INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

May 21, 2023

Holger Rune

Press Conference

D. MEDVEDEV/H. Rune

7-5, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Holger, tough luck. What do you think made the difference today?

HOLGER RUNE: I think I was very nervous stepping into the match. Obviously came through from a great match yesterday. Maybe put too many expectations on myself, even though I told myself not to.

Yeah, he played great. He played really solid from the back of the court. The conditions were extremely slow today, I think slower than any other days.

But, yeah, credit to him. I'm happy for him. It's his first title on clay. I think he has a good future also in clay. He's a great player on all courts. Yeah, I wish him the best.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You went a lot to the net. What was the idea? Were you trying to shorten the points? Was it because of his position on the return?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, it's because of his position. He stays far back. Normally the court, it's a bit more lively as it was in Monte-Carlo, it's very effective because he hits the return higher and you have a lot of time to come in and close at the net.

Today he was good on the passes. He picked a side and he went full. He was well-prepared, yeah. I think I could have played better. Again, I mean, he managed everything better today, so well done to him.

Q. You answered already a bit, but I would like to know how tough was it to play yesterday Ruud and today Medvedev. In the first part of rally where you can usually maximize with your forehand, you couldn't do it.

HOLGER RUNE: I served probably worse today than I did the recent matches. That's also a big factor because Medvedev, he likes to grind. If he gets a chance to grind, it's going to be long rallies, as you saw some of the points were.

Obviously a good serve is helping a lot against him. Couldn't find it today. I tried to mix it up, go a bit on the side, to kick it. Again, didn't feel it. Tried to just spin it a bit more, find solutions.

I think I could have won second set. Again, he managed to fight back. He fight every point, no matter if I was up or he was up. Maybe I think I could have done better at the 5-4 game in the second set. I had an easy forehand I missed. But that's it.

Sometimes you make them, sometimes you don't.

Q. I can imagine even though you lost today, you will head to Paris with quite some confidence given this result here and some of the other results. How would you compare your feeling now to the way you went to Paris last year?

HOLGER RUNE: My feeling right now is obviously not the best. Also I have to look at it's been a good clay season so far for me. I made three finals out of four tournaments. In that way I can't complain.

As many of you guys know me now, I'm a very eager person to win titles. I've been close to. Hopefully I will learn from it.

But yeah, I mean, Paris is the main goal of the clay season. I think I had the matches that I needed to be as well-prepared as possible. Now it is the last small things I want to do better the next time I stay in these big matches.

Q. A word on Daniil. Do you see him as one of the main favorites going into the French Open?

HOLGER RUNE: I mean, I think so. I still think Novak is the main favorite for the event. He's the one with the most slams of who's playing, the most experience. Then we have Alcaraz. We have Medvedev. We have a lot of guys.

I think if I have to pick one favorite, I'll probably pick Novak. But again, it's more open because we don't have Rafa this year who has won 14 times or something like this.

For sure he's been showing good signs in this clay season, playing better and better. Yeah, for sure, I mean, I think he's one of the favorites.