The world of tennis was hallucinating with a young man with a backwards cap. With a brashness out of the ordinary, Holger Rune managed to beat the finalist of the french open. And Stefanos Tsisipas who gave in to the power and good work of a Dane who was getting his doctorate in a whole Philippe Chatrier.
Your great results
At Roland Garros he confirmed his good form, since, previously, he had just won his first ATP tournament. In the Bavarian capital, Holger lifted the title in a week to remember. On that occasion, he managed to beat another top ten in what, moreover, was his “home”. With a 6-3 6-2 he crushed an unrecognizable Alexander Zverev.
Training at the prestigious academy of Patrick Mouratoglou, the diamond was beginning to be polished, leaving aside the world of Challengers championships. A reality that was confirmed after his performance in the week before the second Grand Slam of the year. On Gallic soil, the 19-year-old tennis player was planted in a semifinal that he would lose to the one who would later be the champion. Single Cameron Norrie he was able to defeat him in a battle decided by small details.
Despite his title, the first to be lifted by a Dane since 2005 when Kenneth Carlsen won in Memphis, and his semifinal, the promise arrived in Paris without being the top seed, but knowing that nobody wanted him in the first round. Said and done, in his first match he would convincingly beat a madman Denis Shapovalov. Henri Laaksonen y Hugo Gaston it was his next victims who hardly bothered him.
After his epic victory against the Greek, training partner, the quarterfinals were something “big”. In a close and controversial match against one of the kings of clay, Rune could not achieve his dream in a tournament that, in principle, would serve to relaunch him in the ranking and give a blow to the table. We were seeing a mutation, the butterfly coming out of the chrysalis.
Who said it was easy?
However, after seeing his great qualities and his iron attitude, the path he has taken after what happened in the French capital has not been what we expected. Seven losses in a row at the first change.
We are not facing a crisis, since we all know how complex it is to go from brick dust to grass, but the moment in which it is, until now, its “element” is of concern. In Bastad, Hamburg and Umag, Holger has only won one set in disputes where, initially, he arrived with the favourite. It is not easy to digest the pressure and it shows in his game. With no spark on his feet, he must regain lost confidence.
We are facing a different player, with a great temperament, with increasing abilities and who works hard. Essential qualities to return, again, the course. It is not too late, because he maintains a good ranking to continue in the battle, but it is hard to know that you are not meeting expectations. Some signs that, to a certain extent, he has achieved after astonishing the viewer.
You will have to improve your performance to emulate some of your idols. Its irregularity suggests how complex it is to perform every week in the shark tank that is the men’s circuit.
We will get up from the chair to applaud him again and, if everything goes as usual, we will have some exciting duels against excellent players such as: Jannik Sinner, Carlitos Alcaraz, Sebastian Baez or Lorenzo Mussetti. Some realities that act to be and are, among other reasons, because in tennis, as in life, nothing is written
