Smashing performance or simply smashing rackets? Djokovic's dramatic victory at 2023 ATP finals

Novak Djokovic expressed regret over breaking rackets during the match against Holger Rune at the 2023 ATP Finals.

The Serbian tennis player delivered a strong performance to overcome Rune with a score of 7-6(4), 6-7(1), 6-3. The young Danish player didn't succumb to favoritism and displayed enough credentials to challenge the world No.1, gaining an advantage at various points in the match, although it wasn't enough to defeat Djokovic.

The thrilling encounter took a dramatic turn when 'Nole' broke two rackets, unleashing his anger midway through the third set, stomping on them and leaving them shattered. In the post-match press conference, Djokovic addressed the incident and expressed regret for losing his composure:

"I mean, some people are saying that if you want to use that word 'pragmatic' for me to do that because then I can release whatever tension I'm holding and frustration and move on, maybe that was the case tonight. But I wouldn't encourage anybody doing that. Neither do I encourage myself," Djokovic said.

"I'm not happy. I'm not happy with that. I definitely don't like that I have done that, but I have done it and that is it and I have to take responsibility. Yeah, I guess in some cases it has happened in the past where I do that and come back playing more freely, I guess, just letting go. There are different ways, maybe smarter ways to let go of the frustration than breaking a racquet," he added with a smile.

Despite the frustration, Djokovic acknowledged after the match the high level displayed by his 20-year-old opponent and admitted to being impressed with Rune's improvements in his serve:

"Well, there were a lot of difficult moments. It was very challenging to play Holger, who I thought was on a very high level tonight. He had a very clear game plan. You could see that he was very sharp, very aggressive from the beginning, taking every chance he had to come to the net," Djokovic said.

"He served very accurately, very precise, very strong. It was very difficult to find any, let's say, holes in his game tonight. I really had to work very hard and battle, which was the case, to get the win. It lasted more than three hours. I think the longest match that I ever played here," he added.