Nhe doesn’t want to compare himself to “007” and its attitude. He’s been a fan of the character and actor Daniel Craig for quite a while. “But I’m not as cocky as Bond. Really, I’m very relaxed outside of the tennis courts,” says Holger Rune. At the beginning of the week, the 19-year-old shooting star of the tennis world was sitting not far from the press center of the BMW Open at the Aumeister in Munich and smiled mischievously. The Dane landed a few hours earlier, but he takes the time to talk about his image.
On the Côte d’Azur in Monaco he had reached his second Masters final. Unlike at the end of the year, when he superbly defeated Novak Djokovic in Paris, in the final against Andrei Rublew it was just not enough for the next major success. In Munich he reached a career high with seventh place in the world rankings and more than lived up to his new role as favourite.
In a dramatic final, the top seed defeated the in-form Botic van de Zandschulp in the repeat of last year’s final, even after a break deficit and defense of three match points in the tie-break of the deciding set. Rune defended his title from last year. It was in Munich that Rune made his international breakthrough.
His attitude on the pitch is discussed at least as much as his outstanding technical, tactical and mental abilities. Is he really a new villain of the tennis world? And is that bad? In conversation, he radiates the opposite. During his quarter-final defeat at the French Open last year against Casper Ruud, there was an intense phase of verbal gaffes on the pitch that prompted his mother to leave the court.
A subsequent war of words in the dressing room with Ruud, which was continued in front of media representatives, is guaranteed. There have already been discussions with Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka and in the quarter-finals in Monaco against the Italian Jannik Sinner, who is clearly favored by home fans. He responded to whistles and boos from the heated audience several times with a hand-to-ear gesture. The referee’s mediation attempts did not change that. In addition to the Medvedev-Zverev dispute about the idea of fair play, it was one of the hotly debated events.
Convert negative emotions into energy
“I’m different on the pitch. I also think it’s because I’m so passionate about what I do,” says Rune, faced with it. It is completely normal that fans are for the local heroes. “Either you accept that and then it gets tough, or you fight it,” says Rune. After losing the first set, he had to find a solution for himself to get back into the match. “And through the gestures and the energy that came from them, I found her.” Rune won.
In the past twelve months he has increasingly succeeded in converting negative emotions into energy for a better game. This applies to selected matches such as the difficult encounter with the Sinner fans. “But I play the majority of matches better when I’m calmer and show positive energy.” In personal conversations, the Dane doesn’t even come close to the emotional way that can characterize him on the courts. One point seems important to him: how tennis can win new fans.
“fans love this”
“You can’t have 100 players in the top 100 in the world rankings and they’re all best friends. There will always be encounters like mine or between Medvedev and Zverev. It would certainly be easier for us if we dealt with the pressure on the pitch ourselves. But for the public, for the fans, it’s cool to have these personalities where things happen and where emotions come out. That needs to happen more often and is better than just having players returning the ball. Fans love that.”
For Rune, that doesn’t amount to villain behavior. It is, at least up to a certain point, a positive thing for this sometimes backward sport. “It can’t get loud enough in tennis stadiums,” says Rune, comparing it to basketball and soccer games he’s attended. “The fans are making noise and enjoying music and their emotions and yet the players were so focused. In tennis, everyone would stop and say, ‘What’s up?’”
Together with the US Open winner Carlos Alcaraz of the same age, Rune is the face of the generation after Nadal and Djokovic, after Zverev and Medvedev, both in terms of play and marketing. Above all, physically, the superhuman-looking Alcaraz Rune, who often had problems with cramps, is ahead. At Grand Slams, that was a crucial advantage.
Rune worked with specialists, underwent “blood and other tests” to “see what my body needs to prevent this.” He is now on a completely different level and wants to attack at Grand Slam level. “My goal is and remains to be number one in the world this year.”
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