Rune Faces Injury Scare Ahead Of US Open With Cincinnati Retirement

Holger Rune was on a four-match losing streak before his opening match at the Cincinnati Open, and he extended it after he retired with an apparent back injury.

It hasn't been going well for Rune recently, as the Danish player is now dealing with an injury scare on top of bad form. He was playing well at Wimbledon, but things have gone really downhill since then.

It started at the Hopman Cup, where he lost both of his matches, revealing after the event that he played while being sick. He didn't play at the Croatia Open, withdrawing because of the same thing, which meant that his match at the Canadian Open was his first since the Hopman Cup.

It wasn't a very good one as the Danish player was upset by Marcos Giron in two sets, leaving him very disappointed. He was on his way to get upset by an American once more as Mackenzie McDonald won the opening set of their match in Cincinnati 6-4.

Rune didn't play his worst tennis in the first set, but struggled a lot with his serve. It's not totally foreign to him, even though he generally serves well.

Fans in Cincinnati quickly found out why he struggled with his serve as he called a medical timeout for his back. Rune had injury scares this year, dealing with back issues in the past and wrist issues during the clay season.

He never really took much time off to deal with them, so it might be a minor problem that keeps bothering him every now and then. Even so, it's not an ideal timing with the US Open so close.

The end result of the match was Rune retiring down 4-6, 0-2 when it became apparent that he would not be able to challenge McDonald seriously. Minimizing any further damage to his back was a priority for the World No. 5.