CANVAS OF CLAY
As the Clay Court Season Returns, can Holger Rune Keep up with Alcaraz and Sinner?
Rune is a precious commodity rarely seen in tennis but his stocks are trickling toward an all-time low.
It’s nearly a year since Holger Rune, once a prodigy but now anchored in stark mediocrity, won an ATP Tour title.
Go back to last April and he had trounced Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinal of the Monte-Carlo Masters. A day later, his name boomed around the clay court of the posh French Riviera, drawing the curtain on a thrilling match where he took down Jannik Sinner in three grueling sets.
Rune might’ve lost the final in Monte-Carlo to tennis hothead Andrey Rublev but he did so monstrously, fighting off break point after break point.
Now fast-forward 12 months later...
Denmark’s Rune, 20, endured a sound whooping by Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan at the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami, losing his first match of the tournament 6-1, 6-1. It was his worst-ever defeat on the ATP Tour and his most embarrassing performance since the return of former coach Patrick Mouratoglou.
In a statement released on X (formerly known as Twitter), the 20-year-old lamented his lack of energy, citing illness as mitigation for his abysmal performance, before conceding he should've withdrawn from the tournament.
“I knew I wasn’t feeling 100 percent well today, but I didn’t imagine my energy level would be so low,’’ Rune sobbed on X. “Looking back, I should’ve pulled out.”
Rune is not famous for making smart decisions and has experienced a torrid start to the new season, suffering upset after upset, in ATP Tour-level tournaments stretching back to January in Australia.
The result is a haphazard portrayal of a player who as a junior was dubbed the crown prince of tennis alongside a certain burly-haired Spanish freak of nature bending tennis to his will.
Unlike the Spaniard immortalized in that mesmerizing Wimbledon final, it’s been a roller-coaster 12 months for the slightly disjointed-and-fragmented Holger Rune.
Twelve months where he began the year ranked the World No. 11, surged to a career-high ranking of World No. 4, sacked three different coaches, and won his last ATP title in Munich. In the eternal city of Rome, he also reached the Italian Open final but was denied a fifth ATP Tour title by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev.
The wait for another title continues.
Under Mouratoglou in August 2023, Rune achieved his career-high ATP ranking of World No. 4, but that rare success did not spare the Frenchman from getting sacked two weeks later.
Given that he qualified for his maiden ATP Finals under new head coach Boris Becker, it might have been tempting to envisage Rune’s partnership with the German as a monumental success. Yet, he failed to win any of the three matches in the group stages, save for an early walkover by Stefanos Tsitsipas.
He was also booted out of the Australian Open by French wildcard Arthur Cazaux, a rookie then ranked outside the world’s Top 100 players.
As for his farcical appointment of Federer’s former coach Severin Luthi, the less said about that, the better.
The wider sentiment on Rune — in contrast to Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — has been consistently underwhelming for the past year, not least because of his kamikaze performances but partly due to his tantrums on and off the court.
Fans are growing increasingly frustrated with the Danish unicorn, and although Rune insists he remains unaffected by “what’s happening outside the court,’’ the camaraderie that once struck the perfect cord between player and fan base is at its nadir since inception.
Last October, his sister Alma decried the hate messages and abuse the family received on social media during a turbulent back injury spell where Rune lost 10 of his 11 matches.
His decision to play through such a devastating injury was questionable after he initially stated emphatically he would “take whatever time it takes” to return to full fitness.
This March, his mom Aneke received a death threat via email following his crash out of the Mexican Open semifinals as he lost in three sets to fellow Scandinavian Casper Ruud. Such appalling behaviors have been condemned and have no place in sports.
In contrast to fans who like the player, can be erratic at times, comments from Holger Rune’s camp on the recent trajectory of his career have all been precautionary. The fading prodigy was lauded as a “rough diamond” in October, but in the aftermath of his Australian Open loss, former coach Becker criticized his mental fortitude on court.
Three weeks later, Rune parted ways with the German.
Patrick Mouratoglou, now head coach, has treaded a lighter tone. The French man recently told American cable network Tennis Channel that he “believes in (Rune) a lot’’ but stated there was room for improvement.
“There are a lot of things to develop,’’ Mouratoglou who previously coached players like Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep said. “But I cannot say everything. Even for the top players, they still always have margins for improvement.’’
