HOLGER RUNE ON CHASING A FIRST MAJOR, MEETING USAIN BOLT, THE POWER OF SELF-BELIEF, AND ‘DREAMS THAT SEEM UNREALISTIC FOR OTHERS’—EXCLUSIVE
Danish tennis prodigy Holger Rune’s quickness enabled him reach world No.4 before the age of 20.
He claims to be so quick that he wouldn’t mind competing in the 100-meter dash.
“In the off-season, I did a 100-meter run with running shoes and did around 12 seconds,” he tells Olympic.com in an exclusive interview. “So, I think I could do fairly well in that event.”
But Rune, 21, has chosen the sport he does, and his development in it has been as rapid as his movement on the court. At 19, he won the 2022 Paris Masters, defeating Novak Djokovic in a dramatic final after stunning five Top 10 players.
It was Rune’s first major appearance on the international tennis scene, and he did so by going head-to-head with one of the sport’s all-time greats. His confidence and unwavering self-belief are two qualities that have distinguished him.
“It’s truly always been in me,” he said of his belief during a video conversation from his training facility in Monaco last month.
“I don’t think there’s anything called ‘crazy’ in tennis… you have to believe in yourself and be a little crazy, he continued. You need enormous dreams that other people find unrealistic.
But I do believe in them. And the most crucial point is that it makes no difference what other people say because they will never attain it. I feel it is critical to dream big and have people that believe in and trust you.
Rune, seeded 13th in Roland-Garros 2024, has advanced to the quarter-finals of the last two French Opens, his first at the Parisian Grand Slam. He is expected to compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris on his favorite clay.
I don’t want to just enter the competition and be a tourist, he remarked, smiling. I want to do damage, of course.
PARIS, FRANCE: Holger Rune of Denmark celebrates with the winner’s trophy next to runner-up Novak Djokovic of Serbia following the final on Day Seven of the Rolex Paris Masters tennis tournament at Palais Omnisports de Bercy in November.
