ROLAND GARROS

June 1, 2024

Holger Rune

Press Conference

H. RUNE/J. Kovalik

7-5, 6-1, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Again, a long, long day before playing. How do you manage the situation, because it's not the first time?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, I slept, actually, during the day. So managed to get past some hours doing that.

Then just relaxed, watched a little bit of tennis, and just tried to, you know, not to stay too focused because that needs a lot of energy.

When I knew I was going to play quite soon, it was like they told me, okay, you're going to play after that match, the women's match, so I had to get ready quite fast. But that's okay because I was kind of ready the whole day to play, and I was hoping also to play today so I could get my rest tomorrow, so all good. Happy with it.

Q. How do you feel about the kind of stop-start nature of it and the court assignments you get, or are you happy to play anywhere so long as you can actually finish?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, I would say obviously happy to play on the court I was supposed to play on. I was just happy to play today because that one day off is really important. You know, you stay in the same routine as you do normally in Grand Slams, so I feel like that's important.

Obviously, a better court is better, but I'm just happy to finish today so I get the rest tomorrow.

Q. How did you feel about your performance today, and what are you expecting against Zverev?

HOLGER RUNE: I was actually much happier about my tennis today than I were in the previous matches. I think especially the second set, I raised my level, I played aggressive. The match was on my terms 100%.

It got a bit tricky at the end. You know, he played good. He showed some of the reason why he managed to beat Khachanov as well. I think I handled it good. Obviously I told myself when it was a bit tight in the third set, just get to a tiebreak, I'm not losing those.

So, yeah, no, it was good. Good match. He played well. I played well, so I'm happy.

Q. Just to the end of her question about the matchup against Zverev, how do you see that?

HOLGER RUNE: Yeah, interesting match. We played each other long time ago. The first ATP title I won I beat him on the way, so obviously I have good memories of that week and playing him.

On Monday it's going to be different match. It's the best-of-five sets. It's a Grand Slam, so obviously more tension for both of us I guess. We both want to do well. He's been playing some good tennis. I've been raising my level as well, so I'm expecting a big fight.