Holger Rune believes that his rapid rise shows that he has been improving consistently over the last few years.

Rune added that he isn’t done yet after becoming the first Danish man to crack the ATP Tour’s top ten.

He believes that he will continue to improve and go on to set new standards for Danish tennis.

Speaking to bnpparibasopen.com, Holger Rune said: “Confidence-wise, for sure better, and also level-wise. Last year I improved a lot from the year before, and the same this year.

“It’s a normal process that I’m going through, improving every year.

“For sure it’s been going quickly. Now it’s No.8 in the world – it’s great, but obviously I’m not satisfied yet.

“I want to do more, but it’s step by step and I feel like I’m playing better every day, trying to search for that extra percentage to improve.

“I think that’s very important because I’m only 19, and I have to look at the big picture.”

Rune said that his love of tennis motivates him to keep getting better.

“I’m working extremely hard, but also I think it’s very important to be excited to improve, to see that it’s going to pay off and also have the good experience by doing the hard work and kind of seeing it pay off.

“I am so much in love with tennis that I want to be perfect, but in the other way I know I can’t be perfect, but that’s also what’s exciting – that you can also be better. There are no limits, which I find very exciting.”

He added that his fierce love of tennis was sparked as soon as he picked up a racket.

“I think tennis is exciting and I show it a lot. Even a match like today [ his win over Mackenzie McDonald], it’s my first match and just the second round, there’s not much on the line but still I have the hunger to win.

“I think it’s very natural. I step out there and it’s like a war.

“You want to do everything you can to break the opponent down by playing the right way, and that’s what I did pretty good today, and in general.”

Rune believes that players learn more from losses than wins because they analyse what went wrong in the match.

“For sure, I think those are maybe the ones you learn the most from.

“Dealing with how you should approach things.

“When you lose a match you think a lot because you are interested in: What did I do good and what did I not do good and what do I need to do better, to be able to win the match?

“At this level it is very small things but very important things. It’s things that are maybe not that hard to do, but hard mentally because you have to keep doing them. It’s an effort, but at the end of the day when you do them and they pay off, it’s a good feeling.”

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