It was an extremely exciting evening session on the first day of the ATP Finals in Turin. Novak Djokovic defeated Holger Rune 7:6 (4), 6:7 (1), 6:3 after a three-hour battle, securing his position as the leader of the ranking until the end of the season. Despite the Serb’s victories, there were outpourings of frustration. At one point he even broke two rackets. “Some people say it’s a pragmatic solution because I can release the tension and frustration I hold inside,” he commented.
The last men’s tournament of the year, the ATP Finals, was inaugurated on Sunday with the participation of the eight best players of the season. Unfortunately, Hubert Hurkacz was not among them. He was ninth in the Race classification. The Pole is present in Turin because he plays the role of the first substitute. There was a chance that he would even open the singles competition, as Stefafanos Tsitsipas had health problems, but the Greek eventually took to the court. In the first match he lost 4:6, 4:6 to Jannik Sinner.
Djokovic failed again. He “freed himself” by breaking the rackets
The second match in this group took place during the evening session. Novak Djokovic and Holger Rune, who met a week ago in the quarterfinals of the tournament at the Bercy hall in Paris, took the court. Then, after almost three hours of fighting, the Serb was on top. In the capital of Piedmont, their duel was even longer.
It started with a break on both sides in the first set, which led the tennis players to a tiebreak. In it, Djokovic gained the advantage, winning both points on his opponent’s serve. He won by four. The second game had an almost identical course – again consecutive breaks and finally a tiebreak. This time, the 20-year-old Dane was more effective – he won by one. Rune definitely improved his service parameters at that point in the match. In the second set, he sent as many as 11 aces, achieving a point efficiency of 84%. after the first administration.
This match was quite logical in its dynamics, so in the final set it started with breaks – first by Djokovic, and a moment later by Rune. However, this time we didn’t make it to the extra gameplay. The Serb took matters into his own hands faster, using one of two break points in the sixth game. Nothing stood in his way to victory 7:6 (4), 6:7 (1), 6:3, although he didn’t seem too confident after the return break. He actually showed his frustration. While going for a break, he broke two rackets. He received a warning from the referee, but it allowed him to calm down.
– Some say it’s a pragmatic solution because I can release the tension and frustration I hold inside and move on. Maybe that’s what happened tonight. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to do this. I don’t even encourage myself. I’m not happy with this. (…) I think in some cases in the past I did that and started playing more freely. There are different ways, perhaps wiser, to get rid of frustration than breaking the racket – laughed after the match the Serb, who will finish the season as the leader of the world ranking for the eighth time in his career. He secured this with a victory over Holger Rune.
