“My aim is to win as many grand slams as possible and be No 1 in the world,” Holger Rune says with cool assurance on a stinking hot day in Cincinnati. “It’s very, very clear for me and it’s always been like that since I was a child.”
The 22-year-old Dane is the world No 11 and he has reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and, on two occasions, the French Open. As the US Open approaches, he has yet to make the semi-finals of a grand slam but his bold ambition seems more concrete when his impressive record against the best two players in the world is remembered. Rune has played Carlos Alcaraz four times, winning twice, including a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory in their most recent encounter, four months ago in the final of the Barcelona Open. He has also beaten Jannik Sinner twice in their five matches against each other.
Rune was on course to face Sinner again in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open but, last Thursday, he suffered a straight-sets defeat against Térence Atmane. The French qualifier, whose ATP Tour record before Cincinnati featured one win in five matches this year, described his tournament as “pretty insane” because, before dispatching Rune, he also knocked out the world No 4, Taylor Fritz.
But Rune’s variable results against lower-ranked players continue. “My problem is not beating those guys,” he says of Alcaraz and Sinner. “My problem is being consistent in going deep in every tournament to get a chance to play them more often because I feel like that’s where I raise my level. It’s very clear that when Carlos and Jannik play each other they raise their level. You push each other like crazy and this is a very exciting element of the sport. So having a good head-to-head against them, and also in the beginning against Novak Djokovic when he was on top, makes me know I can do it. It’s just about delivering it consistently.”
Rune, who is as friendly off-court as he can be intense and combustible in matches, says, “There have been a few days where you’re like: ‘How is it going to be possible?’ But I’m so driven to find a way. I’m always thinking: ‘How can I achieve my goals? What can I do better?’”
He explains that, with his coach Lars Christensen, “we are trying to work really hard, but also really smart, to improve and stay really consistent. But that’s the most difficult part and basically only two players on tour right now are very consistent – Carlos and Jannik. Everybody else is losing early in tournaments here and there.”
Rune is easy to interview and open to analysing his challenges – which he argues are primarily mental. “It starts with the brain, with knowing when you play well or, when you turn the match, why it happened so you can do it again and it doesn’t just happen by coincidence. I’m a good tennis player so of course I’m going to have good weeks. But it’s about trying to put them together – not just a few times but week after week.”
As part of his new strategy Rune met Andre Agassi last month. Agassi is a great former world No 1 who won each of the four grand slam tournaments and eight in total. The 55-year-old American is an unconventional and deep thinker whose love-hate relationship with tennis could not dull his tactical acumen. It’s an intriguing move by Rune. He is working again with Christensen, who coached him as a junior and at different stages of his senior career, but his five years on tour have been marked by constant tinkering.
Rune has also been coached by Patrick Mouratoglou, who worked successfully with Serena Williams, and Boris Becker, winner of six grand slams as a player. There is no suggestion that Agassi will become his coach and, instead, an informal relationship seems to be helping Rune. They worked together for three days in Washington DC and, since then, Agassi and Rune have spoken or messaged each other before or after his matches.
“It was my idea,” Rune says. “I reached out to him after the French Open and thought it would be really interesting to hear his point of view on my game. We spoke on the phone for a long time and decided to do a couple of days together in DC. He sees tennis in a very unique way and had some good info on my game. We had a long dinner and the way he explained things made it simple for me to see what I can do better.
“He’s such a legend with a deep understanding of tennis and how to win. So for him to share that with me was amazing. We’re still in touch and speak after my matches on the phone and it helps to hear his thoughts.”
Does Agassi believe Rune is a future grand slam winner? “Yes. He made that very clear. He knows all my goals and said they are very achievable. But it’s more important to make it happen than just hearing it. Belief is the most important word. I believe I can do it and, I’m sure, in time I’ll make it.”
Alcaraz was born six days after Rune, in May 2003, while Sinner is two years older at 24. The Spaniard has won five slams, the first the 2022 US Open, and the Italian has four to his name, starting with last year’s Australian Open. “Carlos is by far the one doing it the fastest. When Jannik won his first slam he was my age now – 22. So I have a little more time to try and do the same. He’s always been an amazing player. It’s not like he just did something crazy all of a sudden. He was working very consistently, very hard. And then great things happen because he has the tennis and the physicality. So he shows that it’s about trusting the process, believing, optimising and making it happen.”
