A hothead: Holger Rune © ANSA / SEBASTIEN NOGIER
Jannik Sinner managed to switch from hard court to clay in no time. On the way to the quarterfinals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo, the 22-year-old only lost nine games. Now the level of difficulty increases, as the Sesto player faces Holger Rune, a player who has already beaten him twice.
12. April 2024
From: leo
Holger Rune is almost two years younger than Jannik Sinner, but celebrated his first major successes before the Sesto native. He won his first Masters 1000 tournament in Paris-Bercy in 2022, and in the following season he climbed to number 4 in the world rankings. However, the Danes’ rise stalled, while Sinner started to soar and triumphed in two Masters tournaments , became a Grand Slam winner and reached second place in the world rankings. Rune, on the other hand, is in danger of slipping out of the top 10 this week.
The soon-to-be 21-year-old is known not only for his hot-blooded nature and fantastic tennis, but also for his coaching skills. Last year, the Dane ended his collaboration with the well-known coach Patrick Mouratoglu (he had already looked after Serena Williams and Simon Halep) and brought Boris Becker to his side. Severin Lüthi, Roger Federer’s former coach, also joined Team Rune at the end of the year. Both the German and the Swiss quickly left. And what did the Dane and his mother Aneke, who as manager pulls the strings behind the scenes, do? They quickly brought Mouratoglu back on board, which was met with incomprehension by many.
Waves have been smoothed out
In any case, Rune is a master of all trades and doesn’t shy away from any means on the tennis court. This has brought him one or two arguments, like with Stan Wawrinka in Paris-Bercy (“Don’t behave like a baby”), and not a good reputation. In last year’s Monte Carlo semi-final against Sinner, which Rune won 1:6, 7:5 and 7:5, there was a tense handshake at the end of the match after the Dane had hit the ball narrowly past Sesto several times. But now the relationship is good. Just last week, Rune wrote about Sinner’s triumph in Miami: “You are a great inspiration to me. You always work hard and have a lot of patience. “Very cool and deserved title,” congratulated the world number 7.
Faced each other in Monte Carlo last year: Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner © APA/afp / VALERY HACHE
Sinner’s only victory in this rivalry came at the 2023 ATP Finals, when he prevailed 6:2, 5:7 and 6:4. In the first duel at the ATP 250 tournament in Sofia, Simone Vagnozzi’s protégé gave up with scores of 7:5, 4:6 and 2:5. This year, however, the starting position is different: Sinner is the overwhelming favorite – not least because Rune had to win two games on Thursday. First he eliminated the Indian Summit Nagal (ATP 93) with 6:3, 3:6 and 6:2, then he had to fight for 3.31 hours to defeat Grigor Dimitrov with 7:6, 3:6 and 7:6 to show boundaries. Sinner, however, only needed 78 minutes for his victory over Jan-Lennard Struff (ATP 25). The match is scheduled for Friday at around 1 p.m.
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2024-04-12 06:35:19
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