It was an incredibly up-and-down 2022 campaign for Holger Rune, but that’s not how we’ll remember it. The highs were so insane that they got him from World No. 103 at the beginning of the year to No. 11 at the end (and he was even briefly inside the Top 10). In just two calendar years, the 19-year-old has jumped from barely being inside the Top 500 to someone we all expect to be a staple name at the very top of the sport for years to come. Let’s retrace his steps in 2022:
Sloppy first quarter
In the first three months of the year, Holger Rune won just six matches in nine events (only two of these victories were in ATP Tour main draws). A couple of losses to Corentin Moutet showed how vulnerable the Dane still was against good counter-punchers, while his cramping issues made a huge return at the Australian Open, losing him a tight five-setter with Soon-woo Kwon.
A sign of good things to come was Indian Wells. Rune qualified and defeated Ugo Humbert in the opening round, before going down in a thrilling clash against Matteo Berrettini. His return was brilliant in that match as he took everything early and put some immense pressure on the Italian. It didn’t amount to a win, but after a very uninspiring series of results, it was very reassuring when it came to the Dane’s potential.
Strong clay swing
Rune began his campaign on the dirt with a title at the Sanremo Challenger, the only event of the ATP’s secondary circuit that he played this year. During his run, he was only pushed by Evgenii Tiurnev (won the second set tie-break 14-12) and Francesco Passaro, one of the most exciting newcomers of the season. He then made headlines as just a few hours after the Sanremo final, he managed to win his qualifying round one at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Monte Carlo (the venues are about a 45-minute drive away from each other).
Holger Rune wins his 5th Challenger 🏆 in Sanremo, defeating Francesco Passaro 6-1 2-6 6-4 (from 2-4 BP down in the 3rd). It was much tougher than expected and he already had physical issues in set 3
In less than 4h, he's scheduled to play Monte Carlo qualies R1 vs Albot pic.twitter.com/NjgZwQ2fsc
— Damian Kust (@damiankust) April 9, 2022
In Monte Carlo, he produced a solid run (lost to Casper Ruud in the second round), but the big breakthrough came a couple of weeks later in Munich. Rune took down home crowd favorite Alexander Zverev on the way to his maiden ATP Tour title. The final was cut short by Botic van de Zandschulp’s injury, but the Dane didn’t drop a single set in four other matches.
Best-of-five play hadn’t been his forte until Roland Garros, but he found a pretty smart way of dealing with his physical issues–he just won every match quickly. Rune came out on top against Denis Shapovalov in a blockbuster round-one clash, before scoring an even bigger upset over the 2021 runner-up, Stefanos Tsitsipas. Another four-set loss to Ruud in the quarterfinals couldn’t change the fact that this was the tournament that allowed the Dane to announce himself to the whole tennis world.
Summer struggles, incredible hot streak to finish the year
After a big result like that, perhaps a bit of a drop-off just had to come. Rune was off his game throughout the grass swing, which was understandable given his lack of experience on the surface. He didn’t improve in the post-Wimbledon clay campaign though and hardly got better in the North American hard court swing. In the ten events he played between the start of the grass season and the US Open, he only managed three wins.
But what completely changed the perception of Rune’s 2022 season was the insane tennis he played in October and November. The 19-year-old made it to the final of each of his last four events, starting from the ATP 250s in Sofia and Stockholm, before going to bigger categories in Basel (ATP 500) and Paris (ATP 1000). He won two of these finals, taking out Stefanos Tsitsipas in Stockholm and then Novak Djokovic in Paris. Especially the latter campaign was just incredible with Rune beating five top 10 players, becoming the first player ever to do so in a regular ATP Tour event (not counting the ATP Finals).
In the final against Djokovic, he demonstrated nerves of steel and fantastic poise. The last game of the match had him save six break points and was one of these occasions where many before him have folded to the Serbian or another Big Three member. Rune withstood the pressure and clinched the win, debuting in the top 10 and grabbing the first alternate spot for the ATP Finals (he didn’t end up playing).
Mouratoglou getting more involved, what changed?
While @Simona_Halep takes time to recover, she encouraged me to seek a new collaboration.
Today, I’m pleased to announce that I’m joining @holgerrune2003’s team.
I’m really excited to start working with Holger. We’ve had a special bond since the day we met, when he was just 13. pic.twitter.com/Iv5IBG2Wko
— Patrick Mouratoglou (@pmouratoglou) October 12, 2022
Rune had been part of Mouratoglou Academy for years, but since its founder started working with him more closely, his win/loss record is 15-1. Some of that is probably his impact, but of course, more credit should be reserved for the Dane’s long-time coach Lars Christensen, who has been with him through all the ITF junior success and the early days on the ATP Tour.
The 19-year-old’s serve was extremely efficient in the indoor season, giving him a very reliable point-winning engine. It allowed him to up his aggression even more and find himself in advantageous positions in most rallies on his delivery. Rune’s Paris Bercy display (wins over No. 10 Hurkacz, No. 9 Rublev, No. 1 Alcaraz, No. 8 Auger-Aliassime, and No. 7 Djokovic) was simply scary and it’s now up to the youngster to keep delivering on it next year. With such dry spells like the one he had in the beginning of 2022 or the one in the summer, it feels like fighting for a top 10 finish and an ATP Finals spot is very much within his reach.
Main Photo from Getty.
