Holger Rune explains how Novak Djokovic helped him beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Barcelona Open final

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Holger Rune has beaten Carlos Alcaraz to win the Barcelona Open title for the first time in his career.

Rune had lost his last three finals, including Indian Wells last month, and had not won an ATP title since April 2023.

However, after Rune overcame food poisoning to beat the likes of Casper Ruud, Karen Khachanov and a seemingly hampered Alcaraz, the Dane has been able to lift the first ATP 500 title of his career.

After the match, Rune also revealed that he took inspiration from a certain 24-time major winner to win the Barcelona Open title.

Holger Rune explains how Novak Djokovic helped him beat Carlos Alcaraz

This was a first professional meeting on clay between the pair, as Alcaraz attempted to continue from his Monte Carlo win last week.

However, after a very tight fought first set, Alcaraz appeared to be struggling physically and Rune was able to take advantage to claim victory.

When looking back on that first set, Rune admitted that he took inspiration from Djokovic’s Olympic win over Alcaraz after going a break down.

“You know in the beginning of the first set when I first got broken, I thought to myself ‘Wow’, in one moment it felt like ‘How can I beat him?’,” Rune said in the on-court interview. “And then I thought to myself, I don’t need to hit every shot on the line.

“So I told myself ‘Okay what did Novak do when he beats him?’. I kind of played it in my mind the Olympic final and I was watching all of it when they played obviously an amazing match.

“And I thought to myself, okay just try to play that kind of style, really make him play a lot of ball and I am happy with how I stayed composed when it really mattered. I was also very brave when it mattered.”

How many players have beaten Carlos Alcaraz in a final?

After beating Alcaraz to win the Barcelona Open, Rune has become the sixth player to have defeated the Spaniard in a final.

Djokovic’s aforementioned Olympic final victory is one of those, but that is not the only championship win he has over Alcaraz.

Following a thrilling Cincinnati Open final win in 2023, Djokovic is the only player to have beaten Alcaraz in multiple finals.

Alcaraz will now look to recover from his physical issue, and look ahead to his next tournament at the Madrid Open.

The 21-year-old is a two-time champion in the Spanish capital, and will be looking to reclaim his crowd after losing to eventual champion Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals last year.