ECHOES OF FUTURE PAST
The Holger Rune Diary: Childhood Ambitions, Roland Garros, and the Search for Perfection
Inside Holger Rune's camp as the boyhood Roger Federer supporter searches for an elusive Grand Slam title, stability, immortality...
When Holger Rune got battered at a mixed tennis tournament as a kid, a baffling dilemma unraveled that would ultimately set the course of his professional career.
Rune had just refused his runner-up trophy, the infamous loser's medal, after falling short of the grand prize at the tennis championship. Scuttling home in Denmark's northern suburb Copenhagen, he tore down posters of then ATP World No. 2 Rafael Nadal from his bedroom and bellowed at his mom Aneke:
“Hang Federer on the wall,” Rune motioned, referring to the Swiss tennis-fashion bastion Roger Federer, who immediately became his childhood idol. “From now on I want to be world number one.”
Only 7 years old at the time, Rune presumably failed to realize the magnitude of his proclamation.
However, in that jaw-dropping moment of fierce determination, the young Dane not only unlocked the portal to his lofty ambitions but activated the precursor to his path in search of perfection.
In 2022, Rune was the shiny new thing in tennis, announcing himself on the iconic clay Court Philippe-Chatrier, where he upset then world No. 4 Stefanos Tsitsipas in one of the most scintillating debut tournaments by a teenager ever at Roland Garros.
At the end of the year, the Danish prodigy had deservedly won the first ATP Masters 1000 of his career, dismantling five Top 10 opponents at the ROLEX Paris Masters including Novak Djokovic whom he stunned in the final.
For Rune, it was a magical moment, the stuff of dreams. Such was the nature of his undeniably spirited performances that he was voted the ATP's Newcomer Of The Year.
As glorious as that season was, the following year 2023 turned out to be rather underwhelming. And very disappointing.
There was the odd seismic win like his best performance of the year in Italy as he ran riot in Rome, beating Djokovic again, this time emphatically at the Italian Open semifinal before falling to Russia's Daniil Medvedev.
Despite reaching two consecutive quarterfinals at Roland Garros against Casper Ruud, Rune struggled to recapture his sizzling form from Italy and came up short once again in the all-Scandinavian showdown.
An error-strewn start with over 30 unforced errors in the first two sets proved costly, culminating in his exit from the famous Grand Slam tournament with a whimper.
Wimbledon, despite its green pastures offered Rune no respite although on a day when it looked like his half-baked attempts at the All England Club had petered out, up stepped the Spaniard Davidovich Fokina, 24, with one of the meme highlights of the season.
With the score level at 8-8 in the decisive fifth set tiebreak, the Spaniard, perhaps finding it genius, chose to hit an underarm serve that Rune slammed past him with a forehand winner to rack up match point.
From one Spaniard to another, Rune faced Carlos Alcaraz who would then go on to etch his name into immortal glory on a simply mesmerizing Wimbledon final on Center Court. Alcaraz did not just show Djokovic that his championship days were numbered but abruptly ended the Serb's chokehold on the men's tennis tour.
With that still fresh in mind — Alcaraz winning his second Grand Slam title at 20 years — and Rune crashing out early from the US Open for the second successive year, there was much to discuss in Holger Rune's camp.
And drastic changes followed almost immediately.
In August 2023 under head coach Patrick Mouratoglou's leadership, Rune made his Top Five debut as world No. 4 and became the highest-ranked Danish player ever in ATP history.
Two weeks later, the French coach confirmed his departure from Rune's camp via a social media post saying, “Unfortunately, all the stories have to come to an end.’’
In the following days, media reports surfaced of “ego clashes’’ between Mouratoglou and longstanding coach Lars Christensen.
Always seeking an edge in a frenetic bid to achieve perfection and his childhood ambitions, Rune confirmed his appointment of fallen angel Boris Becker as his new coach in October 2023.
Once the prince of tennis now bedlam in a spate of criminal investigations, Becker was ecstatic at the opportunity to coach Rune whom he considered “one of the best young players in the world.’’ He dubbed the talented Dane “a diamond in the rough.’’
Few predicted that after British streaming service ITVX aired a two-episode documentary — Boris Becker: The Rise And Fall — on how the global tennis star ended up in jail, the German Becker would land such a high-profile appointment three months later.
As anticipated, the move was highly controversial, courting an onslaught of criticism from fans and the media.
For instance, the twinnie-talking Aussie Nick Kyrgios took a brutal swipe at Becker on social media, appearing to ridicule the German's “credibility’’ after he was found guilty of four charges under the UK's Insolvency Act (tax evasion).
Djokovic for his part, endorsed Rune's appointment of Becker, who guided him to six of his 24 Grand Slam titles in three years as head coach.
After a wretched run of 10 losses in 11 games pre-Becker, Rune enjoyed an uptick in form, winning six of his first 10 matches with the German including making his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals.
As part of Rune's rebuild, he added a familiar face Severin Luthi to his revamped camp in December, earning plaudits from fans who commended the conscious effort.
