Holger Rune may have had a busy 2022 season developing his game on court, but that hasn’t stopped the Dane from also finding time to work on a slightly different set of skills.

“I can juggle three balls, for sure. With four, it’s rusty, but I’m trying,” Rune, whose coach Lars Christensen used to work as a circus artist, recently told ATPTour.com. “It’s nice, it’s fun… He (Christensen) showed me [how to do a] handstand, but it takes a lot of work. I can do it against a wall, but it’s very tough to do.”

The 19-year-old Dane believes that Christensen’s background brings a unique perspective to his team as he looks to finish his stellar year in style at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

“He’s told me a little bit [about the circus] and I’ve seen a few videos of it,” said Rune, who has worked with Christensen since childhood. “It’s obviously another kind of thing to tennis, but he’s taught me a few tricks… It’s good, because he has an understanding of all the fitness also, because he did a lot of work to be able to do what he did.

“Obviously, all the things with the balls help. The coordination, and he also has some good drills on the court that maybe other coaches wouldn’t have because he has been in that business. For me, it is nice to have a guy not only with a tennis background, but a different background.”

Whatever Christensen’s methods, they are working. Rune’s impressive year has seen the Dane rack up a 37-24 record on the ATP Tour and lift his first tour-level titles in Munich and Stockholm. In between those triumphs, the 19-year-old surged to his maiden Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros, a run that included a fourth-round win against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

“I think that [was probably the biggest win] because it was at a Grand Slam in the fourth round,” said Rune of his four-set win against the Greek. “It was probably the biggest win as I really wanted to reach the quarter-finals and it was a huge battle, so I would say [it stands out].”

It didn’t take long for Rune to be reminded of the reality of life on the ATP Tour after his breakthrough run in Paris, however. The 19-year-old endured a difficult stretch on the grass and the North American hard courts, but he rediscovered his form with aplomb during the European indoor season as he reached the final in Sofia before defeating Tsitsipas again to claim the Stockholm crown.

“I think when you are young, you have to learn all the time,” said Rune. “It is not easy to play week after week on the highest level and this is what you need to learn. If you can do that already now then it is amazing, but I am working on it and trying to show more and more consistency.”

Rune is one of a number of #NextGenATP stars who have enjoyed recent success on Tour. As well as the Dane, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti and Brandon Nakashima all lifted at least one tour-level trophy in 2022, and Rune is optimistic that there is plenty more to come from the ATP’s latest batch of young talents.

“I think it is going to be a really exciting time,” he said. “As we know, there are a lot of young guys coming up the rankings. Of course, I think it is exciting because I am young, but I think it is exciting for the Tour that we get some next guys up there. We are just fighting every day, so let’s hope we can get there.”

Rune faced both Alcaraz and Nakashima in the group stage at last year’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals and took on Sinner in the semi-finals in Sofia, while he is yet to meet Musetti at Tour level. He is excited at the prospect of ATP Tour fans having the chance to witness rivalries that have existed since juniors.

“I have played Alcaraz tons of times, when we played juniors,” said Rune. “We always have great battles. Then me and Musetti have played two or three times, so I would say those two [stand out].”

_{^{Holger Rune & Carlos Alcaraz in 2021 in Milan. Photo Credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour.}}

Home favourite Musetti joins Rune in this year’s Milan lineup for what will be a second consecutive Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals appearance for both. Rune has only positive memories of the 21-and-under season finale from 2021, when he narrowly missed out on a semi-final spot with a 1-2 group-stage record.

“My strongest memory was that it was an unbelievable event and to be able to play that for the first time was crazy,” said the Dane. “I watched it as a kid, so to grow up and be able to play it was really great. I was very privileged to be able to qualify.”

Dutchman Wesley Koolhof had two reasons to celebrate at the Rolex Paris Masters Friday after teaming with Neal Skupski to reach the semi-finals with a victory that guarantees his rise to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings on Monday.

Koolhof and Skupski cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Rohan Bopanna and Matwe Middelkoop to move to within two victories of their seventh title of the season.

“It’s a dream to become World No. 1 individual,” Koolhof said. “But we still have a semi-final, hopefully a final to play here, we still have Turin. There’s still a lot to play for.

“It means everything, obviously. I think the first goal you have when you start playing tennis is you want to become World No. 1. I didn’t know until I opened the live rankings on Monday, because I saw the Nitto ATP Finals points drop off for Ram and Salisbury. [I] needed to make semi-final here [Paris] to be No. 1. It feels great to reach the goal.”

The second seeds will next face Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, who secured their place at the coveted Nitto ATP Finals after ousting Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray 6-3, 7-6(6). Saturday’s semi-final clash will mark Glasspool and Heliovaara’s third meeting with the Dutch-British pair this season (1-1).

