Holger Rune, the other crack of the Alcaraz generation

• Holger Rune plays his first quarter-final at Roland-Garros this Wednesday against the Norwegian Casper Ruud.

• The 19-year-old Dane is part of the same generation as Carlos Alcaraz.

• The two players embody the new wave that is sweeping Roland-Garros this year.

At Roland Garros

The video dates from 2017. Published on Twitter on Monday, we can easily distinguish the young faces of Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune talking to each other in the middle of a doubles match during the Petits As de Tarbes.

At the time, the two kids, then 14 years old, were not yet the uninhibited monsters who marked the spirits in this Roland-Garros.

If the Spaniard ended up breaking his teeth on Tuesday in the quarters against Zverev (4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7), the Dane can still dream of the last four provided he gets rid of the Norwegian on Wednesday Casper Ruud, 8th player in the world.

The stunning but ultimately logical result of a rise to the highest level.

.@alcarazcarlos03 and @holgerrune2003 playing together in doubles at the @LesPetitsAs 2017 tournament, at 13 years old.

Five later, they are both in the quarter-finals of Roland-Garros at 19 years old.

🎥 @LesPetitsAs #RolandGarros #RolandGarros2022 pic.twitter.com/B7L1tyOGPt

— Tennis Legend (@TennisLegende) May 31, 2022

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"At that time, Rune had better results because Alcaraz was too playful"

Five years after the double of the Petits As, the Croatian Lovre Erceg, one of the two opponents of this match won 6-2, 6-4 by the two geniuses, remembers.

“Until I was 15, we played a lot of tournaments together.

But afterwards, they took a big leap forward in their careers.

I started playing against Alcaraz in U10.

We immediately saw that he was apart.

He was already very fast and used drop shots a lot.

But at that time, Rune had better results because Alcaraz was too playful, ”says the one who has not seen his career take off as quickly as the Spaniard and the Dane.

Yet in 2022, the trend has reversed.

Of the two 19-year-old players, if Rune was crowned junior world champion three years ago, it is Alcaraz who will have been earlier among the big boys.

Winner this year of two Masters 1000 (Miami, Madrid) and the Rio and Barcelona tournaments, the Spaniard, 6th player in the world, even landed with the sign of a big outsider in Paris before being eliminated Tuesday evening in the quarter-finals .

Fined for homophobic remarks

Unlike Alcaraz, Rune arrived more discreetly at Roland-Garros.

Last year, his arrival on the circuit even caused a big controversy.

In June 2021, during a challenger tournament in Italy, the kid was investigated by the ATP for homophobic remarks.

In the semi-finals against the Argentinian, Rune got angry in the middle of the match and yelled in Danish at his opponent: “You are a shitty player and you play like a fag”.

Words which obviously caused an uproar and prompted the Dane to apologize in stride in a press release and on Instagram.

“I'm really sorry if I offended anyone by using inappropriate terms.

I hope that people will accept my apologies and, of course, this will not happen again”, wrote Rune, finally sanctioned with a fine of 1,500 euros.

It has been gaining momentum for several weeks

Since this incident, the kid, who trains in the South in the Mouratoglou academy, has taken a little more lead in the head and started to gain strength.

Winner of his first ATP tournament in Munich at the end of April, the 40th player in the world has gained confidence.

Before taking the Porte d'Auteuil light by hitting Stefanos Tsitsipas, finalist last year, in the round of 16.

What provoke the enthusiasm of Cédric Pioline.

“There is a little less light on him than the Spaniard but he is doing a magnificent course.

He is riding very strong too, there is something that has been released not long ago, during his victory in Munich.

He has a lot of confidence, of desire.

I really like his attitude, his game, this audacity he has on the court, ”explains the former French double finalist in the Grand Slam.

“He has such energy, such a desire to perform.

We talk a lot about Alcaraz in this generation but Rune is a great player, who hits very hard, ”adds Marc Barbier, coach of a Hugo Gaston torn up in the third round by the Dane (6-3, 6-3, 6-3).

A breath of fresh air in tennis

Whether it's Rune or Alcaraz, the witnesses interviewed all swoon over their spectacular games.

The strength of youth according to Henri Leconte “They make the game evolve because they are not afraid of anything.

They serve well, go to the net and attack.

They also realized that the drop shot was not a defensive shot but an attack shot.

They may be a little too much sometimes but it destabilizes everyone.

There is recklessness and recklessness sometimes makes for fantastic matches, ”launches the former Davis Cup winner.

Same excitement on the side of Cédric Pioline “It's great, there's a breath of fresh air coming.

It's great for tennis this mixture of old players installed with these young people who arrive and who shake up everything.

It remains to be seen whether the robbery of the century is possible this year.

Alcaraz will have to do it again next year to break the bank.

But Holger Rune still has some serious arguments to make by Sunday to achieve his childhood dream. 

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• Roland Garros 2022

• Carlos Alcaraz

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