Holger Rune has opened up about the challenges he has faced in his career so far.
Rune left the court in tears last year at the Stockholm Open, when he suffered an Achilles tear in his semifinal match against Ugo Humbert.
The world number 16 has been out of action ever since, with Rune undergoing surgery on his Achilles.
Rune has been open about his lengthy recovery process since then, but he has now suggested that this is not the worst moment of his career.
Holger Rune reveals the worst moment of his tennis career
Rune won the biggest title of his career so far at the Paris Masters in 2022, where he beat Novak Djokovic in the final.
This led to very high expectations of the Dane, with Rune reaching his career-high ranking of world number four the following year.
However, after reaching his highest ranking, Rune struggled to find form and he has now told former world number one Andy Roddick that this was potentially the worst moment of his life.
“I won Paris when I was really young and then I had a little step back, and I think when I reached my career high, it was possibly the worst moment of my life, actually, with everything,” Rune said on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.
“Because I had no structure in my life, first of all, with the coaching situation, with training, differing opinions. It was the first time where I really had to grow up, make my own decisions, being aware of everything else.
“Before that, it was just on the court, loving it, listening to my coaches, saying yes or no, it was very simple. All of a sudden, many more opinions came in, even from bigger names, who I have a lot of respect for, then you start to question yourself a lot.
“It took me a while to understand that you need to find the right people around you, and then to try to only listen to them. A lot of expectations also, when you become higher in the rankings, it’s different being four in the world than 10.
“People saying, you’re playing Novak in the semis of the US Open, I’m going to come and watch. I’m like yeah, but I have four or five matches before that. Then I lost first round… Tennis is such a high level, you cannot look forward.”
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While Rune has been able to produce better results since his dip in form after reaching his career-high ranking, the 22-year-old has only been able to win two more titles since the 2022 Paris Masters.
The Dane has reached three more Masters 1000 finals, but Rune has been beaten in all of them including losing to Jack Draper at Indian Wells last year.
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Both of Rune’s titles since 2022 have come on clay, winning titles in Munich and Barcelona last year, beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final of the latter.
| Tournament where Holger Rune reached the final | Final Result |
| Monte Carlo Masters 2023 | Andrey Rublev beat Rune, 5-7 6-2 7-5 |
| Bavarian Open 2023 | Rune beat Botic Van de Zandschulp, 6-4 1-6 7-6(3) |
| Italian Open 2023 | Daniil Medvedev beat Rune, 7-5 7-5 |
| Brisbane International 2024 | Grigor Dimitrov beat Rune, 7-6(5) 6-4 |
| Indian Wells 2025 | Jack Draper beat Rune, 6-2 6-2 |
| Barcelona Open 2025 | Rune beat Carlos Alcaraz, 7-6(6) 6-2 |
Titles are not a focus for Rune right now, as he looks to continue his recovery from the Achilles tear he suffered last year.
Rune has not given a specific date for his return, but he is not expected to return to the ATP Tour until at least later this year.
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