Six years after teaming up as juniors, 20-year-olds Holger Rune and Carlos Alcaraz collide at Wimbledon

Six years ago at the Les Petis As junior event, a Spaniard and Dane shared the court. Come Wednesday, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune will square off in Wimbledon’s first Open Era men's quarterfinal to feature two players under the age of 21.

Following his four-set win over Grigor Dimitrov on Monday evening, Rune was asked about the time he teamed up with Alcaraz in France. The Gentofte native, who has quickly figured out how to translate his game to grass courts this season after going winless in his first year on the surface in 2022, remarked that his fellow 20-year-old hasn’t changed a bit—in terms of temperament.

“I think back then he was Carlos, now he's Carlos. He's the same, just improved very, very a lot and very quickly,” said Rune.

“He's always been a very, like, passionate player on the court, I would say, with a lot of energy.”

Rune beat Alcaraz at last year’s Paris Masters en route to claiming the biggest title of his career to date. The world No. 6 is all for reuniting with the 2022 US Open champion on the ATP Tour at some stage, recounting how their chemistry went down as junior competitors.

“When a singles player plays doubles, they want to cover the court by themselves. We both try and did that a little bit, which is fun,” said Rune. “Again, it was good, because he's amazing. The more shots he could hit also the better. We played good together. I think we made semifinal, if I'm correct.

“For sure I would like to play doubles with him again.”

Both bring varying strengths to the court. On that subject, Rune would select Alcaraz’s forehand drop shot to add to his wheelhouse. As for the top seed?

“If I have to take some weapon from him, I'm going to say the backhand,” revealed Alcaraz following his four-set victory against 2021 runner-up Matteo Berrettini. ”I'm not saying that my backhand is bad, no. I think he has a great backhand. Yeah, I'm going to take that.”

There’s probably a good reason for that, too

“I remember that he took the backhand side, right. That's why,” Alcaraz said with a smile upon looking back on their time together.

Whomever comes through on Centre Court will take on the winner of No. 3 seed Daniil Medvedev and the breakout performer of the tournament, Christopher Eubanks, for the right to play in Sunday’s final.