By Roberto Ferri
At the end of May I wrote that Holger Rune, who at that time was ranked 40, seemed like a good player who was studying to become a champion.
During this season he proved to be a very serious and hard-working student and his rise to the highest summits of the tennis universe culminated in a ground-breaking victory in the last open tournament of the year, the Paris Bercy Masters 1000.
On his way to triumph he defeated former No. 3 and triple slam winner Stan Wawrinka before, then five top-10 players. What a streak: Hurkacz, Rublev, Alcaraz (who as everybody surely knows, was forced to retire due to an abdominal injury), Auger-Aliassime and finally the record holder of most weeks at number 1 in the ATP rankings, Novak Djokovic.
As a result, the young Dane has rocketed up to No.10 and will be a reserve at the ATP Finals in Turin. Since the start of the year he has gained 93 positions.
TOP 20
| Position | Player | Country | ATP pts | +/- |
| 1 | Alcaraz | Spain | 6820 | |
| 2 | Nadal | Spain | 5820 | |
| 3 | Tsitsipas | Grecia | 5350 | 2 |
| 4 | Ruud | Norway | 5020 | |
| 5 | Medvedev | Russia | 4065 | -2 |
| 6 | Auger-Aliassime | Canada | 3995 | 2 |
| 7 | Rublev | Russia | 3530 | 2 |
| 8 | Djokovic | Serbia | 3320 | -1 |
| 9 | Fritz | USA | 2955 | 2 |
| 10 | Rune | Denmark | 2911 | 8 |
| 11 | Hurkacz | Poland | 2905 | -1 |
| 12 | Zverev | Germany | 2700 | -6 |
| 13 | Carreno Busta | Spain | 2495 | 1 |
| 14 | Norrie | GB | 2445 | -1 |
| 15 | Sinner | Italy | 2410 | -3 |
| 16 | Berrettini | Italy | 2375 | -1 |
| 17 | Shapovalov | Canada | 2225 | -1 |
| 18 | Cilic | Croatia | 2105 | -1 |
| 19 | Tiafoe | USA | 2090 | 2 |
| 20 | Khachanov | Russia | 1990 | -1 |
A few comments:
- Stefanos Tsitsipas moves up to No. 3 and equals his career-high.
- Felix Auger-Aliassime gains two positions and achieves his best ranking ever, No. 6.
- Rune makes his debut in the Top 10.
- Taylor Fritz is back in the Top 10.
- Alexander Zverev, who has been sidelined from the tour for 5 months because of his ankle injury, drops out of the Top 10 after 5 years.
- Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune are the only players born in 2003 who are ranked in the Top 10.
NITTO ATP FINALS
Since Alcaraz, No. 1 in the world, has been forced to pull out from the ATP Finals owing to his abdominal injury which occurred during his quarterfinal with Holger Rune in Paris, Taylor Fritz has become the eighth player who has qualified.
As a result of Alcaraz’s withdrawal, Europe will not be lining up 8 players for a second straight year.
Here’s the list of the Magnificent Eight who will be duelling for the title. The defending champion, Alexander Zverev, will be missing due to injury.
| Seed | Player | Country | Pts |
| 1 | Nadal | Spain | 5820 |
| 2 | Tsitsipas | Greece | 5350 |
| 3 | Ruud | Norway | 5020 |
| 4 | Medvedev | Russia | 4065 |
| 5 | Aliassime | Canada | 3995 |
| 6 | Rublev | Russia | 3530 |
| 7 | Djokovic | Serbia | 3320 |
| 8 | Fritz | Poland | 2995 |
First and second reserves are Holger Rune and Hubert Hurkacz.
Russia is the only country represented by two players and North America is the only extra-European continent present at the great event.
BEST RANKING
Besides Holger Rune and Felix Auger-Aliassime, other 6 players reached their career highest. Among them the rising Brit, Jack Draper:
| Player | Position | Country |
| Auger Aliassime | 6 | Canada |
| Rune | 10 | Denmark |
| Nishioka | 36 | Japan |
| Draper | 41 | GB |
| Moutet | 51 | France |
| Husler | 58 | Switzerland |
| O’Connell | 84 | Australia |
| Safiullin | 91 | Russia |
Translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye
