"That’s the mindset a top-10 player like him should have": Former Wimbledon doubles champion believes Rune should believe in grass court chances

Frederik Lochte Nielsen recently expressed his belief in Holger Rune's chances of winning Wimbledon.

As a fellow countryman of Rune and a former doubles champion at the prestigious grass-court tournament in 2012, along with Jonathan Marray, Nielsen shared his opinion.

Despite acknowledging that grass is not Rune's best surface, Nielsen believes that the level of tennis the 20-year-old has displayed recently is enough to consider him a contender for the trophy.

“I am completely sure that Holger always enters a tournament to win. That also applies to Wimbledon,” Nielsen said to SpiXperten.

“He has a level where it is indeed possible, even though theoretically he is not expected to peak until he is 26 years old,” he added.

“It will be exciting to see what he can achieve, but he always enters a tournament with the goal of winning it, and that’s the mindset a top-10 player like him should have.”

“Holger is such a good tennis player that his problem will never be playing tennis,” Nielsen said.

“However, it’s clear that grass is probably the surface he is least accustomed to because it’s only played on for a short time each year.”

“For Holger, it’s about getting a lot of quantity on the court. He needs matches, and fortunately, he has had them in London, where things have already gone significantly better than last year, which is only natural given how much he has progressed,” he added.”

Rune competed this week at the Queen's Club Championship, where he lost in the semifinals to Alex de Minaur. Last year, he didn't make it past the first round at Wimbledon, losing in three sets to Marcos Giron. However, it was after that tournament that Rune started to make a breakthrough on the tour, reaching his peak by winning the Paris Masters 1000 in November 2022. He defeated five top-10 players along the way, including Alcaraz in the quarterfinals and Djokovic in the final.

“It’s about him finding the right timing in his movement because he’s used to being able to slide on both clay and hard courts, but it’s not the same on grass.”

“I don’t think it’s so much about him needing confidence because I believe he already has that,” claimed Nielsen.

“It’s simply about him getting a lot of experience on grass, and then it will come naturally to him,” Nielsen concluded.