Net Worth: C. $6Million
Age: 20
DOB: 29 April 2003
Birthplace: Gentofte, Denmark
Holger Rune is a professional tennis player from Denmark for whom big things are predicted. Despite only being 20 years old and a professional for just three years, he has already achieved a world ATP ranking as high as No. 4 in men’s singles, making him the highest-ranked Danish male player in history.
Currently, Rune has triumphed in four singles titles on the ATP Tour, the most prestigious of which was a Masters 1000 title which he won at the Paris Masters in 2022. He has twice reached the quarter-finals of the French Open, which has been his best performance at a Grand Slam event. As of December 19, 2023, he was ranked 8th in the world by the ATP.
During his time on the junior tour, Rune reached the number one ranking and also won an impressive ten titles on the ITF Junior Circuit, which included the 2019 French Open boys’ title. In 2020, After turning professional, he won five titles on both the ITF World Tennis and ATP Challenger Tours. He then broke into the top 100 in 2022. A few months afterwards, he made it to the final of the Bavarian International, which proved to be his first final on an ATP event. He went on to win this title and subsequently entered the top 50 as a result.
Later that year, after winning the Paris Masters, Rune made his top 10 debut and became the first player on record (since the ATP rankings began in 1973) to beat five top-10 opponents at the same event outside the ATP Finals.
Early Life
Rune was born in Gentofte, a northern suburb of Copenhagen in Denmark to parents Aneke and Anders Nødskov.
Holger also has a sister named Alma, who was the reason why he took up tennis at the age of six, as she also played. As he got older, he started taking the sport more seriously, to the point where he was coached by Lars Christensen.
Growing up, his idols were tennis players Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He also credits his mother and coach, Lars as being his biggest inspirations.
Junior Career
When he was just 11 years old in 2014, Holger Rune won the U12 Danish mixed doubles
championship with Clara Tauson. Spurred on by this success, he started to train at the Mouratoglou Academy in France in 2016.
A year later, he won the European U14 singles championship and at the age of 15, he became Denmark’s youngest male singles champion by taking out the indoor tournament held in 2019. Just a few months later, Rune triumphed over Toby Alex Kodat to clinch the 2019 French Open boys’ singles title. He also received a wildcard and won a match at the 2019 Blois ATP Challenger. At the time he was 16 years, 1 month, and 18 days old.
Later, in July 2019, he participated in the 2019 Amersfoort Challenger, where he secured his second ATP Challenger match victory. On 28 October 2019, he became the World No. 1 in ITF juniors ranking after defeating Harold Mayot to win the ITF Junior Finals. Rune also acted as a practice partner to various professional players at the 2019 ATP Finals.
Turning Pro Career
Rune turned pro in 2020 at the age of 16. He received a wildcard into the qualifying draw at the 2020 Auckland Open but lost to Vasek Pospisil in straight sets. In July 2020, he became the youngest male tennis player ever to take part in the UTS (Ultimate Tennis Showdown), where he lost to the Frenchman Corentin Moutet. Just two months later, Rune took out his maiden ITF title in Switzerland at an M25 event in Switzerland. By the time 2020 ended, he made it to another three ITF finals, triumphing in two of them.
In the beginning of 2021, Rune participated in another three ITF finals, but only won one. In March 2021, as a wildcard, he made his ATP debut at the Argentina Open. He lost his first round match to fifth seeded Albert Ramos Viñolas in three sets. At the Chile Open the next week, he was accepted into the qualifying draw as a wildcard. He promptly won the qualifying round and recorded his first win in an ATP match proper against Sebastián Báez in straight sets. He backed this up with his inaugural top-30 victory over Benoît Paire in straight sets to reach his first ATP quarter-final, where Federico Delbonis defeated him in straight sets. When he was just 17, he became the youngest quarter-finalist at an ATP Tour event since 2014.
In June 2021, Rune won a title at an ATP Challenger event for the first time. But his triumph in Biella was overshadowed by homophobic slurs he made during his semi-final match. The ATP investigated his actions and he was duly fined and reprimanded for his homophobic outburst. Despite this, the following month, he received wildcards into several clay-court events during the summer clay-court swing, including the Swedish Open, Croatia Open, and Austrian Open Kitzbühel. He went on to record some more notable wins at these competitions. This boosted his ranking to a Number 145 in August 2021, a career-high achievement, which he earned after taking out the San Marino Open and the Verona Challenger – thus making him the second youngest male player in the top 150.
In 2022, Rune made his debut at the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters, where he saved three match points in his opening match against Wawrinka. He then went on an amazing run where he beat four top ten players consecutively: Hubert Hurkacz (Number 10),Andrey Rublev (Number 9), Carlos Alcaraz (Number 1), and Félix Auger-Aliassime (No. 8), to reach his first Masters 1000 and fourth final in a row.
In what turned out to be his 18th tour-level win in 20 matches, he defeated 6th seed and world No. 7 defending champion Novak Djokovic, to secure his fifth top-10 win in a row and his first Masters 1000 title. In turn, this made him the youngest champion in Paris since the 1986 victory by Boris Becker. He also became the first male singles player to beat five top-10 opponents in the same event (excluding
the ATP Finals). As a consequence, on 7 November 2022, he broke into the top 10 in the rankings.
Current Pro Record
As of January 2024, Rune has won over US $8 million in prize money as a professional tennis player. In singles, his career record reads as 99 wins and 64 losses, which equates to a 60.7% victory percentage in main draw Grand Slam, ATP Tour and Davis Cup matches.
He has won four titles in his career so far and peaked as a career high ranking of number 4 in the world back in August 2023. His best performances in Grand Slam events are quarter-final places twice at the French Open and once at Wimbledon. He has also reached the fourth round in the Australian Open and third round at the US Open.
As a doubles player his record is 10 wins and five losses, which amounts to a 66.7% win-loss ratio.