Holger Rune answered some questions from Bolavip after his match against Marton Fucsovics in Stockholm, and here he talked about his collaboration with Andre Agassi and a possible return to tennis for Nick Kyrgios.
When looking at the ATP leaderboard, which shows stats from the different seasons, Rune’s return rating has gone significantly up and in that aspect of the game he ranks as number 27 in the last 52 weeks compared to number 63 in 2024.
That is something that Rune has noticed as well, and now he says that Andre Agassi loved the Dane’s return when they practised together in Washington during the summer.
‘Agassi loved my return’
Rune points out that he knew he was underperforming on his return last season, which is why he and his team were putting a lot of effort into that part of his game in the pre-season.
“I’ve always felt that my return has been really good and one of my biggest strengths. It had a bit of a downfall last year, where I didn’t return as well as I know I can. But especially in the last pre-season, we put a lot of work into the return game to improve the statistics, as you also pointed out,” Rune says and continues:
“It’s always nice to see that the things you work on are improving. I’m also starting to gain more and more confidence to put a bit more weight into my returns and try to put more pressure on the opponent’s second serve.”
Agassi was arguably the best returner of his time and still stands as one of the greatest ever in that discipline, and Rune revealed that the American in particular liked that part of his game.
“Agassi and I talked a lot about my return when we trained together. He really loved it,” he added. “As you say, he had an absolutely insane return, so we could really have some good conversations. Right now, though, I’m mostly in contact with my own team and the people who are close to me.”
Nick Kyrgios coming back would be good for tennis
“Nick Kyrgios has always been very nice to me, so we’ve always had a really good relationship. I don’t know if he’s coming back, but it would be good for tennis because he’s always had some very exciting matches.”
“His top level, back when he played against Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, was insanely high, so you have to respect that,” Rune said. “I know he’s struggling a lot with his body, so that’s probably the biggest thing he has to overcome. Whether he does or not, time will tell.”
In 2023 the two of them had an exhibition match planned, however Kyrgios was forced to cancel as he got an injury in his foot. For now, a new exhibition match is not planned between the two, but Rune seems ready for the challenge.
“We haven’t talked about a new exhibition match, although that would be fun. I ended up playing one against Monfils instead. Insanely cool guy, whom unfortunately we’ll only get to see for one more year on the Tour,” Rune ends to Bolavip.
On Friday, the Dane is facing Argentinian Tomas Martin Etcheverry. They have faced each other three times, but only one time on the ATP Tour, which Rune won in a very close match in Basel.