Who is more difficult to beat – Sinner or Alcaraz? “I always found it more comfortable playing Jannik because he’s giving more rhythm, playing more the same shots. With Carlos there’s so much variety. You give him one opportunity and he’s going to either drop shot you or punch you down the line or something different. It’s unpredictable, which makes it more difficult. But Jannik’s lower level is higher because Carlos sometimes can mis-hit some balls. But then I think Carlos’s top game is a little bit higher than Jannik’s so they’re really equal.”
Rune is friendly with both but particularly Alcaraz as, when they were 12, they became double partners in a junior tournament and reached the semi-finals. “He’s always been a nice guy,” Rune says, “and we’re good friends now.”
His defeat of Alcaraz in Barcelona deepened Rune’s belief. “Obviously I had some nerves but I was excited to play that match. The first set was a big battle. I had a few set points at 5-4 but I won a big tie-break and then I got more and more momentum and had a great second set. Beating Carlos in the final was an amazing feeling. The only annoying thing was I wasn’t consistently doing enough in the next tournament.”
His mother, Aneke, has followed every twist and turn. She is often at his side off-court and almost always in his box during matches. She sometimes looks in desperate need of another cigarette, as her desire to win seems to run as deep as her son’s. Rune smiles at that observation. “For sure. It’s been the whole project since I was six years old when I told her: ‘I want to win grand slams and be No 1 in the world.’ She was like: ‘OK, I will try to do everything for you so that’s possible.’”
Tennis remains an obscure sport in Denmark and he received little support from the national federation. “My mum luckily has her own [water cooler] company so this made it a little easier for her to take time off and travel. But tennis is very expensive and on the lower level you had to pay for your hotel and food. My mum and dad sacrificed their time, their money, their life for me. I feel like I owe them everything.”
How has his mother helped him most? “With my mindset. She’s basically the person that helped me get the killer instinct. She’s very demanding but in a good way and very supportive and very loving. I think this is what makes her a great parent – not just to be nice all the time but also to be honest.”
Life on tour can be hard and Rune says, almost casually, that he and other players receive death threats on social media “all the time. After every match you lose that, on paper, you should have won, it happens”.
The threats are made by “people betting on the matches and it’s just not nice. People threatening you and your family and talking very direct things is really uncomfortable. It’s one thing that’s really bad about social media … [and] it’s dangerous in some ways.”
Having reached the final at Indian Wells in March, where he lost to Jack Draper, the rest of 2025 has been patchy. But who else has the potential to challenge the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly? “That’s a great question. I wouldn’t have thought much about that. I want to see how Arthur Fils develops because he has a great forehand, great backhand, great physique.” The 21-year-old Frenchman has withdrawn from the US Open with a stress fracture in his back. “He has many elements to his game and I’m curious to see how he’s going to do but otherwise I don’t know for the moment.”
What about Draper, the world No 5 who reached the US Open semi-finals last year? “He has a great game but I don’t want to say like, oh, he can or he cannot, because everything is possible. But it’s tough because if you want to win a slam you might have to beat both Jannik and Carlos and maybe Novak and he’s still playing well in big tournaments. It’s tough.”
Rune’s first US Open match, in 2021, was against Djokovic. But, even at 18, he did not look intimidated and won the second set. “Maybe I knew I could win,” he says with a grin. “Obviously I was crazy nervous because it was my first time in a big stadium and then playing maybe the greatest of all time. That was nerve-racking but so exciting. In the first set I was shaking a little but after I won the second I was believing straightaway: ‘OK, I can beat this guy.’ But my physicality was not great back then. I started to cramp and all the emotion and stress from qualifying didn’t help. But it was amazing to get a sense of that level so early in my career.”
He has suffered further first-round defeats in his two most recent US Open appearances. “I’ve not played very well the last few years in New York,” Rune admits as attention returns to his recurring grand slam aspirations. “But it’s a tournament I always wanted to win and I still want to win. I’m ready to do a lot better.”
