“Novak Djokovic was very surprised” Holger Rune discloses how he earned the Serbian’s respect and what advice he got in return
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Holger Rune and Novak Djokovic
Holger Rune is yet another exciting young talent on the Tour who has been unlucky with the rise of Carlos Alcaraz. While the teenager has not achieved feats like Carlos, he has been making good progress and is already Denmark’s no. 1 player on the ATP Tour.
Rune on the back of some amazing performances this week, has made his way into the finals of the 2022 Munich Open where he will play in his first-ever ATP singles finals. After defeating Jiri Lehecka in the first round, Rune caused the biggest upset of the tournament as he defeated top-seed and home favourite Alexander Zverev in straight-sets to claim his biggest career win so far. He then defeated Emil Ruusuvuori in the quarter-finals and then beat Oscar Otte in the semis to make the finals, all straight-set wins.
Ahead of his final in Munich, Rune was interviewed by Serbian journalist Sasa Ozmo for Tennis Majors where the teenager talked about drawing inspiration from World No. 1 Novak Djokovic against whom he played in the 1st round of the 2021 US Open where Rune took a set from the Serbian in the tie-breaker before Novak won the match in 4-sets against a cramping Holger.
“After we played at the US Open, he was very surprised that I did not retire due to cramps. I definitely think that I earned his respect that night and I am very happy for that because it is not easy to get it – Novak is the best in the world, which goes hand in hand with certain standards.
“We spoke a lot about the mental aspect of the game. He is also a human being, although he does not seem like a human when he plays sometimes. He has his feelings, just like any other person, but chooses to go the right way. Those are details, he told me to be patient and to take the long way, and that it is going to be all right,” told Rune to Ozmo during the interview.
History on the line for Holger Rune in Munich
Having celebrated his 19th birthday with a quarter-final win over Russuvuori and there is a lot at stake for Rune in Sunday’s finals. If he is able to win the title, he will become the third-youngest ATP Tour champion in Open Era only behind Guillermo Perez-Roldan who won his first title at age 17 and later defended it successfully. Stopping him will be Botic van de Zandschulp who has also reached his first-ever Tour level finals.
Also Read: “I’m sorry” Alexander Zverev breaks down and apologizes for his ‘worst’ performance in years
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Sarthak Shitole
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