Holger Rune reacted positively to taking a set against Novak Djokovic, and revealed how proud he was to do so.
The 18-year-old played the biggest match of his career when he went up against the best player in the world today. Drawing the Serbian in the US Open first round after winning three qualifying matches is probably the worst scenario a player can find himself in.
However, to the surprise of the World No. 1 and everyone watching, the stubborn Rune played extremely well. He even managed to prevent his illustrious opponent from taking a perfect game by putting a dent into his scorecard.
Rune reacted to taking a set against Djokovic, saying that it was an amazing outcome for him all things considered.
“I was obviously very nervous,” he said, as quoted by Tennis World USA.
“I was very excited for what was going to happen because after I qualified for the main draw, I found out in the evening that I was playing him in like four days.
“So I had a lot of time to think about it and prepare myself and it was good and bad in a way because then I had too much time thinking, but honestly, I had time to also mentally prepare myself for what was gonna happen.”
Matching up
“Obviously, in the beginning, a bit of nerves, but I think it was good tennis from both actually even though the score was 6-1 and then I told myself to play more freely and you know, I played more aggressive, took my chances,” he continued.
“And I think already, in this age as an 18-year-old, to take a set is a great achievement. Something I can be proud of and build on, which I did afterwards.
“It’s great to also try to compete against these guys in matches not only in practice, because it really shows what their level are.
“But also, they’re not Gods so they make mistakes, they take some weird choices on the court because they’re also nervous, they’re also human so it was really interesting to play them and inspiring as well,” he concluded.
Read more: Rune denies trying to copy Federer – “My coach is not Roger”