Roland-Garros 2023 – Is Holger Rune really ready? “He will be a great player one day”

It was a year ago. Holger Rune, 19 for a few weeks, is still a “nobody”. Promising, certainly, but a “nobody”. Until Roland-Garros 2022 when he signs his major birth certificate by leaving Stefanos Tsitsipas in the round of 16. In the aftermath, the Dane who is not afraid to claim that his ambition is to become world number one. Just that. Some took him for a madman, others suggested he relax a bit by confusing a deep-seated belief in him with arrogance.

For twelve months, he has given credibility to his ambition. He will play his second Grand Slam quarter-final against Casper Ruud on Wednesday. He won his first Masters 1000, beating Novak Djokovic for the title and played in two other finals. Here he is at the gates of the Top 5, which he will be sure to join next Monday in the event of success against his Nordic neighbor.

On the evening of his coronation at Bercy last November, he reiterated his desire to come to power one day, and if possible sooner than later. “This is my goal, I want to become world number one. Why not next year?“, he had launched with his smile a bit carnivorous. “Me, I like people who clearly display their ambitions, who are not in the language of wood, the national sport in tennis, his trainer Patrick Mouratoglou told us about it. I find it tiring that people pretend they have no ambition. After all, it’s a personal judgement. Holger has always expressed his own. I find it good. There is nothing to be ashamed of.“

There is certainly no shame, no, provided that the display aloud of such ambition is accompanied by the necessary lucidity on the path to be traveled. But in this area, Rune is much more humble than the received idea that he conveys even reluctantly might lead one to think.

“No, I don’t feel much closer to being number one today than I did a year ago.he assured Monday. There’s a long way to go, even in terms of points, if you look at the standings. I’m going to do everything I can and of course I’m convinced I can do it, but there’s still a very, very long way to go before I get to that. The higher you go in the rankings, the more difficult it becomes. So I will have to always play better. And I think, if I want to become number one in the world, I have to be able to win Grand Slams, which I have never done before.“

He has an opportunity to do it here at Roland-Garros since he is still in contention. But is he ready enough to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires on Sunday on the Chatrier? “Everything in its times, he said after his grueling victory against Francisco Cerundolo on Monday. The rest will be even harder and if I want to come out on top in my next match, there are a lot of things I will have to do better.“

“He is already very strong and I think he will win Grand Slams because he has this ability to bring out his best tennis in the most important moments., reports for his part Mats Wilander. Tactically, he is already very mature, mentally tooi.” To this day, he sees only one limit: a form of constancy. “I sometimes have the impression that, from time to time, he wanders a little, his concentration escapes. If you compare with someone like Carlos Alcaraz, I don’t see in the Spaniard this kind of moments of bewilderment.”

Faced with the vast majority of players, these small voltage swings do not harm him. But in a home stretch of Grand Slam, where the degree of requirement approaches the limit, they can cost him dearly. This is why Wilander still refuses to hoist it in the same category as an Alcaraz, summing up his thoughts with one sentence: “Rune will be a great player one dayThe fact remains that the boy crosses the various levels that separate him from the summit at such a speed that this day could arrive sooner than expected. From Sunday?