Former world No. 4 Holger Rune shares his main goal for his comeback match on Friday.
Richard PagliaroSeptember 17, 20263 minute learn
By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, September 17, 2026
Picture credit score: Davis Cup Fb
Holger Rune’s lengthy and winding comeback street takes him again to the place the place all of it started.
Dwelling.
Former world No. 4 Rune makes his return tomorrow representing Denmark in its Davis Cup World Group 1 tie towards visiting Bulgaria. Rune will face Bulgaria’s Iliyan Radulov within the second singles match on the laborious court docket of the Royal Stage in Hillerød, Denmark.
Rune, who spent a part of August coaching with former world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in Spain, stated he’s pumped to play once more with one main goal: Have a “f–king nice time.” In an interview with long-time tennis journalist Nicholas Albek of SpilXperten.
“We’ve talked somewhat throughout the crew about what the expectations are, however a very powerful factor for me will probably be to have a fucking nice time,” Rune instructed Nicholas Albek of SpilXperten. “Hopefully, this would be the solely time in my profession that I’m out for such a protracted interval, so it’s about having fun with it now.
“Davis Cup can be a great alternative to check my stage and see the place I really stand. These are actual matches, there are extra nerves concerned, and we are able to actually learn the way the physique reacts to precise competitors.”
Rune concedes he’ll really feel the jitters, but in addition may have the assist of Danish followers.
The week main as much as these Davis Cup matches has been actually thrilling, and now I’m simply extremely excited.”
“In fact I’m nervous. There are a whole lot of butterflies in my abdomen now that I’m lastly going on the market to compete once more, so it’ll be thrilling to see the place I’m at,” Rune instructed Nicholas Albek of SpilXperten. “All through my entire life, I’ve been used to performing underneath stress, so it feels pure, however to do it on Danish soil in entrance of Danish spectators couldn’t be higher.”
“I’ve felt actually good in coaching, however no one is aware of the place I actually stand till tomorrow’s match. No less than that is the correct time for me to check myself.”
Rune appears to have recovered from a ruptured Achilles tendon he suffered final October and a knee harm he sustained earlier this yr. The Danish baseliner stated his stage is rising every week.
“I really feel like I’m getting higher daily — this week as properly,” Rune instructed Nicholas Albek of SpilXperten. “I performed higher on Tuesday than I did on Monday, and higher on Wednesday than on Tuesday, so hopefully it’ll be good tomorrow, however we’ll see.”
Former Paris Masters champion Rune had been rehabbing at Aspetar Hospital in Qatar earlier on this summer season then hung out coaching on the Mouratoglou Academy earlier than sharing the apply court docket with Alcaraz in Spain. Rune stated he thought-about taking part in the US Open, however was not sure if he was prepared for best-of-five-set matches.
“I educated with Carlos Alcaraz in Murcia to see if I may prepare for the US Open, and I might need been in a position to play, however I don’t know if I’d have been in a position to deal with five-set matches day in and day trip, so we determined it was higher to take a pair extra weeks,” Rune stated. “Since then, I’ve educated rather a lot and educated laborious, so I couldn’t have achieved extra. Now it’s solely about how I deal with the nerves, which may clearly have an effect on the physique as properly.
“I would like the ambiance to be rowdy tomorrow. I’m prepared for that. That’s one of many issues that’s completely improbable concerning the Davis Cup. Now I get to play at house in entrance of a whole lot of Danes, which goes to be actually cool.”
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