Holger Rune backed to win Wimbledon by former champion
Former Wimbledon doubles champion Frederik Lochte Nielsen believes that Holger Rune can win the Championships despite grass not being his best surface.
Nielsen feels that Rune is the type of player who is capable of winning every tournament he enters regardless of the surface.
Rune won the Paris Masters title while still a teenager, but Nielsen feels that he isn’t even close to his peak yet.
“I am completely sure that Holger always enters a tournament to win. That also applies to Wimbledon,” Nielsen told the Danish publication SpilXperten.
“He has a level where it is indeed possible, even though theoretically he is not expected to peak until he is 26 years old.”
“It will be exciting to see what he can achieve, but he always enters a tournament with the goal of winning it, and that’s the mindset a top-10 player like him should have.”
Nielsen believes that Rune needs to work on his movement to become a better player on grass.
“Holger is such a good tennis player that his problem will never be playing tennis,” Nielsen added.
“However, it’s clear that grass is probably the surface he is least accustomed to because it’s only played on for a short time each year.”
“For Holger, it’s about getting a lot of quantity on the court. He needs matches, and fortunately, he has had them in London, where things have already gone significantly better than last year, which is only natural given how much he has progressed.”
“It’s about him finding the right timing in his movement because he’s used to being able to slide on both clay and hard courts, but it’s not the same on grass.”
Nielsen rejected the notion that Rune needed more confidence in his game on grass, feeling that what the young Dane lacks is experience on the surface.
“I don’t think it’s so much about him needing confidence because I believe he already has that,” Nielsen added.
“It’s simply about him getting a lot of experience on grass, and then it will come naturally to him.”
Rune suffered a straight sets loss to Marcos Giron in the first round of Wimbledon last season.
He only notched his first win on grass at Queen’s last week, enjoying a run to the semi-finals with three wins before going down to Alex de Minaur.
Rune will be the No 6 seed in the 2023 Wimbledon draw.
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