Rune Aiming To Do 'Everything To Get Djokovic Out Of There' Amid Continued Dominance

Monday, 08 January 2024 at 18:00

byZachary Wimer

Holger Rune is one of many tennis players who want to dethrone Novak Djokovic and will try everything to get it done.

Rune, unlike many of his colleagues on the ATP Tour, actually bested Djokovic before. The Danish player actually beat Djokovic twice in his career, which not many tennis players managed to accomplish.

Funnily enough, the young Dane has more wins against the 24-time Grand Slam champion than he has against Grigor Dimitrov. The Bulgarian is apparently just too tough for him.

It happened more than once with Djokovic, which is fascinating because Djokovic generally has no issues against young players who lack experience. Rune's aggressive style gives him some issues, and that's the point.

Rune brings so much passion to the court; his playstyle is the perfect style he's supposed to play to be great. That passion burns strong as he wants to dethrone Djokovic as world number one, believing he can do it, as he revealed in a recent interview with iNews.

We’ve got to step up. We’ve got to do it not just one time but more regularly because I beat him [in 2023], [Jannik] Sinner beat him, but he is still winning three out of four grand slams and maybe he almost won Wimbledon also. So we’re not there yet. We need to be there and do everything we can to get him out of there.

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Rune makes a fair point. Djokovic is getting beaten easier than before, but not where it counts. When it comes to the biggest events, the Serbian still finds a way. Take the Jannik Sinner example.

He beat Djokovic at the ATP Finals in the Group Stage but then lost in the final match, and that's what Rune is talking about. Rune is among those who could do it, but he'll need to do better than he has so far. In the words of Rune, it's a lot of work, but it's work he's willing to do to get it done.

I know it’s going to take a lot of work and I’ve been doing my work in the pre-season so far, and been really, really willing to improve. I think that’s the most important, go outside my comfort zone to achieve some things that I haven’t achieved before.