{"id":86448,"date":"2025-07-04T12:30:32","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T16:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=86448"},"modified":"2025-07-04T08:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:22:48","slug":"august-holmgren-shines-at-wimbledon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/07\/04\/august-holmgren-shines-at-wimbledon\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish Qualifier August Holmgren Shines at Wimbledon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/06\/25\/holger-rune-opens-online-shop-sells-broken-rackets-7000\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Holger Rune\u2019s<\/a> early exit, it looked like Wimbledon 2025 was shaping up to be a disappointing tournament for Danish tennis. But things didn\u2019t turn out that way as Clara Tauson reached the third round. However, the biggest surprise came from an unlikely source: August Holmgren. Ranked No. 192 in the world, Holmgren powered his way to the third round\u2014starting all the way from the qualifying rounds.<\/p>\n<h2>From San Diego to Centre Stage<\/h2>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1407179855\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.66667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1407179855?et=ciV5ad6ZRTFcEEweu1FRPA&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=eAP2Pc69551JD7O9cUefcmugqAGYatmJbEf5zEagVv8=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Before this run, Holmgren had played just one ATP Tour-level match\u2014back in 2021, as a lucky loser in San Diego. He lost in straight sets to Grigor Dimitrov, winning only two games. Speaking of San Diego, it\u2019s also where he spent several years off-court, studying at the University of San Diego and earning a bachelor\u2019s degree in theatre arts and performance studies.<\/p>\n<p>USD men\u2019s tennis head coach Ryan Keckley, who is at Wimbledon this year supporting another \u201cTorero,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/06\/30\/british-underdog-oliver-tarvet-stuns-wimbledon-debut\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Oliver Tarvet<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/holmgren-wimbledon-2025-feature#:~:text=Hailing%20from%20Espergaerde%20in%20Denmark,theatre%20arts%20and%20performance%20studies.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told the ATP Tour<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a guy who on a Tuesday would go salsa dancing because it was in the room next to his dorm or something like that. On Saturdays in his junior year, he took a surfing class.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Holmgren himself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/holmgren-wimbledon-2025-feature#:~:text=Hailing%20from%20Espergaerde%20in%20Denmark,theatre%20arts%20and%20performance%20studies.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">credits that environment<\/a> with helping him find the balance needed to succeed:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most valuable thing I got from college was understanding that I need to have a balance between tennis and life off the court. To make sure I was happy off the court, because I needed that in order to be happy on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the headlines are dominated by Alexander Zverev\u2014who recently spoke publicly about feeling <a href=\"https:\/\/www.profootballnetwork.com\/tennis\/alexander-zverev-lacking-joy-life-hints-therapy-wimbledon-failure\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">emotionally drained<\/a>\u2014Holmgren\u2019s story offers a different kind of inspiration. Despite financial struggles and being ranked outside the top 100, he\u2019s pushed through and is set to climb around 45 places in the ATP rankings, likely breaking into the top 150 for the first time.<\/p>\n<h3>A Grueling Path Through Qualies<\/h3>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: Roboto,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2223429609\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 64.30976% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2223429609?et=PzPE-PpJRG541GJb6XVGgw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=w8uAfl_2BplKE3b9PraRueEpgjwht9CC-f02_7ugVZ4=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" width=\"594\" height=\"382\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Holmgren\u2019s Wimbledon journey almost ended before it began. In both the first and second rounds of qualifying, he was down a set and a break\u2014against Giles Hussey and Mikhail Kukushkin, respectively. Then, in the final qualifying match against Yosuke Watanuki, he saved three match points and needed six of his own to finally book his place in the main draw.<\/p>\n<p>Once in the main draw, Holmgren didn\u2019t slow down. He defeated Quentin Halys in straight sets in the first round. Then came his second-round thriller against Czech player Tom\u00e1\u0161 Mach\u00e1\u010d. Down three match points in the fourth set, Holmgren mounted yet another comeback and won after 4 hours and 36 minutes, taking the fifth set in a tiebreak. All of that has made him one of the most compelling stories of the tournament so far.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Simply INCREDIBLE.<\/p>\n<p>World No.192 August Holmgren beats No.21 seed Tomas Machac after nearly five hours of play on his first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw.<\/p>\n<p>Just look at what it means to the Dane \ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddf0 <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Wimbledon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Wimbledon<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lUiRZJD4nB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lUiRZJD4nB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Wimbledon\/status\/1940835487800865219?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>A Danish Duo at Wimbledon<\/h3>\n<p>Holmgren\u2019s progress has brought Danish tennis back into the spotlight. A key figure behind his success is fellow Dane Frederik Nielsen\u2014Wimbledon doubles champion in 2012 alongside Jonathan Marray. Nielsen now serves as Holmgren\u2019s coach and the Danish Davis Cup captain, providing both experience and strategic insight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI talk a lot with Freddie about who I want to be in big moments,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.atptour.com\/en\/news\/holmgren-wimbledon-2025-feature#:~:text=Hailing%20from%20Espergaerde%20in%20Denmark,theatre%20arts%20and%20performance%20studies.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Holmgren revealed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the third round, Holmgren faces a tough opponent in Alex de Minaur. Most expect his run to end there, but the Dane has shown he thrives as the underdog. Regardless of the outcome, winning two matches in a Grand Slam main draw is a significant achievement for a qualifier.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past five years, only seven qualifiers have managed to reach the third round at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/07\/03\/jack-drapers-early-exit-to-marin-cilic-underscores-wimbledon-burden\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Wimbledon<\/a>, and just one\u2014Jason Kubler in 2022\u2014advanced to the second week. As for the most impressive Slam runs by qualifiers, few can forget Aslan Karatsev at the 2021 Australian Open (semifinalist) and Botic van de Zandschulp at the 2021 US Open (quarterfinalist).<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: Imago Images Copyright: xMarleenxFouchierx<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Holger Rune\u2019s early exit, it looked like Wimbledon 2025 was shaping up to be a disappointing tournament for Danish tennis. But things didn\u2019t turn out that way as Clara Tauson reached the third round. However, the biggest surprise came from an unlikely source: August Holmgren. Ranked No. 192 in the world, Holmgren powered his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5454,"featured_media":86451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[43062,564,259,42272,2639,43117,6523,6457,43116,21,43094],"class_list":["post-86448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wimbledon","category-featured","tag-2025-wimbledon","tag-alex-de-minaur","tag-atp-tour","tag-august-holmgren","tag-danish-tennis","tag-frederik-nielsen","tag-grass-court-tennis","tag-tennis-news","tag-uc-san-diego-tennis","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-2025"],"modified_by":"Steen Kirby","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86448"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86452,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86448\/revisions\/86452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}