World No. 8 Holger Rune has accepted a late wild card into the 2024 Montpellier Open main draw in what will be his second visit to the city.
The Montpellier Open, commonly known as Open Sud de France, will commence on January 29th, a rather early start than usual, a day after the men's singles final at the Australian Open is held. The entry list, which consists of 28 singles players, has also been released.
Initially, Italy's Lorenzo Musetti was instilled as the top speed by being the highest-ranked player in the field. But Holger Rune has usurped him and will take over as top billing at this ATP 250 event, which promises a long list of popcorn matches.
Rune will be determined to get over the finals hump, having won just one ATP title since the start of 2023 (Munich Open). In the same period, he has lost three finals, most recently in the opening week of the new season in Brisbane to Grigor Dimitrov.
Rune was without his two formal coaches, Boris Becker and Severin Luthi, when he kicked off proceedings at the turn of the year and decided to work with a temporary coach. Eventually, the Swiss coach joined him before the start of the Australian Open in Melbourne.
But the Dane did not progress beyond the second round stage as he became the first big-name casualty to exit the tournament in the men's draw. He lost to the talented young Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in four sets.
It is expected that Becker and Luthi will share coaching duties according to Rune's mother and agent, Aneke. The German tennis great was absent from Rune's short-lived Australian Open campaign as he was fulfilling media obligations. It will be interesting to see whether he will be in tandem with Luthi during the indoor hardcourt swing in February.
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