"My dream is not to be movie star obviously. It's to be the best tennis player," says Holger Rune.
By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, January 17, 2023

All the world's a stage and Holger Rune is excited expanding his star-rising role.

Nineteen-year-old Rune swept Serbia's Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 to score his first career Australian Open win.

Welcome Bash: Djokovic Thrills in AO Return

An assertive Rune broke serve seven times raising his Grand Slam record to 6-5.

"I think I played very aggressive. You know, that's what I'm working on with the team," Rune told the media in Melbourne. "We did a lot in the offseason to keep trying to come to the net and stuff, and I think it suits my game well, and I like to play that way."

The two-hour, three-minute triumph came on the same day Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic made a triumphant return to Melbourne Park with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-0 dismissal of Roberto Carballes Baena to land in the AO second round for the 16th time.

Last fall, Rune stunned Djokovic to capture the Rolex Paris Masters championships.

Despite dramatically different conditions in the searing Australian heat, Rune says his Paris run fuels his Melbourne confidence.

"It's different, but obviously Paris gave me a lot of confidence, knowing that I could, you know, beat these top guys at one of the best tournaments we have in the world," Rune said. "I feel good. I feel like I have a lot of confidence."

It's not a stretch to imagine a Rune run down under. If seeds hold true to form, the ninth-seeded Rune would face fifth-seeded Andrey Rublev in the fourth round with the winner potentially playing nine-time champion Djokovic in the quarterfinals.

Players know how dangerous Rune is and now producers are taking notice.

Rune revealed he's a big fan of the Netflix series Break Point and is now a participant in the show with a camera crew in tow for his Melbourne match.

"We are already starting to do it. They are filming a little bit," Rune said. "I think the plan is to do some filming for my next match as well.

"I'm excited to do it. I think it's going to be great. It's good for tennis. It's good for us players. And I think more fans we can get into the sport, it's better. I'm just very positive about it."

Life as a budding Netflix star hasn't caused Rune to lose sight of the plot: win a Grand Slam and compete for world No. 1.

"My dream is not to be movie star obviously. It's to be the best tennis player," Rune said. 

In an ideal world, perhaps Rune can succeed in both roles someday: Grand Slam champion and compelling character in tennis growth.

Photo credit: Getty

The Scot is proud of his performance and – for once – not being so critical. By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday January 17, 2023

It's no secret. It hasn’t been easy for Andy Murray in recent years. The Scot has suffered through a litany of difficult losses and injuries as he has tried to make a push back up the rankings. He went from No.1 in the rankings in July of 2017 to outside of the Top 800 a year later, as he underwent right hip surgeries in January 2018 and January 2019.

So what were Murray's prevailing sentiments after notching his biggest win at a Slam since 2017 on Tuesday in Melbourne? Pride – and relief.

“I think the last few years, I've certainly questioned myself at times,” he said after defeating 13th-seeded Matteo Berrettini in Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. “There's certainly a lot of people questioned me and my ability, whether I could still perform at the biggest events and the biggest matches.”

Murray, who notched his 50th Australian Open victory on Tuesday (he is fifth on the all-time men's singles wins list in Melbourne), expressed an immense sense of pride in his work.

“I felt very proud of myself after the match,” he said. “That's not something that I generally felt over the years at the end of the tennis matches.”

The former World No.1 put in a hard three-week training block with coach Ivan Lendl and members of his team in Florida this winter, and he feels that the efforts are being rewarded. He went four hours and 49 minutes with Berrettini on Tuesday and finished far stronger than his 26-year-old adversary.

“I think I'm proud of the work that I put in the last few months. I trained really hard over in Florida getting ready to play here. I'm really proud of how I fought through that match at the end, like I said, when it could have gotten away from me, how I played in the tiebreak at the end.”

It doesn’t happen often these days – the uber critical Murray seems to prefer to berate rather than praise himself – but on this night, he was impressed with his performance.

“I was impressed with myself, which again is not something… I'm hard on myself usually. Tonight I need to give myself some credit because the last few years have been tough. I've lost a few of those matches, those types of matches, in the slams the last couple years, whether that's the Tsitsipas match or whatever, Isner at Wimbledon. That one could have gone the other way tonight, but I stayed strong and I deserved to win.”