The Danish player told how the Serbian has always been kind to him
Holger Rune has came back to the past, reuniting with Patrick Mouratoglou to try to give a definitive turning point to his career, which is continuing in the shadow of those of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
In order to restart from the clay-court season, Rune has been training in recent days together with Novak Djokovic, in Monte Carlo. The young Dane and the legendary Serbian star have been practicing together to prepare for both the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters and clay swing.
In the media day of the event, Rune revealed how Djokovic gave him advice about his career, also explaining how Nole is always very kind with him.
“Djokovic taught me a lot. He was always very kind to me. I remember that we trained here about five years ago, he was already very interested at the time, he asked questions, gave me advice and also opened up about aspects related to his career. For such a young player like me it meant a lot. He is one of the best of all time and to feel that he wants to help you is incredible. I admire him a lot, also for this reason,” said Rune.
Rune praises Djokovic
“Nole gave me advice on a mental level. He also feels the emotions we all feel, only that he is good at managing them differently than the rest of the players. He told me that this is one of the reasons why he has been more successful than others.
It’s impressive to see, the same happened with Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer. They are impressive. My relationship with Novak is different now, we are competing but he remains a very nice person to me,” he explained.
Rune will have to defend last year’s final in Monte Carlo, reached after a battle won against Jannik Sinner in the semi-final and then lost by Andrey Rublev.
“It was very complicated, the best thing was that I went to Monaco the following week and won almost without stopping. Otherwise it would have hurt me much more. That night and the next day were difficult, I wasn’t good enough but it’s part of sport. I have to be calmer in those situations and I would like to win the title this year,” he told.