The Danish tennis player shared interesting considerations on his rivals and the upcoming Paris Olympics
Talking about a crisis is almost a must: Holger Rune’s season is proceeding below expectations and up until now there has never been a jolt that has raised his level. The Dane, in an interview with Tennis.net and has released interesting statements, both on his difficult period and on the upcoming Paris Olympics and on the rivalry with Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
“The Olympic Games meant a lot to me, the support I receive from my compatriots is continuous and I see it both during the tournaments and on social networks, it is something unique and indescribable. Winning a medal at the Games would be really special. Hamburg? The conditions are not the same as those in Paris, but certainly good training and a good tournament here can help, I would like to win several medals, not only in singles but also in mixed doubles with Caroline Wozniacki,” he said.
Regarding the rivalry with Alcaraz and Sinner, the Dane explains: “I hope one day to be able to reach those two, they have achieved a sensational level. What Carlos is achieving at his age is fantastic, I can only congratulate him, this motivates me to do well and work day after day to try to reach their results in the big tournaments. For now I only think about my growth, only I can decide my personal and tennis evolution.”
Finally, the Dane comment also on the criticism received from Boris Becker, his former coach.
“The collaboration with Boris worked very well, that’s how I remember it. He helped me get back on the court with the right mentality, his post surprised me but it doesn’t change my opinion of him, he’s a great tennis player and he was a legend of this sport,” he explained.
Many compared him to Sinner and Alcaraz but at the moment Rune doesn’t seem to have found the consistency of his young rivals. The Dane is in trouble, he’s out of the world Top 15 and is now experiencing too many ups and downs. At Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic, Holger almost didn’t fight and the Dane showed great difficulties. Fans and insiders expected a completely different match and instead Rune was literally annihilated.
For some he could have been the main opponent for a Djokovic who wasn’t at his best and instead the Dane collapsed in three sets, an almost easy challenge for the Serbian champion, never really in trouble against Rune, not totally at ease on this surface. From the crowd to the lawn problems, Rune revealed everything in the press conference after the London defeat against Djokovic and clarified some of the reasons for this collapse.
“I started playing at a very slow pace but first of all I have to compliment Djokovic who was much better than me. I was not good at hitting the ball or serving and in general in anything, I can’t allow myself to do that against a tennis player like him. The first set was brutal, I started badly and that was the only break I suffered, I’m sure that if I had won the first set the challenge would have been very different. Thinking about it I lost the first set 6-3, it had happened to me in the past but then I managed to come back. Today I didn’t play well, I didn’t manage the moments well and I was too nervous, he managed the situation better but on the other hand this is one of the reasons why he won 24 Slam titles. He played the decisive points well and didn’t give me anything in the important moments, I can do nothing against this opponent and I accepted that he is simply Novak,” he said.
Regarding Djokovic’s dispute with the crowd, Rune reveals: “It all started when I was 18 and we faced each other for the first time at the US Open, the crowd was shouting my name but for some it could have been interpreted as a Boo, we played many matches and probably this thing came back to their mind, in the end it didn’t make any difference, he was better than me.”
The Danish tennis player does not fail to make a small clarification regarding the issue of the Centre Court: “Playing on the Centre Ccourt is like playing a completely new tournament, it’s all different. The ball stopped earlier and it was all particular, it had already happened to me when moving from court 18 to court 1 and now it was even more noticeable, I don’t want it to seem like an excuse but it was really difficult to find the rhythm in these conditions. It would have been nice to have the opportunity to practice for 30 minutes to warm up, but it didn’t go like that,” told the Dane.