Holger Rune has endured a rather torrid 2024, including some major upsets and a ridiculous coaching debacle.
It just seems like just he cannot get things right at the moment, having previously shot to fame as a supremely young tennis prodigy.
But with his peers now all surpassing him, leaving him firmly in the dust, something has to change.
Well, John McEnroe has touched on what might be holding Rune back.
John McEnroe delivers Holger Rune assessment
Speaking on Eurosport just last night, as he watched Novak Djokovic labour to a straight-sets victory over Pierre-Hugues Hubert, McEnroe briefly touched on the progress of Rune.
The 21-year-old, once tipped to be the next big thing in tennis, has not quite lived up to that potential yet.
Meanwhile, others of similar age like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, have already soared way beyond him.
The American pundit, and former world number one, admits that he worries for the Danish tennis star, and has changed his mind on him in recent years.
He claimed: ‘If you asked me a couple of years ago if I thought Holger Rune was going to win majors, I would have said absolutely win multiple majors. But if you ask me right now I still think he could win a major but he’s not the same player. He has taken a step back to me.
‘I’m not sure if some of it is confidence, conditioning, he’s had issues with cramping, he has changed coaches and got he family all involved so he’s got to make that all work because he has got a ton of talent. It would be good for the game if he was at the end of majors.
‘He does rub people up the wrong way at times and has an attitude, but that can be a good thing to help establish some rivals like Alcaraz and Sinner. He wants to be in the mix, he has dropped behind those guys pretty significantly.’
Holger Rune has endured a horrid 2024
Having come under fire back in February, with Boris Becker splitting from Holger Rune as his coach despite having only been in the post for less than four months, this flashpoint arguably marks a microcosm for his entire year.
Kickstarting 2024 with a run to the final in Brisbane, much was expected of the youngster in what many hoped would be a transformative campaign for him.
However, he would disappointingly set the tone for the coming months with a second-round defeat in the Australian Open, and has since gone on to suffer early exits in Rotterdam, Miami and Madrid.
Rune is now back with Patrick Mouratoglou, and will be hoping to enjoy a deep run at Roland Garros to get his year back on track.
Should he fail to do so, alarm bells will certainly start ringing for a young starlet scuppering his potential. Fortunately, time remains on his side. For now.
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