Holger Rune melts frosty reception, begins rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz in Paris

WATCH: Rune visited the Tennis Channel Live Desk after reaching his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal in Paris.

Earlier this year, Carlos Alcaraz tweeted a popular meme of a baby triumphantly screaming and clenching his fists at a hockey game. The Spaniard dedicated the tweet to his friend and fellow teenager Holger Rune, who was having his first burst of ATP success at the time.

The babies, Alcaraz was telling us, had arrived.

Since then, one of those kids, Alcaraz, has been welcomed with open arms, by fans and fellow players. The other? Let’s just say Rune’s reception has been a little rockier. After losing a hotly contested three-setter to him in Bercy this week, Stan Wawrinka summed up the general opinion of many when he told Rune, “My advice to you is that you stop acting like a baby on court.”

Rune does have a juvenile quality at 19. He stamps around the court between points, and lets the full range of his emotions flash across his face. After losing a point, he might look pleadingly at his mother. After losing a testy affair to Casper Ruud at Roland Garros, he accused Ruud of shouting at him in the locker room; Ruud then accused Rune of lying. Last week in Basel, Rune unleashed a profanity-laced tirade at chair umpire Mo Lahyani, and continued to defend his actions and disparage Lahyani on Twitter.

If Alcaraz is shaping up as a tennis hero of the future, Rune may have the makings of a villain—or least someone isn’t all that popular with his opponents. You could see it in his win over Andrey Rublev on Thursday. When Rune won a big point late in the second set, Rublev exploded with an extra layer of rage and frustration, even for him. At the net, the Russian gave him a quick and cursory handshake, rather than his usual brotherly congratulations. The match had a tense, amped-up atmosphere that Rune seems to cultivate.

On the ATP tour, everybody can beat everybody, if they play good. Against the Top 10 guys, I know I’m going to have to play my best. If not, I’m probably going to lose...I’m super excited to see how I’m going to handle everything. Holger Rune

More important is the fact that Rune already thrives in that kind of atmosphere, and in those tense moments. Down set point against Rublev, he did what any seasoned veteran would do: He reached back and fired a winning serve down the T, enraging Rublev even more. By now, that kind of clutch play is the norm for Rune. This year he has won two titles (one on clay and one on indoor hard courts) and raised his ranking from No. 103 to No. 18. Stefanos Tsitsipas describes him as “fearless.” That fearlessness against older and higher-ranked opponents may be his best attribute as a player, but also the one that rubs some people the wrong way.

“On the ATP tour, everybody can beat everybody, if they play good,” Rune told Tennis Channel on Thursday. “Against the Top 10 guys, I know I’m going to have to play my best. If not, I’m probably going to lose.”

On Friday, in the quarterfinals, Rune will play another Top 10 opponent: His old friend, doubles partner, and fellow 19-year-old, Alcaraz. It will be a rare all-teenage battle at this late stage of a Masters 1000. Rune doesn’t have the Spaniard’s gasp-inducing speed or shot-making skill. But he can muscle the ball with anyone, he plays with an intelligent mix of aggression and margin, and he’s not overly in awe of anyone. Last year, in their only meeting, Alcaraz beat Rune at the Next Gen Finals. It didn’t take them long to make their marks at the senior level.

“I’m super excited to see how I’m going to handle everything,” Rune said.

Obviously, tennis doesn’t need players who make up stories about their opponents, the way Ruud says Rune did in Paris. But it takes all kinds to make a tour—heroes, villains, legends, babies. On Friday, Alcaraz will likely be the crowd favorite, but Rune will create his own buzz with his game and personality. Sounds like a future to me.