Sports Round-Up: German tennis king praises Danish up-and-comer
Legendary tennis player Boris Becker had good things to say about 16-year-old Danish talent Holger Rune. The German former world number 1 watched the young player practice with Alexander Zverev and told TV2 Sport: “I saw him live for the first time. I also saw his results for the year, and I’m very impressed. Zverev’s hits are hard and intense, and they trained for two hours, but Rune was able to keep up the whole time.”
It’s been going quite good for Rune as of late: he won the junior French Open, the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals, and has recently been training with the likes of Roger Federer and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Rune talked about his meeting with Becker: “he told me he loved my technique, and that I played crazy good. He was very positive and said I have a lot of potential – on hardcourt and on clay too”. Becker was merely one year older than Rune when he won his first major singles title and has several grand slam victories under his belt.
Rune is currently number 1,004 on the word ranking, with an ambition of rising into the top 20 in the next three years.
As for 51-year-old Becker, since his glory days on the court ended, he has coached superstar Novak Djokovic, worked in the field of poker and gone bankrupt, among other things.
Denmark gets home field advantage against Russia
When Denmark takes on Russia during Euro 2020 this coming summer, they’ll do so in front of their home crowd. Denmark won a UEFA lottery draw today that will see the match be played at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, as opposed to St Petersburg. This means that all three of Denmark’s group stage games will take place in Parken, which will also host a last-16 matchup. Denmark will be in group with Russia, Belgium and a yet-to-be-decided fourth seed. The Euro 2020 draw will take place on November 30.
Danish eSports team back on top
Counter Strike team Astralis is back as the number one team in the world. Astralis was pushed off the prestigious spot earlier this year (spending one week below the top three) before reclaiming it on Monday. This comes after the team won the Intel Extreme Masters tournament last weekend in Beijing – a victory that came with a 845,000 kroner prize. The week before, Astralis lost the Blast Pro Series finals on home turf at Copenhagen’s Royal Arena. So far, they have four majors – the highest achievement in the sport.
Danes also take DreamHack open
Heroic, another Counter-Strike team from Denmark, won the DreamHack open on Sunday in Atlanta by beating the German group Sprout. Heroic is currently the second best CS team in the country and has recently also reached the finals in the Rotterdam DreamHack open. On the first map of the clash – Train – they tied with the Germans 9-9 before leaving them behind to grab a 16-9 score. Heroic eventually finished climbing their way to victory on the map called Inferno, securing a 16-10 result. They are ranked at 16 in the world.
League of Legends loss
G2 Esports lost the League of Legends world championship finals in Paris last Sunday. Chinese team FunPlus Phoenix beat the team in a 3-0 game. Why is this bad news for Denmark? Two on the losing team are Danish: Rasmus ‘Caps’ Winther and Martin ‘Wunder’ Hansen.
Danish NHL player means business
In ice hockey, Winnipeg Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers scored his 100th goal in the NHL during a showdown against the Nashville Predators recently. The 23-year-old north-Jutland native made his debut in the NHL in 2015. He has played 319 games in the league so far and is the fifth Dane to reach the 100th goal mark, though he has the best goal-average per game out of the five.
Women’s basketball team falls through after hopeful qualification
The Danish women’s basketball team lost to Italy in a EU Championship qualifier that took place in City Arena in Copenhagen on Sunday. The Italians were ahead by 8 to 10 point lead for most of the game and closed it out comfortably. The defeat comes after a loss to Romania three days prior. It was Denmark’s first home game in 19 years and would not have happened were it not for a fundraiser drive. The Danish Basketball Federation could not afford to back two national teams and opted for the men.
A big commitment for Barcelona
A new Barcelona revelation arrived in an interview published in The Tactical Room by former Argentine player Juan Carlos Heredia. When Barca won the Champions League in 2009 against Manchester United, its president Joan Laporta made a big decision: any player who has helped lead Barcelona to a Champions League trophy will get a salary for the rest of his life. Over 290 players fall under the umbrella, including Danish midfielder Michael Laudrup – who helped Barcelona win the European title in 1992. For now, however, the amount they’re being paid remains a mystery.
Para-athlete takes home more medals
Danish para-athlete Daniel Wagner won a silver medal for long jump at the World Para Athletic Championships in Dubai on November 9. Wagner – the previous gold winner – couldn’t overcome German athlete Leon Schäfer, who set the world record (6,99 metres) earlier this year for athletes with a single above-the-knee amputation. Wagner did beat his personal record though with a 6,84-metre jump. The silver medal means that he is automatically through to the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. He also took home the gold in the 100m sprint event in a time of 12.32 seconds.
A Bitschin’ night
On November 10, the legendary Danish dancing duo Bjørn Bitsch and Ashli Williamson ended their careers with a bang by winning the world title at the dance world championships in Portugal. Bitsch and Williamson ranked first in eight out of the ten dances, and became world champions for the 10th time in their storied careers.
The couple announced earlier that this was going to be their last competition, though this doesn’t mean they are through with performing: they have some upcoming shows in December. About their final competitive performance, Bitsch said “I was already touched when we went out on the floor, thinking this is it. But I had to pull myself together. Ashli was completely finished afterwards, tears rolling down her face. After all, we’ve been doing this since we were small.”
Williamson is born in Australia, but moved to Denmark at age 15 to dance.
Under-21s off to hot Euro qualifications start
Denmark’s under-21 side have started brightly to its Euro 2021 qualification campaign, winning their first five games in Group H. The Danes beat Ukraine 3-2 away last week and thrashed Malta 5-1 to extend their lead to five points over second-placed Romania, who were held 0-0 in Northern Ireland. Up next will be a tough away fixture in Romania in March.
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