Holger Rune’s mother Aneke recently shared that she has promised the 20-year-old to quit smoking if he wins a Grand Slam title.
Rune turned pro in 2020 and his notable Major performances so far include reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open in 2022 and 2023 and another quarterfinal appearance at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.
During a recent episode of the Craig Shapiro Tennis Podcast, Aneke was asked if her children teased her about smoking. She said she had initially promised Holger about quitting when he reached World No.1 in juniors. The promise extended to winning a junior Grand Slam, and most recently, a Grand Slam victory.
“Oh yes, all the time. I did so many promises to Holger — ‘When he was No. 1 in the world in junior, I would stop smoking, when he won a junior Grand Slam, I would stop smoking,’ and now I said to him, ‘When you win a Grand Slam, I would stop.’ So let’s see,” Aneke Rune said (49:58)
Rune has competed in three ATP tournaments so far this season. The first was the Brisbane International where he reached the final but was defeated by Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov.
Moving on to the Australian Open, he was eliminated in the second round by Arthur Cazaux. In his third tournament, the Open Sud de France, the World No. 7 reached the semifinals but had to retire in the second set against Borna Coric due to an injury.
Rune is gearing up for his fourth tournament this season at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam, where his first opponent is Roman Safiullin.