Holger Rune, who is currently recovering from his Achilles injury after undergoing surgery, has recently revealed a period in his life when he felt down despite achieving the highest success. The World No. 16 was last seen in action at the semifinals of the Stockholm Open and has also reflected on the current elite players of the ATP, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Holger Rune Sheds Light on His Dreadful Stage and on the Emergence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner
Rune began his 2025 season with the Australian Open and delivered impressive performances in many tournaments. He reached the final round of the Indian Wells Masters, won the Barcelona Open, and advanced to the quarterfinals of the HSBC Championships, the Cincinnati Masters, the Japan Open, and the Shanghai Masters.
During his recent appearance on Andy Roddick’s podcast, “Served with Andy Roddick,” the Danish star reflected on his development as a player, among other things, and on Alcaraz and Sinner, who are currently dominating the men’s tennis landscape.
Rune shared, “I just say it’s a bit of both. It’s both motivating and it can also be frustrating but again you know, I just try to focus on my own path. I think, when I’m ready and when everything is worked on well enough, then my time will come, and I think everybody goes in their own pace.”
He added, “Carlos was extremely early when he not just broke through, but started to win grand slams. He was 19. Jannik was a bit later.”
While continuing, Rune shared that reaching World No. 4, his highest ranking to date, was not a joyful period of his life, as he lacked in multiple facets of his professional career, including coaching, structure, and sound advice.
He went on to share, “I was, I mean, I haven’t won a grand slam yet, but I was a bit different. I obviously won Paris when I was really young, and then I had a little step back, and I think when I reached my career high, actually, it was possibly the worst moment of my life with everything.”
In his 2022 season, at the age of 19, Rune had clinched one of the biggest wins of his career when he defeated Serbian-Greek legend Novak Djokovic in the finals of the ATP Masters 1000 Paris to secure his third title of the season. He had earlier also won titles at Stockholm and Munich.
READ MORE: Holger Rune Explains Why Another Grand Slam Success Is Not ‘Impossible’ for Novak Djokovic
Furthermore, Rune revealed the reasons, highlighting that he had to transition during that period, which included taking responsibility and managing his career. He said:
“So, it was really a weird moment. Because I had no really structure on my life in this moment with first of all with the coaching situation as you know everybody knows and then with training and different opinions and it was kind of the first time where I really had to in a way grow up and and kind of take my own decisions and be aware of everything else. Before that it was just like I was on the court loving it, just listening to my coaches saying yes and no you know it was very very simple.”
Rune, who is recovering from an Achilles injury sustained in his semifinal at the Stockholm Open against Ugo Humbert on October 18, 2025, is focusing on a full recovery, which could take up to 6 to 12 months.