At the just concluded Indian Wells Open in the dry heat of California's desert, there was a faint reminder of what Rune could offer as the complete package.
In the lead-up to his semifinal loss against the fourth-seed Medvedev, Rune won more points from his first serves, serving more aces per match than the eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz (who defeated Medvedev in the final).
But back in Miami, Rune’s demolition was a morale-damaging defeat, not just for the World No. 7 but for devoted fans of the player who through gift and graft, stuck with him during momentous victories, agonizing defeats, camp upheavals, and severe slumps in form since Wimbledon.
As an elite adjunct, the trio of Alcaraz, Sinner, and Rune were professed to become the “Next Big Three.” Instead, since the Dane’s apparent lack of progression and insipid impressions since the Italian Open, questions have been asked of Rune’s status in this golden generation, and understandably so.
In February, after its protracted and controversial takeover of LIV Golf, Saudi Arabia announced a new tournament Six Kings Slam as part of the kingdom's lucrative and quite audacious $1 billion proposal to dominate world tennis.
Six Kings Slam, set to be hosted by Riyadh in October 2024, was fiercely criticized on X for not just featuring Rune in its promotional graphic but naming him alongside Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Daniil Medvedev.
With Sinner recently winning the Australian Open, Rune remains the only “king’’ yet to win a Grand Slam title.
The dilemma poses slightly awkward questions to the 20-year-old Rune, whose critics would argue that about a year since proclaiming his plans to become “No. 1 in the world and win Grand Slams,’’ he finds himself in a precarious position yet to fulfill that prophetic but majestic ambition.
To his credit, Rune has performed slightly above expectations at Grand Slam tournaments. In July 2023, Rune became the fifth player in 30 years, alongside Alcaraz, to appear in the men’s singles quarterfinals of both Roland-Garros and Wimbledon in the same year.
In isolation, a remarkable achievement for a player who only turns 21 this April. In reality, a forlorn depiction of a talented sensation whose tetchiness in games and a tendency to lose his emotions have heartily ensured he remains seventh on the ATP world rankings.
When asked where Rune needed to improve after losing the Australian Open, former coach Becker could not be more precise.
“He’s got a very quick arm, he's got a lot of firepower, he’s got a lot of inspiration on the court, but at the same time that’s the problem,’’ Becker told Eurosport. “It’s knowing when to do what.
“So talking about tactics... it’s always a fine line when to do what. Losing the first set in the tie-break and then losing your very first service game in the second set, those are the moments he has to improve mentally.’’
There are no guarantees that if Rune were to develop some mental resilience, he'd become a much better player let alone a Grand Slam winner.
But the teeming American Coco Gauff admitted last August that she studied clips of Alcaraz to learn how to stay calm and composed during matches — in September, Gauff became the youngest woman at 19 to win the U.S. Open since Serena Williams in 1999.
The Monte-Carlo Masters heralds the return of the clay court season and having toiled without success on the hard courts, Rune will be brimming with optimism to return to the organic, terra-cotta clay where he lit up the fireworks last season.
Rune, ideally, would hope to kick-start his arid season by going one better in the final, lifting the trophy in Monte Carlo.
Unfortunately, Sinner — though with a dubious record on clay — is in an apparent growth spurt, usurping Alcaraz to become the latest World No. 2. The Italian is currently the best tennis player in the world, winning 22 of his 23 matches and has also won three ATP titles this season, stacking up nearly $4 million in prize money.
The three-horse race for the ATP’s top spot will certainly dominate the headlines as Djokovic, Sinner, and Alcaraz are separated by just over 1000 points heading into Monte-Carlo.
Rune’s challenge now is to put together a string of convincing performances and wins within the tournament where win or lose, it could mark a season-defining moment for the 20-year-old if he reminds the world of his existence by winning his first title since April 2023.
Or loses, potentially dropping outside the Top 10 for the first time since January 2023.
These are not ideal circumstances for a player who has repeatedly expressed his desire to become top dog in tennis. However, Rune would be confident in his abilities as one of the most proficient players on clay, having reached three out of five ATP Tour finals last season.
With three Masters 1000s on clay leading into the much-coveted Roland Garros, can this Danish unicorn turn things around and finally get to where he's supposed to be?
History suggests he can but when dealing with Holger Rune, the drums of conscious perception beat differently.