Luthi coached Rune's childhood idol Roger Federer for 15 years and until his emotional retirement in 2022, played an immense role in the Swiss master's 20 Grand Slam titles.
Luthi was hired to work alongside Becker and coach Rune into one of the most promising youngsters not named Carlos Alcaraz (now Jannik Sinner) on the ATP Tour.
Rune's newly assembled squad of Becker and Luthi resembled a super team of grand masters, armed with the trophy-laden expertise he desperately craved but lacked the emotional attachment needed to unleash the player's ecstasy.
The team was coupled to “find the best Holger Rune.” In other words, a rare breed of this talented-but-erratic player, capable of composing his emotions enough to win that elusive Grand Slam title.
After all, how could Rune not gain from this beltering partnership championed by Becker, the twinkling star who found the best version of himself to win Wimbledon at just 17 years old?
At any moment when he needed mental resilience to challenge for a place among tennis royalty, surely, the muscle memories of Becker and Luthi would dispel the fragilities within. How long would it take to clinch that first Slam which so painstakingly evaded him?
Barely a month after the dream appointment, Luthi was shown the door in January 2024, a few days after a disappointing Australian Open campaign where Rune crashed out in the second round to French wildcard Arthur Cazaux.
With drooping shoulders and the cold realization he might never get another chance like this, a crestfallen Becker called it quits from Rune's camp in February.
Exactly 14 weeks since stating on the record he intended to “find the best Holger Rune’’ and compared the Danish unicorn to arguably the greatest tennis player of all time.
When a high-risk decision breeds success, the approach can often be seen as clever or audacious. But when it doesn't go according to plan, questions are asked.
And so it was that Aneke Rune came forward on the Craig Shapiro Podcast three days later, admitting they might have been a “little starstruck’’ by appointing Luthi before a Grand Slam tournament.
Aneke admitted the error of enlisting a new coach at such a crucial time without considering the disruptions it could cause to Rune's match routines. She further questioned Luthi's coaching methods, accusing the Swiss coach of eroding Rune's personality — his identity.
“There was something about the energy level you put on the court. Holger is super energetic, he’s explosive in his tennis, he likes to play this way, he’s a passionate player, and for sure there are things where you should say 'Here you have to control or save your energy a little',’’ Aneke explained on the highly-rated podcast.
“But you cannot take out the energy off Holger, lose the explosiveness, lose the next game, lose the things that are Holger’s identity. So it’s really a fine balance in where there's ice and where there's fire.’’
Rune is not one to shy away from controversy and it was telling of his personality (and ambitions) when he summoned the courage to reappoint Patrick Mouratoglou as head coach for the third-ish time.
Like the notorious Bonnie and Clyde, the pair appear perfectly suited for each other and it is no coincidence that once Mouratoglou returned at the helm, Rune significantly (and consistently) performed better.
Remarkably, he relieved his mom Aneke of her duties as press manager and is now represented by International Management Group (IMG), a New York-based media company whose clientele includes Emma Raducanu, Iga Swiatek, and Carlos Alcaraz.
Many fans believe that like 7-year-old Rune dreamed some 14 years ago, he is currently one of the best tennis players in the world. Nevertheless, the question if he will become "world number one" remains up for debate.
Despite taking positive steps towards that goal — like forging mental resilience, staying physically fit, adding more variety to his game, and supposedly adopting some stability in his camp — he still looks some way off Alcaraz and Sinner.
Understandably, the identical duo Alcaraz and Sinner turned pro in 2018, two years before Rune did in 2020, and at the moment, are much better players.
Of the trio of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Holger Rune, the teeming young Dane Rune is arguably the most naturally talented.
Recent results might suggest otherwise, but Rune has the highest ceiling and a better all-round game — the complete package and most naturally suited successor to tennis lighthouse Djokovic.
However, natural talent devoid of honed performance skills can only take one so far. And it is an aspect of Rune's game that demands massive improvement.
Rune will head for Roland Garros this year and for the first time in 16 months, will be forced to do so from a position he relished only two years ago.
Whatever the outcome of the tournament, he should consider himself proud of how much success he has enjoyed in a relatively short space of time.
This period between May and June — where he'll feature in both the Madrid Open and Italian Open — will be absolutely crucial as he tries to build some momentum heading into his favorite tournament, on his favorite surface, and in front of his favorite crowd.
For Rune and his team, every victory will taste like champagne while every defeat will feel like a jarring blow to his ranking. Every unforced error another step away from that childhood dream, that elusive trophy, the one that got away.
Winning a Grand Slam would undoubtedly work wonders for his waning reputation — the kind that puts him right back into the conversation of the Next Big Three.
But likewise, that personal feeling of euphoria, the joy of having done it, the labors of yesteryears concocted into one giant cup of immortal triumph. Ultimately, he should do it for himself.
Regardless, Rune will be enough smart to guard against the misconstrued managerial malfunctions of his immediate past as his search for perfection and glory could well be a double-edged sword.
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