THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 8, 2023

Holger Rune

Press Conference

H. RUNE/A. Davidovich Fokina

6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English.

Q. What's the emotions after that? It dragged you to such extremes, didn't it, the whole match?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, it was a crazy match. I thought that I started very well, played very good in the end of the first set. Was returning every return, you know, close to the baseline and taking advantage of the point.

After that it was tough to be down 2-1 in sets, but I told myself that there is not Wimbledon every week, so just push until the end.

Q. Then to be facing underarm serve at that point, how did you drag yourself back into that tiebreak?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, that was crazy. That was very unexpected, for sure.

I don't know. In a way, it nice, because he was serving really well during the match. But also, you know, it's pressure, because imagine I missed that one. That would feel awful.

So it was good and bad. Luckily I stayed clutch in important moments and managed to win.

Q. From the best of your knowledge, if you were 8-5 up in the match tiebreak, would you do an underarm serve?

HOLGER RUNE: 8-5 or 8-All?

Q. No, if you were 8-5.

HOLGER RUNE: No. No, I wouldn't do it. But again, every player has a different style. You know, I mean, if he made it, it would have been the right shot. It's tough to say.

But yeah, I wouldn't have done it. I thought that I would trust my serve and go big, also like I did in the match points, the match point I saved. I think it's different from person to person.

Q. On that point, you seemed to pick it really, really quickly, almost as if you were prepared for it. Just talk us through the reaction and getting to that ball.

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, it was obviously surprising, but I don't think he even bounced the ball, so I was, like, I was aware that something was different.

Then when I saw it, I just ran for it and tried to hit it where he wasn't there. I mean, I choose to go cross. That was the right way. Yeah, I was maybe a little bit lucky, but I'm happy to be through.

Q. Let's talk a little bit about grass and your main adjustments, positioning-wise and also technically.

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, so mainly like the footwork has been like a big adjustment for me, how to move and how to stay balanced on the grass.

I think I have been doing well. I feel like I'm strong in the corners. That's like the main tricky thing is to stay balanced when you're far out of position.

Last year I didn't do well. I was falling almost every time. This year I have done a lot better.

You know, as I said also, trusting my game, playing the same game as I play on hard court and clay, coming forward, hitting my shots, and also not thinking too much about if it's grass or hard court, because if you start to think too much it's going to get in your head and it's not good for you.

Q. To practice that speciality, the movement, what kind of exercises did you do specifically?

HOLGER RUNE: I did a lot with my fitness coach. We did a lot like with the football that I had to throw and do a lot of small step before I was throwing that, just to be like more like aware that I had to do more adjustment steps.

Because on grass if you run full and you just stop and you expect to come back, you have a chance to slide. Then you lose the balance. So we worked a lot on the small steps before the shot and after the shots to be able to recover quick.

Q. Wimbledon is planning on replacing human line officials with artificial intelligence.

HOLGER RUNE: Like automatic line call?

Q. Automatic live line call. What's your take on such a big change?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, I think it's great, to be honest. You know, every mistake that could happen, makes that to zero, I think.

You know, they have it in almost every hard court tournament nowadays, and I think for the players it's also very nice. It's very simple. You don't question anything. You just play and if it's out, you can see it in slow motion or whatever.

I know that the line umpire and everything here is a big tradition. Yeah, I think that, you know, if they change, I wouldn't mind.

Q. So that's two super-tiebreaks you have now won at Grand Slam level. Just huge stakes, huge pressure. What does that do to your self-belief and self-confidence knowing that if you get into that situation again, not only in a super-tiebreak but you're down match points, it must be huge for your confidence?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, I think I learned my lesson in Australia actually against Rublev. That was a very heartbreaking loss for me. It was tough, but, you know, often from these matches you learn the most. I definitely learned how to stay cooler and play better in this situation.

You know, I did change something from that, you know, match, in that match tiebreak to the other two I played. It's going well. Like, I'm telling myself to be brave and not to put too much pressure on myself, because if you put big pressure on yourself and then you lose, it hurts so much. Just to be free. If I lose, I want to lose the right way.