Holger Rune – The Path Breaking Dane

Holger Rune

Holger Rune is a Danish professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 86 achieved on 7 March 2022. Rune is the current Danish No. 1 player in men’s singles. He was born on 29 April 2003 in Gentofte, Denmark. He began playing tennis at the age of 6 and was coached by Lars Christensen who still remains his head coach.

Rune officially turned pro in 2020 at the age of 16.He played Right-Handed and Two-Handed Backhand.

In accordance with section 8.04 of the Code of Conduct for athletes, the ATP investigated Holger Rune’s homophobic comments during a match at the ATP Challenger 80 in Biella. Rune issued an apology on Instagram for his language. He doesn’t deny he used the slurs, but contends he was directing them at himself.

Biotable

Age 18
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Nationality Danish
Coach Lars Christensen
Turned professional 2020
Prize money US$464,974
Highest ranking 86
Current ranking 86
Social media profile Instagram: @holgerrune

Twitter: @holgerrune

Personal Information and Relationships

His mother was named Aneke Rune and his father was named Anders Nødskov. 

He also has a sister named Alma.

Ever since he won an ITF junior tournament in Kenya in 2017, through TennisAid, he shipped around 20-25 rackets to Spain, from where they went to clubs in Africa. His biggest hope is that children will be able to have fun playing tennis. “It’s a great sport but equipment is expensive, so hopefully this can help.”

Rune has been aided in his development by the ITF’s Junior Exempt project – an initiative that allows the most promising juniors to progress more quickly and gain exposure to higher-ranked competition.

Career 

In 2014, he became Danish U12 champion in mixed doubles with Clara Tauson. In 2017, he won the European U14 singles championship. Rune won the 2019 French Open boys’ singles title.

Holger received a wildcard, won a match at the 2019 Blois ATP Challenger and won the 2019 Amersfoort Challenger.

In 2019 he achieved an ITF juniors ranking of No. 1 in the world after winning the ITF Junior Finals.

Rune served as a practice partner at the 2019 ATP Finals.

At the 2020 Auckland Open, Rune received a wildcard into the qualifying draw and he became the youngest player to compete at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown.

In September 2020, Rune won his first ITF title and  would make three more ITF finals, winning two of the three. Further, Rune made three more ITF finals at the start of 2021, winning one.

In March 2021, Rune made his ATP debut as a wildcard in the Argentina Open. Rune was accepted into the qualifying draw as a wildcard. He went on to win the qualifying round and record his first ATP match win against Sebastián Báez. He reached his first ATP quarterfinal becoming the youngest ATP Tour quarter-finalist since 2014 at the age of 17.

In June 2021, Rune won his first ATP Challenger title in Biella. 

In July 2021, Rune boosted his ranking to a career-high of No. 145 on 23 August 2021 making him the second youngest male player in the top 150.

On 4 November 2021, Rune qualified for the 2021 Next Generation ATP Finals and made his top 100 singles debut on 17 January 2022 at World No. 99 making him the second youngest male player after Carlos Alcaraz in the top 100. At the 2022 Open 13 in Marseilles, he reached his first ATP semifinal of his career.

Prize Money Earnings 

  • He has earned prize money amounting to US$464,974.

Net Worth

  • His net worth is valued at USD$100,000.

Endorsements and Sponsors

  • His current sponsors are Nike and Babolat. He has a clothing and shoe sponsorship contract with Nike.
  • He has a racquet sponsorship deal with Babolat. He uses the Babolat Pure Drive racquet.

Trivia

  • His idols growing up were Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
  • He started his training at the Mouratoglou Academy.
  • At age 15, he won the 2019 indoor tournament and became the youngest Danish male singles champion.
  • He has a win rate of 43% and plays on hard courts.