“My aim is to win as many grand slams as possible and be No 1 in the world,” Holger Rune says with cool assurance on a stinking hot day in Cincinnati. “It’s very, very clear for me and it’s always been like that since I was a child.”
The 22-year-old Dane is the world No 11 and he has reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon and, on two occasions, the French Open. As the US Open approaches, he has yet to make the semi-finals of a grand slam but his bold ambition seems more concrete when his impressive record against the best two players in the world is remembered. Rune has played Carlos Alcaraz four times, winning twice, including a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory in their most recent encounter, four months ago in the final of the Barcelona Open. He has also beaten Jannik Sinner twice in their five matches against each other.
Rune is easy to interview and open to analysing his challenges – which he argues are primarily mental. “It starts with the brain, with knowing when you play well or, when you turn the match, why it happened so you can do it again and it doesn’t just happen by coincidence. I’m a good tennis player so of course I’m going to have good weeks. But it’s about trying to put them together – not just a few times but week after week.”
As part of his new strategy Rune met Andre Agassi last month. Agassi is a great former world No 1 who won each of the four grand slam tournaments and eight in total. The 55-year-old American is an unconventional and deep thinker whose love-hate relationship with tennis could not dull his tactical acumen. It’s an intriguing move by Rune. He is working again with Christensen, who coached him as a junior and at different stages of his senior career, but his five years on tour have been marked by constant tinkering.
Rune has also been coached by Patrick Mouratoglou, who worked successfully with Serena Williams, and Boris Becker, winner of six grand slams as a player. There is no suggestion that Agassi will become his coach and, instead, an informal relationship seems to be helping Rune. They worked together for three days in Washington DC and, since then, Agassi and Rune have spoken or messaged each other before or after his matches.
“It was my idea,” Rune says. “I reached out to him after the French Open and thought it would be really interesting to hear his point of view on my game. We spoke on the phone for a long time and decided to do a couple of days together in DC. He sees tennis in a very unique way and had some good info on my game. We had a long dinner and the way he explained things made it simple for me to see what I can do better.
“He’s such a legend with a deep understanding of tennis and how to win. So for him to share that with me was amazing. We’re still in touch and speak after my matches on the phone and it helps to hear his thoughts.”
Does Agassi believe Rune is a future grand slam winner? “Yes. He made that very clear. He knows all my goals and said they are very achievable. But it’s more important to make it happen than just hearing it. Belief is the most important word. I believe I can do it and, I’m sure, in time I’ll make it.”
Alcaraz was born six days after Rune, in May 2003, while Sinner is two years older at 24. The Spaniard has won five slams, the first the 2022 US Open, and the Italian has four to his name, starting with last year’s Australian Open. “Carlos is by far the one doing it the fastest. When Jannik won his first slam he was my age now – 22. So I have a little more time to try and do the same. He’s always been an amazing player. It’s not like he just did something crazy all of a sudden. He was working very consistently, very hard. And then great things happen because he has the tennis and the physicality. So he shows that it’s about trusting the process, believing, optimising and making it happen.”
Who is more difficult to beat – Sinner or Alcaraz? “I always found it more comfortable playing Jannik because he’s giving more rhythm, playing more the same shots. With Carlos there’s so much variety. You give him one opportunity and he’s going to either drop shot you or punch you down the line or something different. It’s unpredictable, which makes it more difficult. But Jannik’s lower level is higher because Carlos sometimes can mis-hit some balls. But then I think Carlos’s top game is a little bit higher than Jannik’s so they’re really equal.”
Rune is friendly with both but particularly Alcaraz as, when they were 12, they became double partners in a junior tournament and reached the semi-finals. “He’s always been a nice guy,” Rune says, “and we’re good friends now.”
The threats are made by “people betting on the matches and it’s just not nice. People threatening you and your family and talking very direct things is really uncomfortable. It’s one thing that’s really bad about social media … [and] it’s dangerous in some ways.”
Having reached the final at Indian Wells in March, where he lost to Jack Draper, the rest of 2025 has been patchy. But who else has the potential to challenge the Alcaraz-Sinner duopoly? “That’s a great question. I wouldn’t have thought much about that. I want to see how Arthur Fils develops because he has a great forehand, great backhand, great physique.” The 21-year-old Frenchman has withdrawn from the US Open with a stress fracture in his back. “He has many elements to his game and I’m curious to see how he’s going to do but otherwise I don’t know for the moment.”
What about Draper, the world No 5 who reached the US Open semi-finals last year? “He has a great game but I don’t want to say like, oh, he can or he cannot, because everything is possible. But it’s tough because if you want to win a slam you might have to beat both Jannik and Carlos and maybe Novak and he’s still playing well in big tournaments. It’s tough.”
Rune’s first US Open match, in 2021, was against Djokovic. But, even at 18, he did not look intimidated and won the second set. “Maybe I knew I could win,” he says with a grin. “Obviously I was crazy nervous because it was my first time in a big stadium and then playing maybe the greatest of all time. That was nerve-racking but so exciting. In the first set I was shaking a little but after I won the second I was believing straightaway: ‘OK, I can beat this guy.’ But my physicality was not great back then. I started to cramp and all the emotion and stress from qualifying didn’t help. But it was amazing to get a sense of that level so early in my career.”
He has suffered further first-round defeats in his two most recent US Open appearances. “I’ve not played very well the last few years in New York,” Rune admits as attention returns to his recurring grand slam aspirations. “But it’s a tournament I always wanted to win and I still want to win. I’m ready to do a lot better.”
