Lucky charm? Holger Rune "steals" Novak Djokovic's old Shanghai locker room

As professional tennis returns to China in earnest for the first time since 2019, 20-year-old Holger Rune is among the players making their debut at the Rolex Shanghai Masters—one of the ATP Tour’s most beloved tour stops.

Voted the Tournament of the Year during its first five years in 2009-2013, the ATP’s lone Masters 1000 level event in China is famous for its top-notch facilities and the splashy perks it awards its biggest stars. For example, the tournament’s top seeds enjoy their own individual locker rooms, which are decorated with a sign that lists that room’s previous big-name occupants.

Rune, the No. 3 seed, took to social media this week to give fans a look around his own locker room, which featured a giant wall mural with his name and face—along with a sign indicating that Grand Slam leaders Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had also used the room.

“How cool is this locker room?” Rune asked his audience on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, with a winking face emoji.

He wasn’t the only one impressed by the facilities in Shanghai—fellow tournament debutant Carlos Alcaraz also shared a shot of his own locker room, which was almost exclusively used by his childhood idol, two-time winner Roger Federer from 2005-2019.

In Rune’s case, the previous occupant of the locker room was four-time Shanghai champion Djokovic—and the world No. 1 recognized it right away, calling him out with a cheeky reply on X.

“You stole my locker room!??” Djokovic wrote back, adding a “cold face” emoji.

Djokovic, of course, withdrew from the Shanghai event about a month ago, announcing after his victory at the US Open that he would be taking time off and skipping Beijing and Shanghai before planning to return to action in Europe.

Rune appears more than happy to take up residence in his absence, eager to hit the ground running and put his physical struggles behind him. The 20-year-old has been plagued by a back injury since Wimbledon, resulting in opening-round losses in Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open.

Last week, Rune reassured fans that he was “healthy” and “back on track” in his recovery as he prepared to compete at the China Open. He indeed snapped his losing streak in Beijing with a straight-sets win over Felix Auger-Aliassime in the opening round, but was ousted by Grigor Dimitrov next round.

Maybe Djokovic’s locker room will prove to be Rune’s lucky charm? The world No. 1 has won Shanghai four times—in 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018—and according to the picture Rune posted, he had been using “his” locker room during each run to the title.

Into the second round with a bye, No. 3 seed Rune will face Brandon Nakashima on Friday.