Holger Rune returned to the tennis courts, but it wasn't pretty as he was stunned on his home soil by Thiago Monteiro at the 2023 Davis Cup.
Rune played far from his best recently, splitting with coach Patrick Mouratoglou along the way. He wasn't that healthy then, admitting to some physical issues, but it didn't look that better on Friday in Denmark.
The return happened this week back home in Denmark for the Davis Cup against Brazil. Taking on Brazil's highest-ranked player, Thiago Monteiro, Rune won the opening set, though he didn't look perfect.
He took an early break, bringing his aggressive style, but Monteiro eventually got the break back, and his never-give-up attitude proved crucial down the stretch. Rune had to settle for the tiebreak, but he outplayed his opponent, and it didn't end up being a major issue in the end.
The second set saw Rune take an early break once more, but Monteiro broke back once more. It started a really crazy sequence of games where neither player managed to hold the serve.
The end result of all of that was a 4-4 score event, though Rune was up a break twice with a chance to put the match away. He didn't serve well and was a bit too eager at times, which tends to happen occasionally.
Neither player found a breakthrough, so the match ended up in a tiebreak, and expectedly, Rune pulled ahead thanks to the crowd's backing and his own good play. He opened with a 3-0 lead, and it looked like he would cruise to the finish line for what would have been his first win in two months.
That didn't happen as Monteiro battled back from down 4-5 to win the tiebreak 7-5. Even so, most assumed that Rune would win the match in the 3rd set, but it didn't happen. He had an early break point but didn't use it, and it proved very costly.
Monteiro produced some solid tennis down the line to outplay Rune comfortably and win the set 6-2. A huge upset near Copenhagen and the continuation of Rune's terrible run. He's now lost seven matches in a row, with his last victory coming on July 10th. The final score was 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2.
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