Boris Becker lauds Holger Rune's "poise" during Novak Djokovic defeat in Paris Masters QF, sets sights on ATP Finals

Boris Becker, who joined Holger Rune's team last month, has lauded his protege for displaying "poise and perseverance" during an intense quarterfinal encounter against Novak Djokovic at the 2023 Paris Masters.

Djokovic prevailed 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4 in a hard-fought clash as Rune, who had defeated the Serb in the title bout last year, failed to repeat the heroics on Friday, November 3.

Becker highlighted the "spectacular fight" that both quarterfinalists put up in Paris while also adding that he was looking forward to the upcoming ATP Finals in Turin. He wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"Spectacular fight last night from both players. Congratulations @DjokerNole! @holgerrune2003 showed a lot of poise and perseverance. As his coach I’m excited to work with such a promising young player. Now the focus is on the #ATPFinals. See you in Turin."

Rune, who hired the German to be part of his coaching team ahead of the Swiss Indoors Basel, won the second-set tiebreaker against Djokovic, much to the delight of the Paris crowd who were seen cheering for the Dane.

An early break in the final set gave Djokovic the upper hand and the World No. 1 refused to surrender the advantage, earning himself the right to play Andrey Rublev in the semifinals.

Holger Rune will next be seen in action at the Moselle Open before embarking on his year-end ATP Finals campaign in Turin later this month.

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A look back at Holger Rune's 2023 season thus far

Holger Rune

Holger Rune who won the 2022 Paris Masters title before breaking into the ATP top-10 last year suffered an opening-round loss at the Adelaide International before being eliminated in the fourth round at the 2023 Australian Open.

Rune then failed to progress beyond the semifinal stage at the Open Sud de France after going down to Maxime Cressy while also losing the Mexican Open semifinals against Alex de Minaur.

A second-round defeat at the hands of Stan Wawrinka at the Indian Wells Masters was followed by a third-round loss to Taylor Fritz in Miami.

Holger Rune accounted for Daniil Medvedev and Jannik Sinner but failed to get past Andrey Rublev after advancing to the summit clash at the Monte-Carlo Masters.

The 20-year-old finally went all the way at the Bavarian International after prevailing against Botic van de Zandschulp in the final but went down to Daniil Medvedev in the Italian Open final.

Casper Ruud got the better of Rune in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros while a quarterfinal defeat against eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz ended Holger Rune's Wimbledon campaign.

A shocking first-round upset against Roberto Carballes Baena at the US Open was followed by uninspiring performances in the Asian swing but Rune made it to the semifinals of the Swiss Indoors.

Felix Auger-Aliassime defeated the 20-year-old in Basel before Novak Djokovic exacted revenge on Rune for last year's loss at Bercy.