The 2023 US Open—that was the last time a player other than Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz won a major, with Novak Djokovic lifting the title. Talk about their dominance, and you’ll see it reflected in the last nine Grand Slam titles. While Alcaraz currently has seven Grand Slams under his belt, Sinner isn’t far behind with four. Despite that, Danish star Holger Rune believes he can beat the duo when he next faces them on court.

“With just two guys making finals and winning everything, it gets boring to be honest. I think there needs to be more guys to challenge them, not just one tournament, but consistently,” Rune said, speaking to the Tales from Tennis podcast.

If you turn back time a little, you’ll see that such dominance is something the tennis world has witnessed before. The “Big Three,” Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, dominated for over two decades (2003–2024), collectively winning 66 of 87 Grand Slam titles. They even held the world No. 1 ranking for a combined 947 weeks. At the time, their opponents often voiced how the Big Three “took away” an entire generation of potential Grand Slam winners.

Moving on, the Dane also claimed that both Alcaraz and Sinner are “uncomfortable” to play against him because of his play style. In fact, he is eager to challenge them once he makes his return to the court after fully recovering from the Achilles injury that he sustained during his Stockholm Open semifinal against Ugo Humbert on October 18, 2025.

And if his words on his recovery are anything to go by, he is “moving in the right direction” as he targets a return to the ATP Tour later this season, with the grass-court swing emerging as a realistic window.

“It gives me the belief that I know I can do it, and every time I step [on court] against them, I know I have a chance to beat them. And I know that both of them find it uncomfortable to play me, so that’s extra motivation for me,” he added.

To put things into perspective, Rune does have a decent head-to-head record against both Alcaraz and Sinner. The former World No. 4 has won 2 of the 4 matches he has played against the Spaniard so far, while he trails the Italian 2-3.

“And yeah, I always had great matches with Jannik, even before he turned out as a Grand Slam champion; he was always an incredible player. I think it’s always been an exciting matchup between both of them and me. So, for my case, it’s about being as consistent as to do it every week to give myself the chance to play them much more often. And I think that would also make my level increase a lot, because they get to challenge themselves almost every week against each other,” he concluded.

Rune could have had even more encounters against the duo by now if it weren’t for his injury, which has kept him on the sidelines for almost six months now. At the Stockholm Open against Ugo Humbert, he won the first set 6-2. However, a tragic incident took place in the next one.

At 2-2, Rune was trying to reach for a wide ball to hit when he heard something pop in his lower left leg. It was his Achilles tendon. He was left in tears before walking off the court and withdrawing from the ATP 250 tournament.

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time, as he was among the favorites to win the tournament. A title run could have set up a clash against Alcaraz or Sinner, but that never materialized. Now, the Dane has fallen to 28th in the rankings.

Though the past few months have indeed been very tough for Rune, he is determined to return to the court as soon as possible.

Holger Rune is hopeful about making his comeback soon

Though it was initially suspected that the ACL injury would keep Rune out of action for at least a year, it appears that the rapid recovery process he underwent has paid off. He is hopeful about returning to the court by the end of the clay season or by the beginning of the grass season.

“It is tough to say. There is a rough time frame; it could be by the end of clay season or grass season. It is somewhere in between, but it is tough to say. As I said at the beginning, it really depends on how fast I go through rehab and the journey now,” he revealed.

With the clay-court season running from April and the grass-court set to begin in June, Rune can be back in action in the next 3-4 months. This could see him miss the French Open, which begins in May, but he will be fit by the time Wimbledon rolls around in late June.

It remains to be seen whether Rune can make a strong comeback and improve his ranking by delivering world-class performances as he did before the injury.