“It is not unrealistic,” Patrick Mouratoglou analyzes Holger Rune’s chances to become World No. 1 in 2023
Patrick Mouratoglou speaks about the abilities and challenges of his player-Holger Rune.
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Patrick Mouratoglou with Holger Rune
Patrick Mouratoglou, the new addition to the coaching team of the Danish 19-year-old Holger Rune has analyzed the chances of his player becoming reaching new heights and even becoming the World Number 1 in 2023. Current world No.11 has just had a remarkable season in which he won 3 titles including an ATP-1000 Masters in Paris.
In a recent interview, he talked about how setting clear goals make his player better than making him pressurized, “I think everything is realistic. I think if you set limits for yourself, you’re not going to get past them anyway, so he’s absolutely right to set high goals for himself. It works for him.
There is no shame in having great ambitions. Holger aims high all the time, but that’s also why he is capable of doing great things. He doesn’t necessarily set many limits for himself, and if he fulfills his goals, that’s great.”
Continuing his train of thought, he touches upon how handling the pressure works for the Danish, “If he doesn’t make it, that’s okay. He’ll put it off for six months, a year, two years, three years, as long as it takes for him to get there.
I think that depending on your personality, you can experience ambitions as pressure or, on the contrary, as something that will motivate you enormously. He’s someone who likes a challenge, Holger, so I think it makes him feel good”.
World No. 1 next year, is that realistic? Why not. When you can do what he did, anything is possible. Now, it’s going to require him to be able to perform as he did in Bercy [at the Paris Masters], all year long, and especially in the Grand Slams and in the Masters 1000, where it counts the most“
He continued upon how difficult it is to reach the heights as well. As quoted by him, “So it’s not going to be easy, obviously, but if it were easy to be the best in the world, we’d know already. Is that realistic? It’s not unrealistic. It will be extremely difficult, but it is not unrealistic.” (Source: Eurosport)
Holger Rune will be looking to take off from where he left last season
Hoger Rune‘s meteoric rise reached new heights when the 19-years old made an impressive comeback to defeat Novak Djokovic in the finals of the 2022 Paris Masters. However, before his incredible Parisian run, the up-and-rising Danish showcased a phenomenal form in other important tournaments.
He won the title in the Stockholm Open beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in straights. Then he reached the finals in the Basel Open before losing to Felix Auger Aliassime. After that, he started the 2022 Paris Masters tournament ranked as World No.18.
The first-round victory over Stan Wawrinka was the tightest match he had to deal with as he was merely one point away from losing in the first round of the tournament and that too without winning a set. He had to save two match points trailing 15-40 4-5 in the second set. The second-round victory was against Hubert Hurkacz, then came Andrey Rublev in the third round.
His quarter-final victory was against the Spanish World No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, which again defied the odds. The semi-final victory against Felix Auger Aliassime (6-4,6-2) is even more special since the latter was on a 16-match winning streak, including a victory over Carlos Alcaraz.
In the finals, he out clutched the Serbian Great Novak Djokovic in one of the most thrilling matches of the season that ended in 3 sets after 2 hours and 34 minutes (3-6,6-3,7-5). The victory outlined the mental toughness of the Dane where he saved 10 out of the 12 break points against one of the best returners of the game.
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