Holger Rune Insists Change In His Game Not Needed To Reach Top Of Tennis
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Holger Rune has not made the progress that some expected in the last few years, but the Dane thinks he can improve without making wholesale changes to his playing style.
When Rune won the 2022 ATP Paris Masters with a stunning victory in the final against Novak Djokovic, his career achievements were superior to those of Jannik Sinner. He is also younger than the Italian.
At that point, many wondered whether Rune could be the most significant challenger to Carlos Alcaraz as the next big star in tennis and win multiple Grand Slams as a young player, as Alcaraz has done.
Instead, Sinner and Alcaraz have moved ahead of Rune, winning three Grand Slams each since Rune claimed his sole Masters 1000 to date in Paris. That included Sinner's 2025 Australian Open triumph, in which he beat Alexander Zverev in the final.
However, that has not made Rune consider making significant adaptations to his game. Speaking ahead of Denmark's Davis Cup tie against Serbia, the 21-year-old said he wants to emulate Zverev.
"It's not like I need to change everything in my game. You look at someone like Alexander Zverev and he is someone who has improved a lot lately. Before his injury, he was top five consistently but he has improved again recently and will be a big contender for the Grand Slams this year."
"That's what I want to do as well now. My next step is not to win a particular tournament. It's just to maximize my potential and I believe if I can do that, I can win big matches and win Grand Slams."
Although Rune does not think his game needs wholesale changes, last year's Brisbane International runner-up acknowledges that he failed to work as he should have for 18 months after winning the Paris Masters.
However, the Dane is now doing the right things off the court and does not want to dwell on what happened in the past. Rune also admitted he faced much pressure after beating Djokovic in the Paris Masters final.
"The last couple of years have been good and challenging and good in many ways. It all happened very quickly for me with that win in Paris and that was nice but it was stressful in some moments, especially when I started playing badly at the end of 2023."
"Now I am back on a better path and improving. I'm not looking too much at what happened in the past, but more at what is happening now and in the future as that's what I can control."
"You can say there was a lot of pressure after I won a big tournament and beat Djokovic in the final or you can view it a different way and say it's amazing that people believe in me and have high expectations for me to be a great player. I have always believed in myself, but over the last one-and-a-half years, I haven't put the right work in. Now that I am putting the right work in I hope the rewards will come."
Denmark's chances of defeating Serbia and progressing to the next round of Davis Cup qualifying were improved by Novak Djokovic withdrawing because of the injury he sustained at the Australian Open.
