Hey there, fellow tennis enthusiasts It’s your girl Mia Johnson-Carter here, living the dream in Miami. Today, I’m super excited to dive into a fascinating story about Holger Rune, one of the most promising young players on the ATP tour. As someone who’s passionate about tennis and always on the lookout for the latest trends and news, I’ve got my eyes on Holger and his journey.
Holger Rune, the young Dane who thrilled fans and insiders two years ago by defeating Novak Djokovic in the final of the Paris-Bercy Masters 1000, has not achieved satisfactory results this season. The 21-year-old player has been struggling to regain his form after reaching the finals at the Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo and Rome earlier in 2023. Despite his prestigious results, Holger’s growth path has stopped suddenly, and he is now facing challenges to get back on track.
Holger has had some physical problems in the last few months, and he has changed several coaches. These changes have affected his stability, which is crucial for every professional player. The Dane, who seemed to be the most viable alternative to Italian Jannik Sinner and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz, has moved far from these two young champions. It will not be easy for him to fill this gap.
The 2022 Paris-Bercy champion will have to work hard on himself during the off-season to regain his confidence and start strong in the next season. Although he is still very young, 2025 will already be a very important year for his career, and he won’t be able to make any more mistakes. The men’s tour is looking for a third name that can fit into the rivalry between Jannik and Carlitos, who dominated the scene this year by winning two major titles apiece.
Rune needs serenity. A player with his ambitions cannot be happy with the results of this season. Holger often seemed confused and lost on the tennis court, suffering several unexpected defeats. He is one of the most controversial tennis players on the ATP tour. His extroverted and sometimes arrogant behavior has led him to get the label of an obnoxious player.
Despite his controversies, Holger retains some long-standing friendships. The same 21-year-old, former number four in the world, has confessed which tennis players he managed to make a more important friendship. In a video released on the social profile “Los Gonzalez de Tour,” managed by the Mexican tennis player Santiago Gonzalez and his young children, Holger told that he has a good connection with Carlos Alcaraz, with whom he shared a lot of time since young in the junior tournaments. He also cited two other peers, the Italians Lorenzo Musetti and Luca Nardi.
The young Dane also answered other nice questions from the two small interviewers, revealing that his biggest idols are Swiss legend Roger Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal. 2024 was certainly a year below expectations for the Dane. With the negative results, with only one ATP final reached, the current number 13 in the world has frequently changed its coaches, now returning with his own coach, Lars Christensen, first coach of his career.
In a recent interview with ‘Quindici Zero,’ the former Top 5 admitted that he had risen in the ranking too quickly: “Honestly, I deserved to be in the top 7/top 8 because of the results I achieved between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023. But reaching the 4th place in the ranking was not a result of my work, it was a gift because of the results of the other players above me who did not defend the points from the previous year. At that moment I was not ready: my game was not top 4, as well as my mentality.”
He also added: ”Now I feel like I have much more experience and this part is important, because you need to adapt in the right way to stay at that level. Some people do it faster than others, I feel comfortable in every aspect of the game now: this makes the mental aspect less demanding and generates energy to develop my game again. So now I feel good about all of this.”
Rune was one of the protagonists of the ‘Six Kings Slam,’ the controversial exhibition in Saudi Arabia that awarded $1.5 million to each of the six participants. Holger— who was the only player in the tournament not to have won a Grand Slam title yet— faced Alcaraz in the quarterfinals and was defeated in two sets. The event organizers have invited the young Danish man because they have a lot of confidence in him for the future, even if his growth path has stopped last year. Everyone’s hope is that Rune will get back on track and show great things in 2025.
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