Denmark’s Holger Rune needs to work on maintaining his concentration during matches but still has the ability to win Grand Slam titles in the future, according to Mats Wilander.
Rune sealed his place in the quarter-finals of the French Open on Monday after coming through a roller-coaster five-set battle against Francisco Cerundolo. The world No.6 struggled with his consistency in the match as he produced 48 unforced errors and also appeared lethargic during certain stages. Despite the patchy play, he battled to a 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(10-7), victory.
Reacting to Rune’s latest victory in Paris, Wilander has described the 20-year-old as ‘very mature on the court.’ It is the second year in a row that he has reached the last eight of the French Open but he is yet to reach this stage at any other Grand Slam. On the ATP Tour, he has won four ATP titles with the most prestigious of those being at last year’s Paris Masters.
“I’m very impressed with his problem solving skills for sure,” Wilander told Eurosport.
“Obviously you’re always a little bit concerned when you’re playing a five setter in this, at this time of the tournament, especially losing the fourth set, 6-1. It’s a bit worrying.
“But at the same time, he kind of lets that set go. So he’s very mature in terms of the tactics in a tennis match, mentally, he’s very mature, but I feel like he might be losing his concentration here and there.”
Despite his criticism, seven-time major winner Wilander still believes Rune can become a multiple Grand Slam champion. Denmark has never had a Grand Slam singles champion in the history of men’s tennis.
“But then I’m comparing him with Carlos Alcaraz who doesn’t seem to lose concentration that much. So Rune is going to be a great player one day,” he continued.
“He’s already really good and I think he’s going to win Grand Slam tournaments because he’s got this ability to switch on and switch off a little bit – and he comes back and plays his best tennis nearly always when it means the most.”
Rune will next play Casper Ruud who defeated Nicolas Jarry in straight sets in his fourth round match. Coincidentally the two also faced off against each other in the quarter-finals of the same tournament last year in what was a tense encounter. After that match, Rune accused his opponent of excessively celebrating in the locker room and shouting ‘ja’ in his direction. An accusation that Ruud denied doing.
However, this time round Rune is hoping that there will be less tension between the two.
“There was drama last year and I hope we can make less drama this year. We played each other in Rome. It was a good match,” he said.
“He’s a good player. I respect him. There’s no problem. We’re good. Should be a match without problems, hopefully. I’m just looking forward to it.”
Rune is only the second Danish man in history to reach at least the quarter-final stage of a Grand Slam on multiple occasions. The first to do so was Kurt Nielsen who reached the benchmark four times during the 1950s.
