Runa Holger was born and raised in Denmark, a country with a lot of weight in winter sports, the hand ball and the soccerbut with little tradition in tennis. But that didn’t stop him. He discovered this sport at a very young age and has always dreamed of doing great things with his racket. “I want to be the best player in the world”he repeats whenever asked about his future goals. He still has a long way to go to achieve that goal. But after the consecration of him in Paris Master 1.000 and his breakthrough in the top 10 of the world rankings, no one doubts that he has the talent and the head to reach it.
“Four or five weeks ago I didn’t expect to be in this place. It’s the best feeling of my life, of my entire career“he commented after defeating in the final of the French tournament Novak Djokovicto give the final touch a historic weekin which he obtained numerous unprecedented results.
On the way to the title, Rune won against five top 10 players. After defeating the Swiss Stan Wawrinka (153 °) at the debut he put together celebrations against the Pole Hubert Hurkacz (10th), Russian Andrea Rublev (9th), Spanish Carlos Alcaraz (1st), the Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime (8th) and Serbian (7th).
There was no record in the ATP of a similar campaign at any of the regular scheduled appointments, not counting the ATP Finalsin which the best eight of each season compete.
The 19-year-old Dane became the first Paris Under 20 champion since his coronation Boris Becker in 1986, with 18. And thanks to the title he climbs 8 positions and rises to 10th place in the standings, to become the first tennis player from his country to reach the top 10 and the third in history to join that group at his age, later Rafael Nadal and Alcaraz.
His coronation in Paris, the most important of his career, may have surprised non-tennis audiences. But in the world of racketeering, the Dane has caused a sensation since his junior years.
Born in 2003 in Gentofte, a district on the northern outskirts of Copenhagenhe started playing at the age of 6 following in his sister’s footsteps Soul, four years more. And from the moment he picked up the racket, she took the sport very seriously.
“I always enjoyed and enjoyed playing tennis. But I always wanted to be the best player. When I played with my sister, I wanted to be better than her, even though I was much younger,” he said in an interview with ATP.
That born competition made him aim high from a young age, to the point that his model was not a particular player, but the number one in the world. “My first idol was Rafael Nadalbut ever since it fell to number two in the world, it has been Roger Federer“he counted.
His ambition and great talent caught the attention of Patrick Mouratoglouformer coach of Serena Williamswho added him to his academy in 2016 and remains one of his coaches.
With the trainer The Frenchman began to develop his tennis and ended up becoming a powerhouse on the junior’s circuit ITF. He became world number one in that category in October 2019, months after winning the junior title of Roland Garros. And at the age of 16 he began to venture into the professional circuits.
After a short time in the ITF World Tour and in the challenger-tour, arrived at the ATP making a lot of noise, as one of the biggest promises of recent years. But in his early days he was at the center of some criticism after receiving many invitations to ATP tournaments, as happened last year, when at 18 and being the 406th in the world he received an invitation to play in Buenos Aires, which for many could they were for an Argentine racketeer.
He turned a deaf ear to the reprimands and took advantage of every opportunity he had to make his way up to the highest level.
The leap into the elite
In 2021, Rune won four challenger trophies (Biella, San Marino, Verona and Bergamo), being the third youngest to reach that amount, behind Riccardo Gasquet (7) and Thomas Berdych (5).
Additionally, he played his first draws at the ATP level (the Buenos Aires tournament marked his debut) and also qualified for his first main drawing Grand Slam in New York. So he finished the year in 103rd place in the ranking. And in 2022 he definitely took off his “promised” backpack and was one of the best players of the season.
With the aim of the number one always present and aware of his tennis potential, physical and mental, the Dane he wasn’t afraid to push his body to the limit not to miss any race weeks and get the most out of the calendar.
In February he played three tournaments in three weeks, on two different surfaces and covering more than 22 thousand kilometers in 12 days.
It was first introduced into the brick dust of Buenos Aires (he was invited once again and fell in the first round), then he went to France to play Marseille on hard (lost in the round of 16) and returned to South America, where he was eliminated on his debut in Santiago de Chileeven on a slow field.
A few months later, after being excluded from the ranking of You love mewas noted in Challenger SanremoItaly, where on Saturday 9 April he ended up shouting champion by winning a final that lasted more than three hours and ended after 14:00.
After the awards ceremony, he drove to Munich, where he was classified on the same day Montecarlo. Four hours after lifting the trophy in the Italian competition, he made his debut with the victory in the quality of the third Master 1.000 of the season. He ended up entering the main draw, where he moved on to the second round and lost Casper Ruud.
At the beginning of May he gave his first blow on the brick dust of Monk. There he eliminated the German in the second round alexander zverevthen third in the standings, where it was his first win against a top 10. And he ended the week celebrating his first ATP title.
He was once again the protagonist of a tournament a Roland Garroswhere he surprised the Greek in the round of 16 Stefanos Tsitsipasnumber four in the world, and greeted himself in the quarter-finals, again against Ruud, in a match in which he had a reprehensible attitude.
In a hot moment, when he didn’t find a way to annoy the Norwegian, he discharged his anger against his mother Anekepresent in the stands, which seemed to throw out of the stadium screaming.
“I love my mother very much and I have not kicked her out. When I am frustrated I need to be left: I cannot listen to my mother and my coach. She knows how to give me peace,” he said then assured.
“I really feel this sport, I have a lot of passion and sometimes I show it too much. I am 19 and still young. I work every day to get the positive out of my attitude and that’s a process. Federer, when he was young, was 40 times worse than me and is one of the most loved players on the tour, so, like him, I think I have a lot of time to improve my image. “
three dream weeks
In early October, Rune played the second final of his career in Sofia, Bulgaria, which allowed him to enter the top 30 for the first time. With the ability to continue climbing positions, a challenging program for the closure of 2022. E played three tournaments again in three consecutive weekswith extraordinary results.
On October 17 he shouted to the champion Stockholm, beating Tsitsipas in the final. Seven days later he played the final basel, in which he fell against the Canadian Auger-Aliassime. And on Sunday he made a name for himself in Paris, with a three-set victory against Djokovic, which allowed him to make history. In the last three weeks he has won 15 of the 16 games he has played.
“It’s really amazing to have this trophy in my hands. It’s kind of a little dream come true, even though I have bigger dreams. It’s a good step to make them come true. I’m super happy,” commented Rune, the amazing Danish talent, who he has already made history with his racket, but he is not satisfied and aims high.
Source: Clarin
