Holger Rune Must Deal With Inconsistency And Find Identity Says Former World No. 1
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Holger Rune must find an identity on the tennis court to fulfill his potential, according to former ATP World No. 1 Andy Roddick.
The young Dane was once named as a member of the "future Big Three" alongside Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. He has shown incredible potential early on in his career, but unlike his two young rivals, he has yet to fully reach it.
Alcaraz is a former World No. 1 and a four-time Grand Slam champion, while Sinner currently leads the ATP Rankings and has two major titles to his name.
Rune, in comparison, has won four Tour-level titles in his career, one of which is an ATP Masters 1000 trophy. It was that run at the 2022 Paris Masters that showed all of his potential.
Since then, however, Rune has struggled a lot, mostly with his coaching box. It seemed that the 21-year-old couldn't really decide who should be his coach, but that period should now be over.
Rune is aware of the past mistakes made, and he wants to continue improving as a player, which he can certainly do. On a recent episode of the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Roddick spoke about the young Dane, comparing him to the other two young stars.
"Alcaraz and Sinner are seemingly going to be all-time greats, and Holger Rune is still trying to find, one, a coach that he can have a relationship with for more than four or five months at a time."
At the same time, Roddick recognized that, at the moment, Rune lacks a bit of an identity as a player. While he can play sensational tennis, he can also struggle a lot, which his winning and losing streaks show.
According to Roddick, that could be tied to the lack of stability in his coaching box, which Rune now hopes to have solved, understanding it was an issue.
"Also, an identity as a player, he feels like peaks and valleys. Sometimes he’s playing defensively, sometimes offensively – it seems like he’s looking to his box for guidance."
Speaking about the young Dane, Roddick highlighted how much potential Rune really has. In 2022, Novak Djokovic was close to the peak of his powers, as he went on to win three out of four majors in 2023.
Still, Rune was able to beat him in the final of the Paris Masters, which is a tournament in which Djokovic has dominated throughout his tennis career.
"Jim Courier has said this: his strategy changes day to day. There’s so much raw potential, that’s obvious, but simultaneously, it still feels like he’s searching at this moment in time."
"He’s beaten the best players in the world, including Novak Djokovic, a couple of times when Djokovic was at his best. So, a lot to like with Holger Rune, but also a lot of inconsistency."
In 2025, Rune will want to prove that he belongs to the top, and he won't be starting too far off. He's ranked 13th in the world, and making it back to the Top 10 seems like a very achievable mission for the 21-year-old player.
