John McEnroe has once again been proving his opinion on Wimbledon for the BBC, and this time watched over what should have been a blockbuster last night.
Holger Rune, once widely tipped to be the man who would inherit the Big Three’s dominance, was facing off against Novak Djokovic, a player who has shattered the dreams of countless of his contemporaries with insane longevity and talent.
It was youth vs experience on centre court at Wimbledon. What could go wrong?
Well, the former failing to show up at all was a bad start, and things only got worse as different facets of his game slowly began to break down.
However, there was one element that left the American pundit particularly stunned.
John McEnroe criticises Holger Rune at Wimbledon
Speaking live on BBC Sport last night, McEnroe was brutal in his assessment of Rune’s performance.
After all, it was a missed opportunity, with the world number 15 unlikely to get a better chance to thwart an injury-riddled and ageing Djokovic on centre court.
However, his shot selection was poor and he never seemed to find any patterns of play, allowing his opponent to dictate throughout.
McEnroe, though, would highlight an outstanding weakness that meant he had no real chance of upsetting Djokovic’s rhythm.
He noted, just after he was broke in the third set: ‘Well it’s arguably the weakest part of Rune’s game at this point in his career, Rune’s return. He’s going to have to break to get back in this at least once. He looks bewildered out there. What do I do? What can I do?
‘Djokovic looking pretty awesome as we’ve seen so many times.’
He did look awesome, but it was a shame we didn’t get to see much pushback despite Djokovic praising one aspect of Rune’s game ahead of their meeting.
Holger Rune failed to take the game to Novak Djokovic
Going into last night’s clash, there was a quiet expectation that the Danish youngster might be able to spring a surprise on Djokovic.
After all, his head-to-head record against the legendary Serbian is not terrible, having beaten him twice already in their five match-ups.
Not to mention the youthful energy that many expected the 21-year-old to bring, hopefully enough intensity to trouble the veteran who had to endure knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus about a month ago.
And yet, he very much flattered to deceive, losing in straight sets 6-3 6-4 6-2.
His 54% first serve percentage was abysmal, and yet it was his returning, as McEnroe outlined, that truly let him down.
He allowed Djokovic to maintain a 75% win ratio on his first serve, but inexplicably a 78% win percentage on his second serve too.
Combine this with the fact that the 37-year-old brought about a whopping 14 break points, only converting four, and this could have been a massacre.
Another missed opportunity for Rune.
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