It’s Great to Have Caroline Wozniacki as a Role Model, Says Junior French Open Champion

Caroline Wozniacki recently retired from tennis, having played her final professional match at the 2020 Australian Open. Her stature in Denmark, though, remains huge. She became the only Danish player to have won a Grand Slam when she defeated Simona Halep in the 2018 Australian Open final. She also reached the World No.1 ranking in her career. Naturally, many young Danish players look up to her.

Caroline Wozniacki is a great player and a great person – Holger Rune

Rising Danish player, Holger Rune, talked about her influence. The youngster, aged 17, won the French Open juniors last year. He participated in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown(UTS) too. UTS is a league started by Patrick Mouratoglou. Its inaugural season, which concluded last week, was a huge success.

Rune came into the event as a replacement for Matteo Berrettini and played Corentin Moutet. The 17-year-old showed great maturity but lost in a closely contested match. After the match, Rune sat down for a press conference and told EsseniallySports about Wozniacki.

Read More: Caroline Wozniacki Hints Return To Tennis

Rune mentioned that Wozniacki was a great player and a role model for all tennis players in Denmark. Wozniacki turned 30 last week and on the same day, Rune played his first match at the UTS. He thought it was unfortunate that he couldn’t win on her birthday.

“I think it’s great. She is a great player and a great person. She has won a grand slam which I don’t think any Danish player has won so I think it’s great to have her as a role model for tennis in Denmark. And now she has stopped and she was playing very well even up to her retirement. So it’s great unfortunately I couldn’t win today so it would have been a better birthday for her.”

Wozniacki had lost a couple of finals before winning a very tough final versus Halep. And from there on, her win has given inspiration to young players like Rune.