“You need to be a little bit crazy to do crazy things in sports”: Danish tennis superstar Holger Rune is on a quest to be world number one

It’s an off-day amidst the Australian Open for Danish tennis star Holger Rune and, following a first-round victory, he’s “feeling good”. “I had a good match and I’m happy,” he says, his boyish smile filling my screen. What does a mid-tournament off-day look like for Rune? A little sleep-in, an “easy morning”, breakfast, an hour on the court. “Mainly just trying to keep the body fresh and mentally rest a bit,” he says, noting that yesterday’s match against Yoshihito Nishioka was a long one – three hours and 29 minutes in the dry Melbourne heat, to be exact. “It’s important to switch off a little bit.”

It’s the first Grand Slam of the season and Rune has more eyes on him than ever. Currently ranked number four in men’s singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), the 20-year-old is the highest-ranked male Dane in ATP’s history. Adding to his celebrity status, he also stars in the second season of Netflix tennis docuseries Break Point, which landed on the streamer last week. “I haven’t watched it yet,” he says. “Obviously my family thinks it’s great but, you know, it’s family… But I also heard from some other people that they enjoyed watching it. So I’m happy about that.”

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Tennis isn’t necessarily the sport most closely associated with Denmark – it’s more of a football and handball sort of nation. But just as fellow Scandinavian Casper Ruud has brought a surge in tennis enthusiasm to Norway, Rune aims to raise excitement around his sport back home. “I started playing football at the same time as I was playing tennis, but I wasn’t a big fan of team sports, to be honest,” he says. While both of Rune’s parents have been supportive of their son’s aspirations from day one (namely, to be the number one tennis player in the world), it’s his mother, Aneke, who has taken the most active role in her son’s career, travelling with him to all of his tournaments. She’s an animated presence at his matches, not to mention a charming character on Break Point. Rune’s big sister, Alma, a model signed to Danish agency Scoop, can also be found in the Holger cheering section.

“My mum always told me to do it with passion or not at all,” Rune says. “I think it’s very important to really show that you want it but also be really hungry inside to improve and achieve the things you want to achieve.” To say Rune plays with passion is an understatement. This is a player who wears his emotions on his sleeve and isn’t shy to state his ambition to be the best – a characteristic that isn’t especially Danish. “The Danish players that we had in the past had a very different character than I have,” he says. “I feel Danish, but probably with my attitude I’m less Danish, which is so far, so good. Not to sound cocky, but I’m the best so far.” Those well-documented on-court highs and lows are all part of Rune’s recipe for success. “I think you need to be a little bit crazy to do crazy things in sports in general,” he says.

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Having picked up the racket at six years old, Rune knew pretty early on that he was better than the kids around him. “When you’re young, you’re playing in your age group and I often played with guys who were one or two years older to be challenged,” he said. As he got older, he outgrew his local opponents and started travelling to tournaments (he found a worthy adversary in Carlos Alcaraz, the former world number one. Born just six days apart, the two superstars first crossed paths on the junior tour when they were 11) . In the juniors, he reached world number one.

Rune, who’s been signed to Nike since he was 12, is developing a signature on-court aesthetic. His preference is a monochromatic look. “If I go black on top, I want to go black shorts,” he says. This preference was exemplified at last year’s Italian Open, at which he matched the clay court in a rust orange Nike fit to defeat Novak Djokovic in the quarter-finals. He’s open to mix it up from time to time, but prefers to keep the colours “pretty clean” – navy blue, green, white. “Not too colourful,” he says. Today he wears a white zip-up, the little swoosh on the chest just visible in the video frame.

Off-court, Rune is a watch guy. His favourite piece at the moment? “Well, I’m sponsored by Rolex,” he says. “The baby blue Daytona is pretty cool.”

These days when he isn’t on tour, Rune splits his time between his native Copenhagen and Monaco. “I’m probably more in Monaco because of the facilities. There are a lot of players there to practise with so it’s very convenient,” he says. “But Denmark is something special. It’s where I grew up and all my family still lives there.” When he’s home he’ll occasionally indulge in a fresh Danish pastry (“They’re dangerous because they’re so good – it’s not good for an athlete”). As for how he’d spend a dream day off in his hometown? He smiles and says, “I’d probably play some padel.”