Back when Holger Rune won the Paris Bercy Masters 1000 in 2022, beating Djokovic in an epic final, it looked like he was set to have a stellar career full of big titles, leading the new generation along with Carlos Alcaraz. However, that remains the only significant title he has won so far. He has been clearly surpassed by Jannik Sinner and is yet to even reach a Grand Slam semifinal.
While Rune is undoubtedly talented, it takes much more than that to become a dominant force in tennis and so far he has always failed to put it all together–bar that one week in Bercy. What’s more, he is not really losing to the likes of Alcaraz, Sinner, Zverev, or Djokovic in most tournaments, but to much lower-ranked players and often in blowout fashion. His current ranking of #13 is reflective of his current level, and no one really batted an eye when he lost to Jiri Lehecka in his 2025 debut in Brisbane.
At only 21 years of age, Rune has time on his side to find his best tennis, but recent signs have been concerning, to say the least. Rather than getting better and more consistent, Rune seems to be getting worse, less consistent, and less capable of beating top ranked players. He looks devoid of confidence and doesn’t really feel like a threat to win big tournaments at all.
2025 will undoubtedly be a huge year for Rune; he doesn’t need to win a Slam for it to be a good year, but he does need to prove that he has the ability to do it and establish himself as a contender. If he spends another year failing to even contend for significant titles, it will be very hard to regain confidence and what looked like a career destined for greatness at some point might well end up as just another player who had one big title run early on and then never managed to back it up.
Realistically, at the moment Rune is much, much further from Sinner and Alcaraz than his other age peers and younger players are to surpassing him. This year will be very revealing as to what Rune’s place in the ATP pecking order is and it all starts at the Australian Open, where his run will be one of the most interesting stories to follow.
Main Photo Credit: Andy Abeyta/The Desert Sun / USA TODAY NETWORK
