🎉 Happy birthday to former Rank No. 13 Alexandr Dolgopolov! Z Dnem narodzhennya! 🎉

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Hey, Tennis Pro! It is the beginning of the week!

Novak loses at Paris, wins at our hearts. I think for many of us Djokovic's fall in Paris was definitely not anticipated. The Serbian had all the historical weight and endless statistics pointing to him as the eventual winner of the Paris Masters since before the tournament began. The semi-final against Tsitsipas, although it became complicated in the last stretch of the match, Nole showed a level of tennis that positioned him as the almost undisputed favorite for his match with the still young Holger Rune.

However, history was written differently and favored the 19-year-old over the 35-year-old veteran in a final that seemed like a no-brainer for Djokovic. The Joker missed the opportunity to increase his winning record in Paris to seven championships and ended up giving a huge entrance to one of the so-called greats of the Next Gen through the big boys door. Throughout all this, Novak really behaved like a gentleman and even a mentor for the new Danish star. He accepted defeat like the champion he is and recognized in his interview being overtaken by Rune in the last stage. If you see the photos at the end of the match and the award ceremony, Rune is undoubtedly the happiest in the portrait, but Novak looks satisfied, proud and at peace with the fact of giving a new world tennis prospect the opportunity to shine.

Talent recognizes talent and Novak's greatness was reaffirmed once again in Parisian lands.

👻 Rune is the Top 10's Nightmare

The end of the year has undoubtedly been unexpected in many ways. There's still lot of movement in the ranking while the top seats on the list are occupied and the last tournaments of the year being dominated between Djokovic and the best youngsters of the moment like Rune or Auger-Aliassime. However, I wouldn't have believed it if you told me at the beginning of the year that Holger Rune would be leading the tour as the winner against the Top 10. These last few months have come in handy for the best Dane in history and it is beginning to be seen reflected in the numbers.

What strikes me the most about the graph, apart from the fact that Rune is the only one who has beaten a Top 10 in an ATP 250, is the fact that Nadal has 6 of his 7 victories against top players in a Grand Slam. Rafa stands out on this list for his wins in the most important tournaments on tour, followed curiously by Nick Kyrgios who had a historic run at Wimbledon. As a curious fact, two of Borna Coric's four Top 10 victories were against the Greek Tsitsipas, both back-to-back from August to the present. Poor Stefanos, he just can't get a break against Serb players!

👑 Holger sits in the Paris Throne

We've been covering Holger Rune's unprecedented rise in the French capital all week. Sunday culminated a dream tournament for the best Dane in history at playing this beautiful sport we all love so much. Rune's dramatic rise was not unannounced, racking up three finals in a row since late September, clinching an ATP 250 title to his name in Stockholm. Just last week, Holger was crowned as history's highest ranking Dane in the ATP at position 18, and now he far surpasses that record by placing last spot in the Top 10 in world tennis.

The victory comes with several snacks that give a special flavor to his victory in Paris. For instance, he left in oblivion Nole's perfect pace in Masters 1000 Finals, in which he had a 30-0 record after winning the first set of the match. In addition to joining the select group of only 6 players who have won a Masters final from Novak, along with big names like Rafa, Roger and Andy Murray. Okay, clearly it was very difficult to beat Nole in an ATP 1000 final, but the Dane managed to overcome it by showing the best tennis he has shown up to this point in his life, probably.

As my favorite fact and I think it was the one that added the best touch to the Rune trophy, is the fact that he had to overcome five Top 10 players on his way to the championship. This had never been achieved in history. Not to mention the fact that in the Round of 64, he started the tournament beating no one else but Stan Wawrinka.

Talk about a tough draw! Massive respect to Holger.

🚨 Yesterday’s Spotlight

[Updated 06:00 a.m. GMT]

⏱️ Today’s Order of Play

[Updated 06:00 a.m. GMT]

👋 So long, and thanks for all the tennis!

→ All of this year's 2022 Masters 1000s champions.

→ A Venn Diagram of the ATP 2022 season title winners.

→ Baby Stefanos and Felix.

→ A crazy record in the books for Holger Rune.

→ Top-level point between Djokovic and Stefanos.