Rune ready for French Open: “I’ve had the matches I needed to be as well-prepared as possible”

The Dane has reached three finals in four clay-court events this year

Inside/Panoramic

May 22, 2023

Holger Rune is a man in a hurry, his sights set on winning as many titles as he can and becoming the world No 1, preferably as soon as possible.

The young Dane missed out on the Italian Open crown on Sunday thanks to the resilience of Daniil Medvedev, who recovered from a break down at 5-4 in the second set as he clinched his first clay-court title with a 7-5, 7-5 win.

In great company. 🇩🇰🤝🇪🇸

At 20 years, 22 days old, @holgerrune2003 is the youngest player to reach the Rome final since Rafael Nadal (19) won the title in 2006.@InteBNLdItalia | #IBI23 pic.twitter.com/LXR5N7lptN
— ATP Tour (@atptour) May 21, 2023

Rune was downhearted in the immediate aftermath but still found a bit of perspective.

“I have to look at it’s (that it’s) been a good clay season so far for me,” the 20-year-old said. “I made three finals out of four tournaments. In that way I can’t complain.”

Rune won in Munich and reached the final of two Masters 1000s, in Monte-Carlo and Rome. Ranked No 6, he’ll fancy his chances of going deep at Roland-Garros, where he won the junior title and where last year, he reached the quarter-finals on his main draw debut.

“As many of you guys know me now, I’m a very eager person to win titles,” he said. “I’ve been close to. Hopefully I will learn from it.

“But…Paris is the main goal of the clay season. I think I had the matches that I needed to be as well-prepared as possible. Now it is the last small things I want to do better the next time I stay in these big matches.”

Rune: Medvedev’s one of the favourites in Paris

Medvedev’s first clay-court title is a huge turnaround for the Russian, who lost in the first round each year at Rolabd-Garros before making the last eight in 2022.

Rune said he feels Medvedev can be a contender in Paris, but would not make him the overall favourite.

“I still think Novak (Djokovic) is the main favourite for the event,” he said. “He’s the one with the most slams of who’s playing, the most experience. Then we have (Carlos) Alcaraz. We have Medvedev. We have a lot of guys.

“I think if I have to pick one favourite, I’ll probably pick Novak. But again, it’s more open because we don’t have Rafa this year who has won 14 times. For sure (Medvedev) has been showing good signs in this clay season, playing better and better. For sure, I think he’s one of the favourites.”