Only one doubles qualification spot remains at the season finale Nitto ATP Finals, which is held 13-20 November.

Novak Djokovic gave #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti a rude welcome to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final as the Serbian eased to victory on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters. In a 6-0, 6-3 win, Djokovic did not allow the 20-year-old a game point in the first seven games, then quickly overturned a break deficit to run away with the second set and the match.

Seeking his seventh Paris crown, the defending champion extended his dual win streaks to 12 matches both overall in Bercy, where he won titles in his past two appearances in 2019 and 2021. With victory in what was his 90th Masters quarter-final, Djokovic advanced to his 74th semi-final at the prestigious level and will next face Stefanos Tsitsipas, a 6-2, 6-4 winner against Tommy Paul in the day’s final match. The 74 semi-finals stand at second-most all-time, behind Nadal’s 76.

The Serbian was particularly dominant with his forehand against Musetti, firing eight winners off that wing as he controlled play throughout. For the match, he received a forehand Shot Quality grade of 9.2 on a 10-point scale. (Learn more about Shot Quality.)

Musetti was unable to follow up the biggest win of his career, against World No. 4 Casper Ruud on Thursday, with another upset against Djokovic. Despite the defeat, the Italian has enjoyed a strong final stretch this season, winning his first hard-court title last month in Naples and winning nine of his past 12 matches. 

After falling to 0-3 in his ATPHead2Head against Djokovic, he will next turn his attention to the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, set for 8-12 November in Milan.

Djokovic, bidding for his fifth title of the 2022 season, improved to 36-6 on the year. He will need to complete a successful title defence in Paris to maintain his World No. 7 Pepperstone ATP Ranking ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, which begins on 13 November in Turin.

Holger Rune advanced to his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final on Friday at the Rolex Paris Masters after Carlos Alcaraz was forced to retire from the pair’s quarter-final clash.

After charging to the opening set, Rune held firm to force a tie-break as World No. 1 Alcaraz stepped up his level in the second. Having had treatment on an abdominal muscle at 6-5, however, Alcaraz was forced to retire with Rune leading 3/1 in the second-set tie-break at 6-3, 6-6 .

“I thought it was a great match. [It’s] unlucky for him,” said Rune. “I think we both played very well and I was super focused. It was an amazing crowd, amazing tennis, so I’m super pleased with how I handled everything today.”

The #NextGenATP Dane Rune will next take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final. The eighth-seeded Canadian earlier downed Frances Tiafoe 6-1, 6-4.

More to follow…

One year ago, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune met in the group stage of the 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. Since then, both 19-year-olds have rocketed up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Alcaraz rising to World No. 1 and Rune reaching a career high of No. 18.

The future has arrived, and fans at the Rolex Paris Masters will see it first-hand on Friday as Alcaraz and Rune square off for a second time in the quarter-finals. 

The unseeded Rune — a finalist in each of his past three events, including a run to his second career title in Stockholm — has had the more challenging path to the final eight. He edged Stan Wawrinka in a third-set tie-break in the first round before impressive straight-sets wins against 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz and seventh seed Andrey Rublev. The Dane has won 16 of his past 18 matches, including wins against Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Alcaraz has yet to drop a set in Paris as he’s rounded into form with wins against Yoshihito Nishioka and Grigor Dimitrov. 

“I would say I played better,” he said following a 6-1, 6-3 win against Dimitrov on Thursday. “I’m more used to playing here in this court, in these conditions. I’m happy with the performance, and of course really happy with be able to play my first quarter-final here in Bercy.”

The Spaniard reached the second round last year at the ATP Masters 1000, while Rune is making his tournament debut.

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Also in the draw’s top half, Felix Auger-Aliassime will seek to extend his 14-match win streak when he takes on US Open semi-finalist Frances Tiafoe, who has won all six sets he’s played this week. The Canadian is seeking his fourth straight title after triumphs in Florence, Antwerp and Basel.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic will look to stay perfect against #NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti in their bottom-half matchup, with the Serbian 2-0 in their previous ATP Head2Head meetings. Six-time Paris titlist Djokovic has progressed to the quarters with straight-sets wins against Maxime Cressy and Karen Khachanov, while Musetti upset third seed Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to advance on Thursday.

Djokovic is riding an 11-match win streak after titles in Tel Aviv and Astana, and has claimed 12 straight victories in Paris dating back to his trophy runs in 2019 and 2021. The Serbian has also won 19 of his past 20 matches since the start of Wimbledon – losing only to Auger-Aliassime at the Laver Cup — but is taking nothing for granted against Musetti.

