That there are nerves and little experience shows in the end. With serve, 5-2, the opponent fell and Holger Rune lost his turn of service in white. Sometimes he is so close to the longing that it burns. It seems that there is something more in Stefanos Tsitsipas after the scare. He also wins his turn to serve in white. But this 19-year-old Dane, 40 in the world, activates his legs that are already out of control even more and refines his hand. Yes, the Greek’s ball falls out of him and he raises his arms. Rune, in the Roland Garros quarterfinals (7-5, 3-6, 6-3 and 6-4 in three hours and one minute).
No Dane had ever gone this far. This kid does it with hardly any pedigree -he won his first title in Munich this year-, with acne and a backwards cap.
He has a correct, complete tennis, without highlighting any stroke, but all good. He is fast, sometimes too fast, but he controls himself in time and finds a springboard of trust in Paris.
He is infected by someone who does not know very well how to behave in these rounds and against these rivals and faces a Stefanos Tsitsipas who has not quite settled down in the Grand Slams. The Greek was a finalist last year in Paris and had been launched on clay in 2022, always reliable in these arenas. He champion in Monte Carlo and finalist in Rome, but he cannot against the Dane (54 winners), who crushed him towards the lines and did not know how to answer (33 unforced errors.
Rune is still better known for the challenger planet and the ATP 250 than for the big squares. It is true that he has grown in this 2022, champion in Munich, but, for now, he has not had the jump that Carlos Alcaraz, of the same age, has already developed. Here, in his favorite tournament, he wants to make a name for himself, also in his country, more accustomed to the handball phenomenon than to tennis. And a very handball duel will be the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, as Rune will face the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
