"I also cramped the first time I played Novak Djokovic" - Holger Rune sympathizes with Carlos Alcaraz's injury in French Open 2023 SF loss to Serb

Holger Rune recently gave his thoughts on Novak Djokovic getting the better of the younger generation at this year's Grand Slam tournaments.

Rune, ranked eighth in the world, defeated the in-form Roman Safiullin 6-4, 7-6(0) to reach the final of the 2024 Brisbane International on Saturday (January 6).

The Dane has been in great form ever since employing six-time Major winner Boris Becker as his coach last September. However, the 20-year-old believes that he and his peers like Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner must end World No. 1 Novak Djokovic's monopoly of the ATP tour.

Speaking to a British daily, Rune expressed his views about whether the chasing pack will catch up to Novak Djokovic anytime soon. He insisted that matching the Serb shot-for-shot in five sets was a difficult task, so much so that he had suffered cramps during their first-ever encounter at the 2021 US Open.

Coincidentally, Carlos Alcaraz had also cramped during his four-set semifinal loss against Djokovic at last year's French Open.

“I also cramped the first time I played Novak so I can relate to that. It’s not abnormal," Holger Rune told inews.co.uk. "We’ve got to step up. We’ve got to do it not just one time... Sinner beat him, but he is still winning three out of four Grand Slams and maybe he almost won Wimbledon also."

The promising Dane added that his generation is not ready to replace Djokovic at the top of the sport yet.

"So we’re not there yet. We need to be there and do everything we can to get him out of there. I know it’s going to take a lot of work and I’ve been doing my work in the pre-season so far, and been really, really willing to improve," he added.

"You have massive respect" - Holger Rune on Novak Djokovic and other veterans on ATP tour

Holger Rune finished inside the ATP top 10 for the second time this year

Holger Rune also extended his respect towards the veterans on tour during the interview. The Dane quipped that playing against them felt "weird" since he had spent his formative years looking up to them.

"You have massive respect and you have been watching them on TV for a very long time so it feels weird the first time to play them, to actually be on the court with them," Rune said.

However, he did concede that vying for honors against the more experienced players motivated him to improve his game even more.

"But it’s nice because it’s like ‘wow I’m actually getting at that level’ and then you realize that you are not on that level," he added. "So then you’ve got to go back to do the work and then when you finally start to beat them and start to compete with them more and more close, it feels different.”

Holger Rune and Grigor Dimitrov are currently contesting the Brisbane International final, with the Bulgarian taking the first set in a tiebreak.