Holger Rune is back on the trophy trail after beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (6), 6-2 in the Barcelona Open on Sunday. The Dane’s victory was his first ATP title since winning the BMW Open at Munich in 2023 and was notable for the deployment of smart tactics rather than his notorious vocal outbursts. Maturity in match play could lead to a brighter future after a couple of barren years.

The 21-year-old cited Novak Djokovic’s titanic Olympic victory over Alcaraz as the template to succeed during a difficult start to the final. “When I got broken in the first set, I thought to myself that I don’t need to hit every shot on the line, I told myself OK, what did Novak do when he beat him? I kind of played it in my mind, the Olympic final, and I thought to myself let’s try to play that kind of style, really make him play a lot of balls. I’m really happy about how I stayed composed when it really mattered. I was also very brave when it mattered.”

Alcaraz struggled to break down his fresher opponent who had to pull out of his Monte Carlo opener last week after a bout of food poisoning. The world No. 3 won on the red clay in the sovereign principality and was looking good for a second title in a week after demolishing Arthur Fils in the semifinals. Alexander Zverev now moves back ahead of the Murcia man in the rankings after the German claimed the Munich Open by beating Ben Shelton.

The Spaniard’s resistance began to subside when he called a medical timeout on his hip area after the third game of the second set. The crux of the match centered around Rune’s bouncebackability after he recovered from an edgy start and then won eight successive points. Alcaraz’s forehand started to misfire just as it had against Djokovic in Paris last August.

“The first set was a big battle, it was super important to win it and gain the momentum. I’m so proud of myself,” said Rune who will now move back into the top 10 of the ATP rankings on Monday.

Rune is just a week older than Alcaraz who has already completed an impressive collection of 18 tour titles, including two Wimbledons, a French Open and a U.S. Open. As the Spaniard and Jannik Sinner are devouring the majors at this moment in time, it would be easy to suggest that Rune’s talent is being squeezed out by the two big fish of the Next Gen.

His biggest title was the Paris Masters win over Novak Djokovic in 2022, but the external noise focuses on his actions without a tennis racket. He has admitted that he needs to improve his emotional control during matches, but refutes suggestions that he is some kind of bad boy in the Nick Kyrgios mould.

“He’s young and new, so that’s excusable, but when you’re on a big stage, it might be time to grow up a bit”, Ruud said of Rune after beating him in the 2022 French Open quarterfinal.

Rune has been honest that getting fast results, like the Masters win over Djokovic as an unseeded 19-year-old, didn’t always lead him to the right path. He even questioned his rise to world No. 4, suggesting that it was more of an anomaly of other players not defending points and that his mentality then was not that of a truly elite player. “His talent is really strong, because he has, I would say, probably every shot that you can have in tennis,” said Daniil Medvedev at Indian Wells. It’s just putting it together when it counts.

Rune’s win over Alcaraz was his first over a top-five player in 14 attempts. It was a breakthrough and a moment that showed the kind of guts and determination to win (Djokovic admired his “fighting spirit” three years ago) that separates potential major winners from the others. Tellingly, Rune almost labeled himself as one of those extras after the match. “I think, at the beginning, I was a bit stressed since Carlos [Alcaraz] plays big-time tennis.” Does victory now change the dial in his thinking?

Rune has had his growing pains, just like Alcaraz, and now would be a good time to put the foot down on getting deeper into majors. He has never reached a Grand Slam semifinal. In his teenage years, Rune had the world at his feet with the results to match. The hard work starts here to stabilize his game and show he’s not an extra in the Slam sideshow.