Who is Holger Rune? Rankings + Goals

via ATP Tour

Holger Rune has continued to announce his arrival at the top of men’s tennis with a brilliant run to the QFs at Roland Garros 2022, beating #14 seed Denis Shapovalov and upsetting #4 seed and title contender Stefanos Tsitsipas on his way.

Where has he come from, why is he so confident, and why is he so darn good? At 19?!

Holger Rune Rankings Climb

When the pandemic shut down the tour in March 2020, Holger Rune was ranked #861 in the world.

At that time he was 16 years old, already quite popular on Instagram, and confident that he would one day be a World #1 and Grand Slam champion.

He chatted with The Slice then:

By March 2021 Holger was ranked #401 after doing well on the Challenger and Futures Tours, winning 3 futures events in the fall of 2020.

After continuing to progress with his level, he transitioned to playing mainly Challenger events and taking WildCards into ATP events.

In 2021 he won 4(!) Challengers as well as making little runs at a number of ATP events after qualifying including QFs at the Chile Open.

By the end of 2021, Holger was ranked #103 , making that climb through the ATP ranks quickly but by playing as much tennis as anyone through the year.

Holger Rune’s 2022 Goals

At the end of his fantastic 2021 season, Holger again joined Stephen on The Slice to talk about his transitions to the pros.

“When you come on the pro’s tour they are like, ok this kid is 17 years old we are just going to try to kill him, they have zero respect for you.”

Holger, confident as always, told us that his goal was to be Top 25 by the end of 2022. Being ranked #103 at the time, that goal was lofty but achievable with serious work and results to follow.

Enter: Clay SZN 2022.

Holger Rune wins a challengers in San Remo on Saturday, April 9th and then drives down the road and wins his first qualifying match at the Monte Carlo Masters against a seasoned vet Radu Albot. Wild.

Holger kept having decent results on clay, but then came Munich, an ATP250 where Holger accepted a main draw Wild Card.

Holger beats Alexander Zverev comprehensively, an route to winning the title, his first on the ATP and making a massive statement about where his game is at.

Holger Rune Shocks Stefanos Tsitsipas

After a first round of qualifying exit at the Rome Masters, Holger Rune came to Roland Garros hoping for a good result, but facing Canadian Denis Shapovalov in the Round 1 was not an easy start… we thought.

Rune beat a listless Shapovalov in 3 sets and continued through the draw not dropping a set until Round 4 where he met fellow Mouratoglou Academy product, Stefanos Tsitsipas.

Holger’s all around game, solid backhand, and elite drop shot caused all sorts of issues for Tsitsipas and did not allow the Greek to find his best level.

Rune ended up closing out a tight 4 set match 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to shock Tsitsipas and break the bottom half of the mens draw wide open.

Reaction to Holger Rune beating Stefanos Tsitsipas

Basically, Holger’s career is unfolding as he has wanted it too. He’s never been shy about sharing his goals or confidently stating that he want’s to get to the top.

His mother (and manager), Aneke Rune, has said that Holger has been like that since he was a little boy, always with massive goals for tennis.

Holger Rune is well on his way to achieving his goal for 2022, with his ranking at minimum going to Top 30 after his QF (or better) run at Roland Garros.

Along with Carlos Alcaraz, we have a 19 year old takeover of the ATP tour happening right now. Let’s enjoy it!

Holger Rune Full INterview

Stephen Boughton is the founder of The Slice, Canada’s independent tennis media.