Holger Rune reveals his 'main favourite' for Roland Garros

May 24, 2023

ATP Tennis Players, Roland Garros, Tennis News

Holger Rune reveals his ‘main favourite’ for Roland Garros

Holger Rune has declared who he believes is the ‘main favourite’ for Roland Garros, despite having a winning record over them.

Rune reached his second clay Masters 1000 final of the season in Rome, but fell at the final hurdle to a Russian again.

The Dane was beaten by Daniil Medvedev in the Italian capital, but has risen to a career-high of No.6 in the ATP rankings.

Putting in the work today ? congrats Medvedev ? https://t.co/byZ8FpRRir

— Holger Rune (@holgerrune2003) May 21, 2023

Following his defeat in Rome, Rune revealed that he thinks Novak Djokovic is the favourite to win his third Roland Garros title this year.

“I still think Novak is the main favourite for the event. He’s the one with the most slams of who’s playing and the most experience,” said Rune.

The 20-year-old continued to speak about other contenders, “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 [Nadal] this year.”

Rune made his best Grand Slam performance to date at Roland Garros last year, reaching the quarter-final before losing to runner-up Casper Ruud, and he has spoken about what he needs to do to be ‘as well-prepared as possible’.

“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,” explained Rune.

Holger Rune vs Novak Djokovic head-to-head

While Rune has Djokovic as his favourite for the second major of the year, the Dane does actually have a positive head-to-head over the Serb.

In-fact the 20-year-old is one of only three players to have faced the 22-time Grand Slam champion on multiple occasions and have a winning record, with Nick Kyrgios and Jiri Vesely being the other two.

Here is Holger Rune and Novak Djokovic’s head-to-head so far:

Rune vs Djokovic: 2-1

2021 – Djokovic beat Rune, 6-1 6(5)-7 6-2 6-1 (US Open First Round)

2022 – Rune beat Djokovic, 3-6 6-3 7-5 (Paris Masters Final)

2023 – Rune beat Djokovic, 6-2 4-6 6-2 (Italian Open Quarter-Final)