AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 14, 2025

Holger Rune

Press Conference

H. RUNE/Zhang Zhizhen

4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Holger, obviously being a five-setter is tough. How do you manage your motivation when you know there's so many momentum shifts?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, it was a long match. Yeah, a lot of, as you say, different momentum shifts in the match.

First set was a bit rusty, but the next two sets I was playing well. I think I was on him a lot. Then the fourth he stepped up. I lost focus quickly. In the fifth, I think it's all about who fight the most.

I think I did well. I played some good tennis when it mattered. Good to start the tournament with a long match. I think you get a lot of rallies, you get a lot of rhythm. I played allot. So that's a nice feeling, actually.

Physically I know I'm going to recover for next match. So that's not going to be a problem. Yeah, just good to get in a rhythm again.

Q. I'm going to ask you about Novak. Novak told us that you sent him a picture of arena in Copenhagen. Can you visualize the match against Novak in Copenhagen? I know it's a little bit far from here, but can you visualize it? How can you imagine that moment in your home country?

HOLGER RUNE: It would be amazing if we could get that match against each other there in Copenhagen. It was actually, before I played Casper in the exhibition in Copenhagen, I got to know that we're going to play Serbia. I was crossing fingers it was going to be in the same arena. Luckily it is.

So, yeah, it's going to be a pleasure to host Serbia in our country. Both Novak, Kecmanovic, whoever is going to come, great players, great guys. That's going to be a lot of fun.

Us as a team, I believe we also have strong characters on our team. Definitely should be an interesting battle.

Q. You've beaten Matteo twice already. He's your next opponent. Does that give you a lot of confidence going into the second round? Anything you'll do in particular in that match to get the better of him again?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, I mean, Matteo is a great player. I think it's obviously different conditions here. It's best-of-five sets. That's going to change a little bit.

We had good matches last year. Both three-set matches we played. Won both. Definitely tight matches and small things that made the result on my side. I think I'm looking forward to it now. Rest, recover, get ready. Look also into also the statistic, where I can hurt him the most. Just looking forward.