The Finals of the Brisbane International brought an exciting clash between the veteran versus the young blood as Grigor Dimitrov took on Holger Rune. The 32-year-old defeated Rune 7-6(5), 6-4 to win his first title since 2017.
It was a hard-fought battle for Dimitrov, who battled for eight break points to one-up the youngster finally. He dropped to the floor, expressing his relief and delight. The World No. 14 capped off the tournament in a dominant fashion, dropping a single set throughout.
It was an emotional night for him as he ended his six-year title drought. He had last won the ATP Finals in 2017, the same year when he also won the Brisbane International.
After the match, Holger Rune was the first to address the post-match interview and congratulated the victor, Grigor Dimitrov, and his team, for an impressive win. He also said it was a ‘great’ way to start the new campaign.
“I want to say congrats to Grigor, you played an amazing tournament, congrats and to your team as well. It’s a great start to the season, so I wish you the best man and thanks to my team as well, it’s a great start to the Year also.”
“I think we have a lot to build on after this week, and hopefully we can uh go one step further in the Australian Open, so thank you.”
The Bulgarian then took the stage and looked quite emotional while reflecting on his first title win since 2017. But first, he, congratulated his rival, Holger Rune for putting up an exciting match for the fans.
Grigor Dimitrov to Rune after beating him in Brisbane Final:
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 7, 2024
“Hi guys. It’s been a while since I held one of these. Sorry a little emotional. 🥹 It’s difficult to describe things in words. I just want to start with Holger. We’ve played multiple times & practiced against each… pic.twitter.com/q0xplkqmq5
Grigor expressed great confidence in his rival’s potential as a future tennis star. He said that the ‘best is yet to come’ for the 20-year-old. He also congratulated Rune’s team for ‘sticking by him’.
“We need to be there and do everything we can to get him out of there,” Holger Rune, desperate to end Novak Djokovic’s tennis supremacy.
The 20-year-old Dane expressed his thoughts on the continued dominance of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Men’s singles. He wants his generation to ‘step up’ and be better.
Rune has defeated Novak Djokovic twice in his career. One of which came at the Rome Masters last season. However, Novak still has the upper hand against him, winning twice last year to make the season score 2-1.
The Danish player pointed out the importance for players of his generation to ‘step up’ against him.
“We’ve got to step up. We’ve got to do it not just one time but more regularly because I beat him this year, Sinner beat him, but he is still winning three out of four Grand Slams, and maybe he almost won Wimbledon also. So we’re not there yet. So we need to be there and do everything we can to get him out of there.”
