“I can beat his Roland Garros record” Holger Rune aims to dethrone Rafael Nadal as ‘King of Clay
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Holger Rune and Rafael Nadal
18-year old Holger Rune has risen the hopes of Denmark to come ahead in tennis with the teenager rising quickly in ranks on the ATP Tour. Being ranked outside the Top-500 at the start of the 2021 season, he has broken into the Top-70 of the rankings already and looks to move further ahead with his gameplay.
Having turned Pro at the age of 16 in 2020, Rune had already made name for himself in tennis circles with his performances as a junior player. He is a student of the Patrick Mouratoglou Academy and had his biggest success for him came in the 2019 French Open when he defeated American Toby Alex Kodat in the finals to claim his first-ever Grand Slam title.
That year at the Roland Garros, in the men’s singles, it was yet another title victory for Rafael Nadal who claimed his French Open title number 12 and Grand Slam number 18. Having grown up as a fan of Roger Federer and Nadal, it was a big moment for Rune who had made a bold claim then.
“Nadal is really inspiring and so bold a character. I work every day to be able to be as good as him. I’m not at his level yet. There’s still some way to go, but I believe I can beat his record,” Holger had said speaking with Danish media TV 2 SPORT after clinching the French Open title in 2019 and looks to have made steady progress.
Holger Rune’s rise since the French Open victory
With a successful juniors campaign in 2019, Rune went Pro in 2020 and claimed his first title at an ITF organised M25 event in Switzerland. He closed the season with two more ITF titles having reached three finals. He started the 2021 season on a good note as well, claiming one title from the three finals he reached in ITF events.
With consistent results in Challenger tournaments and two quarter-final appearances on the ATP Tour at the 2021 Chile Open and the 2021 Moselle Open, Rune made the group stages of the 2021 ATP NextGen Finals as well. He closed the year as the World No. 103, a massive jump of 372 ranks from the start of the season.
He entered the 2022 Australian Open as the World No. 99 finally breaking into the Top-100. He entered the first quarter-finals of the season at the 2022 Munich Open when he defeated top-seed Alexander Zverev in straight-sets.
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Sarthak Shitole
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