"He is very defensive, Holger Rune is explosive" - Coach Lars Christensen on why Daniil Medvedev's style is not beneficial for the Dane

Holger Rune's coach Lars Christensen recently highlighted why Daniil Medvedev's playing style is not beneficial for the Dane.

Standing at 6'6", Medvedev is a counterpuncher with an extremely powerful first serve. He is also known for his excellent serve return and defensive play. Meanwhile, Rune is renowned as an aggressive baseliner since he mostly adheres to the baseline.

In light of this, Lars Christensen, who has been coaching Holger Rune since he was seven, stated on a recent episode of the ATP Tennis Radio Podcast that the Russian's style of play would not benefit the Dane due to their contrasting methods.

"Being a young kid, you start watching Medvedev, he was the best in the world in the beginning of the year and he is playing amazing tennis and he is tall, he is serving big but he is very defensive in his way of playing tennis. Holger is explosive, and he is built to stay closer to the baseline, so adapting this style of Daniil is not really beneficial for his game," Christensen said.

Christensen then explained how he built Holger Rune with inputs from the Big 3, including Novak Djokovic's footwork, Roger Federer's offensive style, and Rafael Nadal's tenacity on clay courts.

"When I started building Holger from the beginning, I have always taken the best from the best guys, watching Djokovic footwork and his abilities to stay close to the baseline, the way he returns, watching Roger's [Federer] offensive game, how he approaches the net, how he serves," Christensen said.

"I was watching a lot of Rafa [Nadal], how he was on the clay court, his will to put in that extra shot and do angles and lot of spin and stuff like that. I tried to pick the best of everybody and tried to build Holger on these inputs," he added.

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"I see him as a complete player, he has got what it takes to be the best" - Lars Christensen on Holger Rune

Holger Rune pictured at the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters.

Lars Christensen went on to describe how dedicated Holger Rune is to tennis, adding that as a child, he would skip birthday parties to go to practice instead.

"Holger is a fantastic competitor, he wants it so much. He doesn't see it as a sacrifice to work every day and be on the tennis world one-hundred-per-cent. When he was a kid, he avoided to go to birthday with the other kids because he wanted to go to practice. So, it's never been a question for him if he should practice the whole time or if he should go out and have fun with his friends or something like that," Christensen said.

He then stated that the World No.11 is a complete player with the potential to be the best.

"If you have that attitude towards what you really like and what's your job now, it's a fantastic asset then technically the things we are working on should be even better but technically I see him as a complete player and he still has so much room for improvement in many areas of this game and I think he has got what it takes to be the best," Christensen said.