“He’s definitely a much-improved player on [hard courts],” Djokovic said of his 20-year-old opponent. “He has had some big wins this week, his first [hard-court] title a few weeks ago [in Naples].

“He’s so talented, he’s got everything in his game. He can play in the court, he can defend well, he’s got great movement, but I know his game well and I’m looking forward to a good challenge.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Tommy Paul will contest the fourth quarter-final, with the American bidding to knock out a third seeded opponent in succession. Paul knocked out a trio of Spaniards to reach the quarters, including a comeback, three-set upset of second seed Rafael Nadal in the second round. He also blitzed past Roberto Bautista Agut in the opening round and 14th seed Pablo Carreno Busta on Thursday.

The fifth-seeded Tsitsipas joins Djokovic, Alcaraz and Tiafoe with an undefeated set record on the week following wins against Daniel Evans and home favourite Corentin Moutet. The Greek won both prior meetings with Paul in straight sets, in Washington, D.C., in 2019 and Lyon in 2021.

Jamie Murray walked off Court 2 on Thursday happy to be in the quarter-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters with partner Matthew Ebden. What he did not know is that their triumph against third seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer marked his 500th tour-level win.

“It’s cool. I wasn’t aware of that at all, actually, that I was close to getting there. But it’s a cool thing, a nice milestone to have in your career,” Murray told ATPTour.com. “It doesn’t feel like I’ve been winning that much this year, so a nice way to finish the year and give a nice motivation for next season and try to get to 600 at some point.”

Murray became just the second active doubles player to reach the 500-wins mark, joining Brazilian Marcelo Melo (590-375). It is another big achievement for the Scot, who has climbed to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Rankings and lifted 27 tour-level trophies.

“The thing with tennis is it’s so constant and you’re always thinking about the next event or the next match or the next practice. You’re kind of always looking to the future, you’re not always in the present or taking time to take stock of what you’ve done in your career,” Murray said. “I’ve obviously had a really good career to this point. Always want to do better and strive for more, but if you’d told me as a kid that I’d win 500 matches on the ATP Tour, I probably would have been like, ‘Yes please, I’ll take that!’ It’s motivating to go for more and try to keep working hard, try to get more success, be in the winners’ circle as often as you can.

“It’s not easy, the level is really high these days all through the rankings. That’s a cool thing to achieve, but let’s go for more.”

One of the most memorable wins of Murray’s 500 came in the 2008 Delray Beach final. Max Mirnyi and Murray defeated legendary duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. It was the Scot’s first victory against the twin brothers.

“They were the greatest ever and it’s who I think all the guys look up to and get on Tour with a chance to play against them and compete against them,” Murray said. “I was fortunate to play against them so many times in the end but I think when I beat them with Max Mirnyi in Delray, at that point you’re thinking, ‘Okay, I can compete here on the Tour and maybe do some good things.’ That one stands out for me.”

Other matches Murray recalled include when he claimed his first ATP Tour title in 2007 in San Jose with Eric Butorac and emerging victorious in 2018 in Cincinnati with Bruno Soares.

Murray will next year be playing with Kiwi Michael Venus. But for now, he is focussed on finishing the year on a high in Paris with an ATP Masters 1000 title still to play for. Then it will be back to work as the lefty continues his push back to the top.

“It’s easy for me right now because this year was difficult, last year was kind of difficult as well. Now my ranking has dropped a bit, but I still feel like I’m capable of playing at the top of the game and being in the Top 10,” Murray said. “I want to try to get back there, that’s my motivation. And obviously it helps to be winning matches in these events.”

Three Nitto ATP Finals doubles contenders pushed their claims at the Rolex Paris Masters Thursday, but Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, who have already booked their spot in Turin, suffered an opening-round loss in Bercy.

Third seeds Arevalo and Rojer won the first set against Matthew Ebden and Jamie Murray but slipped to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-5 defeat as Murray rallied to claim his 500th career match win.

After saving two match points, seventh seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, who are next in line to qualify for Turin, converted their fourth match point in a narrow 6-3, 6-7(5), 15-13 victory over Daniel Evans and John Peers. Glasspool and Heliovaara, who are sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, will face Ebden and Murray in the quarter-finals Friday.

Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek, seventh in the Race, extended their winning streak to nine by ousting German pair Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 7-6(5). Dodig and Krajicek won their previous two tournaments in Naples and Basel.

The Croatian-American duo will next meet top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the quarter-finals, a rematch from the Roland Garros quarter-final encounter, which Dodig and Krajicek won en route to a runner-up finish.

German Tim Puetz and Australian Michael Venus, who are ninth in the Race, escaped home favourites Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.

Only two doubles qualification spots remain at the coveted Nitto ATP Finals.