Holger Lune beats Djokovic to win Paris Masters

Born in 2003, Danish tennis rookie Holger Lune beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia), the world’s strongest player, to the top of the men’s ATP Tour Rolex Paris Masters (total prize money of 5,415,410 euros).

Lune came from behind to beat Djokovic 2-1 (3-6 6-3 7-5) in the singles final of the tournament in Paris on the 6th (local time) to avenge his 1-3 (1-67-6 <7-5> 2-6 1-6) loss in the first round of last year’s US Open singles.

In this tournament, Lune defeated the strongest players in the top 10 singles world rankings (as of October 31) in a row to reach the final. Lune beat Hubert Hurkacz (10th at the time) and Andrei Rublev (9th), then withdrew from the quarterfinals against Carlos Alcaras, who was the same age, and Felix Oje Aliasim (8th) in the semifinals, all without a single set. Djokovic reached the final by defeating young players such as Lorenzo Musetti (20) in the quarterfinals and Stefanos Tsitsipas (24) in the semifinals, but failed to stop Lune’s rise.

Lune, who won at the age of 19 years, 6 months and 7 days, became the youngest winner in 36 years since Boris Becker (Germany), who won the Paris competition at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 10 days in 1986. In addition, the world ranking announced on the same day rose sharply from 18th to 10th. Only Rafael Nadal (18 years and 10 months) and Alkaras (18 years and 11 months) ranked in the top 10 at the age of 19.

Djokovic, who holds the most singles titles (38 times) in the Masters tournament, aimed to win his 39th career Masters tournament and top the Paris Masters for the seventh time, but was frustrated at the threshold of winning. “Lune is a devoted man who loves tennis and spends a lot of time training,” Djokovic said. “Congratulations to his team and family. He said, “I deserve this victory.”

“It was an honor to be on the court with Djokovic, my favorite player since I was young,” Lune said. “It was a fun tournament. “I will continue to go on and stand here again next year,” he said.