Holger Rune Gives Crucial Update on the Long Road Back From Achilles Injury and Why the ATP Schedule is to Blame

Holger Rune completely ruptured his achilles during the ATP event in Stockholm.

Holger Rune Gives Crucial Update on the Long Road Back From Achilles Injury and Why the ATP Schedule is to Blame

Holger Rune (Image via X/Holger Rune HQ)

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Sometimes, tennis feels like a survival reality show where the contestants are slowly dropping like flies. The latest casualty in the war against the human body has been Danish superstar Holger Rune.

What happened to Rune at the Stockholm Open wasn’t just a bad day at the office; it was a career-altering moment that had fans gripping their screens in anticipation. One minute, he’s chasing down a forehand in the semifinals against Ugo Humbert, and the next, his Achilles tendon decides it has simply had enough.

Now, the fans are getting some updates from the man himself, and while he sounds optimistic, there is a lot of subtext here about the state of the modern game that really needs to be discussed. Rune said in an interview with Sports Illustrated:

I’m currently in rehabilitation in Doha, Qatar. My team is very involved, so everything is progressing well. It’s been exactly seven weeks since the surgery, so it’s been a bit faster than the timeline I was given…We’re overloading the tendon almost every day in different ways. We also have a day off to recover. But I think we’re working really hard, and I have good people around me who have gone through this injury, so it’s going well.

Rune has been considered many times to be the ‘third guy’ after Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to complete the new Big 3. However, he only has a Masters 1000 title in Paris to show his credentials. Since then, injuries and inconsistencies have hampered his potential.

The reality of Holger Rune’s rehab in Doha

Currently, Holger Rune is camped out in Doha, Qatar, where he’s basically in boot camp for a broken body. It has been about seven weeks since surgery, and the updates are surprisingly positive. He is out of the heavy boot and walking, albeit with a heel lift to keep the tension off that freshly repaired tendon.

Holger Rune (2)
Holger Rune (Image via X/AllAboutHQ)

However, it’s not all rosy for Rune at the moment, as there is a long road ahead. In his interview with Sports Illustrated, he admitted to being in the gym for upper-body workouts just one day after surgery. He added:

I can already say that I’ll be in better shape when I regain my fitness. I’m putting in a lot of physical effort where I can and where I don’t have limitations right now: my torso, my upper body. So there are other things to do, and I did them the first day after surgery. I was at the gym working on my upper body.

He claims he’s going to come back “as a beast,” which is precisely the kind of anime-protagonist energy the fans expect from him. He’s focusing on core work, nutrition, and even mental training, which he admits he didn’t have much time for before. 

The 2026 ATP season is scheduled to start in January. However, it doesn’t look like there is a green light for Rune to start hitting tennis balls again.

Is the ATP Schedule breaking players?

When asked about the recent rash of Achilles injuries in sports, Holger Rune didn’t hesitate to identify the real culprit: the schedule.

It’s too many tournaments. The demands of the sport and scheduling is too much for players. And I think not just me. Mine is a big injury, but we’ve seen other players getting injured, not being able to play full calendar.

Holger Rune (2)
Holger Rune (Image via X/ATP Tour)

The ATP tour has turned into a relentless, eleven-month slog. Rune pointed out that the season basically runs from January to the end of November, leaving almost zero time for actual recovery. 

He specifically called out the new two-week Masters 1000 format as “completely unnecessary,” and he’s not the only one saying it. Pretty much every top player has been side-eyeing the calendar lately.

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