Holger Rune
shared a video from the Shanghai Open in his locker room, which was previously
assigned only to
Rafael Nadal and
Novak Djokovic.
The young
Danish tennis player has displayed inconsistent performance in recent months
since his quarterfinal exit at Wimbledon. Rune suffered three consecutive first-round
defeats during the North American tour. Although this week at the China Open,
he secured his first victory in two and a half months, he was eliminated in the
second round.
At 20 years
old, Rune aims to rediscover his level of play in China, especially after
facing physical complications in the Davis Cup last month, where he suffered a
back injury.
The Danish
player still has to wait a few days to compete, as his first match is scheduled
for Saturday, October 7th. He uploaded a video showcasing a tour of the
tournament's facilities.
In the
video, Rune revealed a digital wall that displayed a timeline of when the
locker room was assigned to the players, with the list only including the two
tennis legends Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who used this locker room on
various occasions from 2005 to 2019.
"How
cool is this locker room," wrote Holger Rune on his Twitter/X handle.
In Nadal's
case, his best performances in Shanghai were reaching the finals in 2009 and
2017, but he couldn't secure the title, losing to Nikolay Davydenko and Roger
Federer, respectively. On the other hand, Djokovic has won the title four
times: in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2018, boasting a record of 34 wins and 5 losses
in the tournament.
Rune's
recent inconsistent results have led to his drop from the world No. 4 ranking
to the 6th position, falling behind Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Similarly,
Rune entered the Shanghai tournament as the third seed and has a bye in the
first round, so he is still awaiting his opponent from the match between
Bernabé Zapata Miralles (72nd) and Brandon Nakashima (123rd).