Tennis News: Holgar Rune: Phenomenal rise and Future

He jumped into the year as the world's number 103 in the ATP rankings and was bound to enter qualifiers before taking on his first tournament

Interestingly, he has come a long way since then. He cracked into the top 10 of the ATP rankings on Monday and became the first man from Denmark to achieve the feat.

"I didn't expect that at all four or five weeks ago but now I'm here," he said. The 19-year-old also became the third entry in the list of active players to enter the Top 10 at a younger age - Rafael Nadal (18) and Carlos Alcaraz (18).

Holgar Rune did it before top players like Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Marat Safin. "I'm super happy how I officially ended my season, and if there possibly are more matches, I'm just super excited for it," Holgar Rune continued.

Over the ongoing season, the Danish star caused major upsets that propelled him to the top tennis ranks. He defeated the world's number three Alexander Zverev at the Bavarian International Tennis Championships to secure his first Top 10 win in straight sets. 

At Roland Garros, he outclassed the fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. He secured decent wins against Roberto Bautista Agut and Alex de Minaur, which caught the media's attention. 

In preparation for the Nitto ATP Finals, he competed in Paris Masters. He stunned four top-10 players in a row: 10th seed Hubert Hurkacz, the world's number nine and seventh seed Andrey Rublev, top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz, and the world's number eight Félix Auger-Aliassim. 

He entered his first Masters 1000 and fourth consecutive final before thrashing Wimbledon 2022 champion, Novak Djokovic. Despite the surge in his form, one of Holgar Rune's coaches, Patrick Mouratoglou, says that the 19-year-old still has a long way to go. 

"He can progress. He can improve much more. There are elements where he can actually improve very much," Patrick Mouratoglou said. "We are reaching the end of the season. We will work on that. It's not really that there is a danger, but there is a lot of work to provide."

What does Holger Rune's future have in store?

Paris Masters 2022 finalist Novak Djokovic called Holger Rune the future of the sport. Fans were further amused when the Serb shared how the Danish youngster reminds him of his younger self. 

He gushed about Holgar Rune's solid backhand and competitive spirit before their summit clash on Sunday at the ATP 1000 event. "I've followed him the last three to four years, his uprising through Challenger level and then getting to top 15 in the world," Novak Djokovic said.

The 21-time Grand Slam winner also believes Holgar Rune suits tennis' growth. After Sunday's victory, Holgar Rune was filled with emotion but admitted that he has "bigger dreams" of future success. 

Besides becoming the first man to secure five top 10 wins in a row in a single-week tournament, he also broke Novak Djokovic 5-5 in the decider to set up the biggest service game of his career.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">WHAT A RUN-E 🦾<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RolexParisMasters?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RolexParisMasters</a> I <a href="https://twitter.com/holgerrune2003?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@holgerrune2003</a> <a href="https://t.co/e6aRBZXu6Y">pic.twitter.com/e6aRBZXu6Y</a></p>&mdash; ROLEX PARIS MASTERS (@RolexPMasters) <a href="https://twitter.com/RolexPMasters/status/1589332603731345409?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

"It's probably the best feeling of my life, of my whole career. It's kind of a small dream come true, even though I have bigger dreams," said Holgar Rune. The youngster will not appear in the ATP Finals in Turin despite world number Carlos Alcaraz pulling out due to an injury. 

Holgar Rune will wait for his shot in 2023, where he will hopefully return with increased power and passion.