Dimitrov vs Rune: Brisbane Final Recap

Dimitrov peaking — crush and rush — reverse pivots

Grigor Dimitrov defeated Holger Rune 7/6 6/4 in the final of the Brisbane International ATP 250 to claim his ninth title and take a 2-1 lead in their H2H. It was Dimitrov’s first title since 2017 (ATP Finals).

This was a hyper-aggressive final between two players who take the ball early and finish at the net. In quick humid conditions aggression was rewarded, and Dimitrov played with conviction and poise throughout the encounter, weathering Rune’s sledgehammer backhand and dictating with his own forehand at every opportunity.

I have nothing to say of Dimitrov’s performance because it was so clean. He did everything great, and if I try to write about everything I’ll go deeply into nothing.

So I’ll talk about Rune.

Rune’s backhand potency was on display in the very first point, ripping an inside-out line-backhand drive to kick things off.

That’s the most passive forehand Dimitrov hit all day.

But the Dane’s aggression started even earlier on return, often employing the “crush-and-rush” — a modern-day version of yesterday’s chip-and-charge — to pressure Dimitrov. If Agassi and McEnroe had a baby, it would play something like this:

And that was just the return, There were half-a-dozen other great rally backhands — lobs, passing shots, drop shots, and drives — although it must be noted that he missed three regulation backhands in the tiebreaker that were crucial to Dimitrov taking the first set.

Rune’s backhand is capable of hitting these flat heaters for two main reasons: (i) he creates a huge amount of space in the backswing from which he can accelerate the racquet. Like other big-time backhands (Safin, Davydenko, Zverev, to name a few) you can see Rune’s left elbow break the plane of his spine and his racquet tip also breaks the plane of his body at maximum extension; (ii) he keeps a relatively open racquet-face in the backswing, which suggests a more conservative grip choice. He doesn’t close the strings as much as a Sinner or Djokovic.

Big swings and conservative racquet face/path. It’s like the backhanded version of a delpo forehand.

The scary part of this was that Dimitrov was handling most of it with forehand flicks, backhand flicks, lobs, phenomenal movement. You name it, he did it.

The Bulgarian’s talent and athleticism was always undeniable, but rarely has he looked so comfortable and clear-minded with his game for long stretches. Everything was firing, as confirmed by Tennis Insights. As one of the most entertaining players to watch, one can only hope he continues to fulfil his potential in this manner. The last time Dimitrov won the Brisbane International in 2017, he went on to reach the semifinals of the Australian Open, pushing Rafael Nadal to five sets in a thrilling match.

In Dimitrov’s recent Paris final loss to Djokovic the forehand misfired, perhaps due to the occasion, as well as the scar-tissue of playing someone you were 1-11 against in the H2H (and now 1-12):

“I think you’re right to point out that H2H. All through this week Dimitrov’s looked unshackled, he’s looked loose and free, but today he hasn’t.”

—Tennis TV Commentary during the Paris Final

But there was no such issue today, and Dimitrov looked supremely confident and dangerous from that wing. A look at their forehand setups:

These photos are good visuals of the 'merry-go-round' (Dimitrov) and 'Ferris Wheel' (Rune) metaphor. You can see how Rune's racquet head builds speed by falling down a vertical plane; Dimitrov's by flipping on a horizontal plane.

I’ve been bullish on Rune ironing out the rough-edged forehand performances he is still throwing in from time to time, mainly because his stroke fits the mould of modern greats.

While the stroke itself is quite sound, most of my concern lies with his footwork and shot-selection. The only break of serve today came off the back of some poorly executed forehands when hitting inside-in. Here’s a bunch:

What can you see?

Notice the reverse-pivot footwork he uses on all these misses, despite trying to attack with speed and aggression in his swing. He’s pulling off the shot defensively with his body, falling to his left, but trying to drive the ball. His left leg finishes in line, or even behind, his right leg.

Biiig step left and back, there’s nowhere for the racquet to go but back and across as well, despite Rune’s best efforts to extend.

Now here are the inside-in’s he made:

Notice how much more balanced Rune is. He isn’t falling away from the shot. When he could step into the court with his left leg and scissor kick, or when didn’t pull his reverse-pivot too far, he hit the inside-in far better. Of course, these three he also had more time, so that’s where shot-selection becomes a factor; most of the above misses should have been hit inside-out, or with a lot more spin and height. Here are the screenshots of Rune’s foot positions on four of his misses.

And of the three made inside-in forehands below. Notice how in these forehands he has been able to get his body and feet more side on to the target with his weight going forward. That facilitates a linear swing more easily.

Federer’s demolition of Agassi at Houston in 2003 is full of good examples of inside-in margin, as well as more front-foot forehands and scissor-kicks when stepping in to attack; a feature of the great man’s game. Similarly, this movement at 36 years old against Nishikori in Shanghai still blows my mind. Look how often he plays with a buggy-whip and lots of spin when going inside-in or when out of position. He’s got a hyper-aggressive mindset, but he adjusts on the fly.

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It’s worth noting that I felt Rune played quite well and I’m being picky with these forehands, but Dimitrov was playing so cleanly and aggressively that anything loose or passive was going to go punished. On another day a bunch of Rune’s tagged backhands wouldn’t come back, or Dimitrov would miss an extra ball or two, and perhaps his team will sit down and analyse those forehand misses and figure out a remedy.

Ultimately, this was a great week for both Rune and Dimitrov, and with the Australian Open draw coming out on Thursday, both men will have their eyes on a second-week showing.

I’ll be back with my draw preview at the end of the week.

See you in the comments. HC.