Holger Rune close to realising his Olympic dream – ‘I am super excited’
Holger Rune has realised a lot of dreams in a short space of time and he is looking forward to achieving another big milestone in his career next year at the Paris Olympics.
The 19-year-old made his top-level tennis breakthrough in 2022 as, after starting the year outside the top 100 in the ATP Rankings, he finished the campaign at No 11.
In April he won his maiden title at the Bavarian Championship before reaching the quarter-final of a Grand Slam for the first time, upsetting the likes of Denis Shapovalov and Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the last eight at Roland Garros.
But the major highlights of his campaign came late in the season as he reached three finals in October – winning the Stockholm Open – before he finished the year with his maiden ATP Masters 1000 title – defeating a host of big names like three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, seventh seed Andrey Rublev, world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and tennis great Novak Djokovic – to lift the Paris Masters trophy.
Naturally Rune will have a lot of happy memories of Paris and it will come in handy at next year’s Olympics in the city with the event set to be played on the Roland Garros clay.
Asked about the Paris 2024 on the
Tennis Weekly Podcast, the teenager replied: “It is [a big goal of mine]. I am super excited for it.
“It’s going to be next year, 2024 in Paris. I always play great in Paris and I am excited for it. It’s a great event.
“As a kid, I’ve been dreaming about it as well, so it will soon be a reality.”
Rune is set to become the first Danish male player to compete at the Olympics since Kenneth Carlsen appeared at the 1996 Olympics while former women’s world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki represented the Scandinavian country at three Olympics with the last coming at the 2016 Rio Games.
And he will no doubt have high hopes of reaching the latter stages, especially with the tournament being played on clay.
“I think hard court and clay [are my best surfaces],” he said. “I still have to get some more experience on grass, but I feel like my game, the aggressive game style I have is good for grass and I move well.
“I just have to practice more on it and get used to it. And I think I can be as good as I am on hard court and clay.”
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READ MORE: Holger Rune: Biography, lifestyle, lovelife, net worth, career, endorsements
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