Holger Rune suffered a heartbreaking injury during his Stockholm Open semi-final against Ugo Humbert.
Rune was leading 6-4, 2-2 when he was forced to retire from the match, clearly struggling with an issue with his Achilles.
Following the match, Rune confirmed that he had torn his Achilles, meaning he will likely be absent from the Tour for the foreseeable future.
Former world number one Andy Roddick has reflected on Rune’s unfortunate injury and suggested how his team should respond moving forward.
Andy Roddick says there is no ‘rush’ for Holger Rune to return to competitive play
Former US Open champion Andy Roddick has weighed in on Rune’s prospects moving forward, emphasising the need for Rune to take his time with his recovery.
On ‘Served,’ Roddick said: “If I’m in Holger Rune’s camp, like obviously you’ve got to see how the rehab goes, the one thing I want to establish is that we are not in a rush to get back.
“We are 22. Let’s say you want to play until you’re 35. Is two months going to matter and the downside of rushing back versus the upside of being completely healthy when you come back to Jon Wertheim’s point, I think is sizeable.
“Do you want to rush back to try and play three out of five sets? Can you make a run at the US Open? And does it matter if you make it to the round of 16? Let’s have all of those conversations.
“I almost think my goal would be like ‘hey, listen, let’s go hard and let’s see if we can’t play a couple of smaller events at the end of next year. Let’s go hide in the futures or a challenger.’”
Holger Rune’s ATP Tour debut
Holger Rune, who recently criticised the quality of the balls on Tour, made his ATP Tour debut in March 2021 after entering the Argentina Open as a wildcard. He lost in the first round to Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
The following week, Rune won his first ATP Tour match, defeating Sebastian Baez at the Chile Open. He then beat Benoit Paire, before losing to Federico Delbonis in the quarter-finals.
Rune made his Masters 1000 debut later that year at Indian Wells, where he lost in the first round to American player Ernesto Escobedo III.
A short time later, his second Masters 1000 appearance arrived. He lost to Casper Ruud in the opening round, 6-2, 6-1.
Rune made his debut appearance at a Grand Slam later that year, losing to Novak Djokovic in the first round.
Rune won his first Masters 1000 match at the 2022 Indian Wells Open, defeating Ugo Humbert. A short time later, he won his first four Grand Slam matches, reaching the French Open quarter-finals.
His biggest title win to date came at the 2022 Paris Masters, where he defeated Carlos Alcaraz, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Novak Djokovic in the final three rounds.
