Holger Rune says that he reached out to Andre Agassi for some ‘extra input’, and feels that he can reach the world No 1 spot, challenging Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The former world No 4 is next scheduled to participate at Citi DC Open, an ATP 500 tournament, and was intriguingly spotted practising whilst being watched by eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi.
Rune is currently coached by Kenneth Carlsen and Lars Christensen, whilst Patrick Mouratoglou was formerly part of the team.
“I reached out to him [Agassi] some months ago,” Rune said to Tennis.com, on the eve of the Washington event.
“He’s an amazing man, first of all, and he’s very wise, as well. He sees the game in a unique way that I’ve never experienced before.
“I thought now was a good moment to reach out to Agassi because my base is back and I’m playing well again. When you’re changing coaches a lot, you don’t play as well because you’re not following one opinion or a single structure.
“I thought this was the right time to get some extra input. It’s not anything magic, but he obviously had some very wise words I can use.”
The Dane has struggled for form in the last 18 months, with his season highlight occurring through reaching the showpiece match at the Indian Wells Masters – losing out to Jack Draper.
Rune reached the fourth round at both the Australian Open and the French Open, before being defeated by Nicholas Jarry in his first match at Wimbledon.
“If you’re happy to stick around and be No. 5, 10, 15, or 20 in the world, some players can do that without doing more. My goal was always to be No. 1; it still is, and I believe I can do it,” Rune adamantly stated.
“I also believe there’s a few things I need to do differently. That’s one of the reasons why I reached out to Andre, to hear his point of view.”
Rune is just one month older than world No 2 Carlos Alcaraz and nearly two years younger than world No 1 Jannik Sinner.
Despite the comparable age, their results in the Grand Slams have been anything but, with the Spaniard and Italian winning all of the last seven Grand Slams – clashing in both the French Open and Wimbledon final this season.
Rune, as ever, is not one to be easily disheartened by relatively poor results and, instead, has a strong conviction that his level is ‘not far away’ from the world’s two best players.
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“I think [the gap] is very distant for some, but for some others, they’re not that far away [from Sinner and Alcaraz],” Rune analysed.
“I’m going to include myself when I say we’re not that far away. I see my high end of tennis to be really, really high, so I just have to lift the button, really, and stay more consistent to win more matches. I do need to stop feeling like I need to play spectacular tennis all the time to beat them.”
At the moment, Rune fills the world No 8 spot and is more than 6300 points behind Alcaraz – with Sinner 8500 ahead.
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