner. The 19-year-old was humbled by the Serb's list of achievements.
Rune: Faith in victory
"It's difficult to believe that you can beat Novak in a final when you're 19 when you know who Novak is and what he's achieved," Mouratoglou said. "Of course I knew it would take a little longer today because he's in the final. If I'm not mistaken, he has played over a hundred ATP finals in his career. He has a lot more experience than me," said Rune himself after the endgame, which the Dane should decide for himself in three sections after falling behind in a set and heroically fighting. With the title win in Paris-Bercy, the 19-year-old also played in the top ten in the ATP classification at times.
One reason for the Dane's greatest career success to date: a change in the early hours of the morning. When his French coach Rune asked for an interview again, he was already changed: "And then I saw how he came to. I saw in his face that he was ready. He's really expressive, I saw that he was finally convinced that he could beat Novak," recalls the star coach. Of course, this conviction is only half the battle, because Rune remarked meaningfully after the success: "It was probably one of the toughest games I've ever played in my life."