Rune Explains Why Wozniacki ‘Was A Big Inspiration’

The day before Holger Rune flew to Toronto to begin his North American hard-court swing, he practised with a special training partner: Caroline Wozniacki, who last week in Montreal returned to action for the first time since the 2020 Australian Open.

Wozniacki inspired Rune and many other children in Denmark by reaching World No. 1 and winning a major title at the 2018 Australian Open.

“My first memory of her is watching her from TV and she was playing all the tournaments and we were on the couch, all the family, watching her,” Rune told ATPTour.com. “The memory that stands out was when she won the Australian Open. We were all watching. It was crazy to watch a Danish player win a Grand Slam in an incredible match, so it was a big inspiration.”

At the time, Rune was a 14-year-old with big dreams. Following in Wozniacki’s footsteps, he has proven himself one of the best players in the world. On Monday, he cracked the top five in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time at World No. 5.

On Sunday afternoon at the Western & Southern Open, the Danish stars spent time together for a special interview. During the session, Wozniacki praised her countryman’s efforts.

“It’s just been awesome to see the quick progression that Holger’s been making and now obviously being top five in the world is so special,” Wozniacki said. “It’s such a small country, so when anyone does something big in sports or in anything else, you always root for them and it’s just been so fun to watch Holger just consistently play so well.”

Holger Rune and Caroline Wozniacki spend time together in Cincinnati before the start of the Western & Southern Open.” />
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For his part, Rune has been impressed by Wozniacki’s successful return to action. The former World No. 1 is competing in the second tournament of her comeback in Cincinnati, where she first played 18 years ago. Rune was two years old at the time.

“It’s difficult after three years without tennis to come back and win matches. It’s a big, big thing to do,” Rune said. “For sure I think she’s playing really well, to be honest.”

Wozniacki later said: “He also kicked my butt a couple of weeks ago.”

“I don’t know about that!” Rune quickly replied.

“I’ve been on the other side of the ball and it’s coming at you really fast,” Wozniacki added.

“She has an incredible backhand, but obviously men’s and women’s tennis is very different,” Rune said of Wozniacki’s game. “Her backhand and her fighting spirit I feel are her two best qualities. It took her to World No. 1 and Grand Slam champion.”

Rune was outside the world’s Top 850 when Wozniacki played the 2020 Australian Open. Now the 20-year-old is making a mark of his own.

“Nobody ever won a Grand Slam in singles in Denmark. So to see her do it was like, ‘Okay, maybe I can also do it one day’,” Rune said. “It just makes the belief more real if you see somebody do it.”