By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday July 8, 2023
Holger Rune had never won a Wimbledon match prior to 2023, but the Dane is off and running in style at SW19 as he continues to prove himself on all surfaces and against all comers.
On Court No.3 on Saturday the foe was Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, a former Boys’ champion at Wimbledon and one of the most electrifying talents on the tour today.
Credit the 31st-seeded Spaniard, who controlled the run of play for much of the match and had his chances to notch the upset over the sixth-seeded Dane, for all but one head-scratching shot at 8-8 in the match tiebreak.
Unfortunately for Davidovich Fokina, who led two sets to one at one point and had two match points in the fifth with Rune serving at 4-5, 15-40, his decision to attempt an underarm serve at 8-8 in the match tiebreak will be remembered as one of the most ill-timed underhanded serves off all-time.
Here’s the aforementioned, in all it’s glory…
8-8 in the tiebreaker.
Who expected Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to do an underarm serve? 😯#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/2ki8QOqkXz
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 8, 2023
Rune quickly raced to the net to hit a clean return winner, then clinched his victory on the next point much to the surprise of a packed stadium full of stunned spectators.
“I was not expecting it for sure,” Rune said after the match. “Actually it was nice because he was serving unbelievable, so I was like ‘OK, here’s a chance to get a match point.’”
Rune’s words accentuate the error of Davidovich Fokina’s ways. He saved the only break point he faced in the final set, and made 77 percent of his first serves in the final set, winning 26 of 36 of them. The odds were in his favor if he had played it conventionally – instead he panicked and shifted the odds in Rune’s favor, and the rest is history.
In his post-match interview, Rune admitted that the underarm serve did put pressure on him as well. How would he have recovered if he hadn’t pegged the winner? We’ll never know.
“It’s pressure, because imagine I missed that one,” he said. “That would feel awful. So it was good and bad. Luckily I stayed clutch in important moments and managed to win.”
When pressed about whether or not he would employ a similar tactic if it was him serving at 8-8, Rune admitted that he isn’t that daring.
“I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “But again, every player has a different style. You know, if he made it, it would have been the right…
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