Holger Rune has earned his right to be regarded as one of the brightest stars of men’s tennis but he needs to stop looking for distractions in his matches, according to Australian doubles great Todd Woodbridge.
The 19-year-old Dane is currently ranked seventh in the world and is the second-youngest player in the top 10 after Carlos Alcaraz. Despite his young age, Rune has already claimed a quartet of Tour titles with his most prestigious being at the 2022 Paris Masters. Last year he reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the French Open. The former world No.1 junior has also recorded 11 wins over top-10 players and ended last season by winning 19 out of 21 matches played.
Rune’s latest tournament saw him crash out in the third round of the Madrid Open to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in what was a highly animated encounter. He had to contend with booing from the Spanish crowd who was displeased with him rubbing out a mark on the court which Fokina was questioning during a conversation with the tournament supervisor. All calls at this year’s Madrid Open are determined by a line calling system. Rune later said his decision to rub the mark out was because a computer call can’t be overruled.
It is not the first incident that he has found himself in a tricky situation with the crowd but most of the time appears not to be bothered by it. This has led to 22-time Grand Slam champion Woodbridge comparing him to another familiar face on the Tour, as well as a former world No.1.
“In essence, he’s taken over the role of Nick Kyrgios in this generation,” Woodbridge told the Australian Open website, “but he has this competitiveness and win-at-all-costs attitude, which is what Lleyton Hewitt had so much of.”
Woodbridge says Rune is part of the ‘New Three’ in men’s tennis alongside Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. However, he believes there are still areas of his game he needs to work on.
“He looks for distraction in matches by antagonising his opponent. And at this point, it’s often to his detriment. He’s going to have to learn to contain that better, because I think he makes it harder for himself sometimes,” Woodbridge commented.
“(In the Roland Garros quarters last year) he annoyed Casper Ruud, and Ruud was flawless because of it. So that was a match he lost because of his behaviour, and some immaturity on his behalf in handling that big occasion.”
Describing the teenager as a ‘target’ on the Tour due to his success, Woodbridge believes he will need to continue developing his game to maintain his competitive advantage over those who will become more familiar with his game.
“It’s going to be about learning what his game style is, and how good he is tactically at implementing that as he progresses, because as we know, after 12 to 18 months, the tour starts to get the play-book on how to beat someone,” he continued.
“He is going to have to start making those adjustments, because he is a targeted player now.”
Out of the New Three contingent, Rune is the only player to have perfect winning records against Stefanos Tsitsipas (2-0), Alexander Zverev (1-0) and Daniil Medvedev (1-0). As it currently stands, he will be seeded seventh at next week’s Italian Open.
