Holger Rune might not play at the 2024 Paris Olympics due to several injuries that have plagued him for a while, including a wrist injury that has been present since Rome.
The 21-year-old Dane plays some of his best tennis on clay. The Danish superstar has a 128-57 record on clay in his tennis career, including lower-tier events, but he also made a few ATP Masters 1000 finals on the surface, such as in Monte-Carlo and Rome last year.
His level this year hasn't been as good as last year, as he's only totaled 11 wins on clay so far, as opposed to 16 last year, but he is always a player who is dangerous on the surface.
Paris has seen him play some spectacular tennis in the past, so Rune is certainly a name to watch at the upcoming Olympic Games in the French capital. However, the problem is his body, which has been betraying him for a while.
Rune has seemingly never been fully healthy in the past 12 months because he tends to battle various physical problems on and off for a long time. Even at this stage of the season, the Danish player is far from healthy, as his most recent event proved.
He was playing at the Hamburg Open and started well, winning two matches comfortably. He ran into big problems in his third match against eventual champion Arthur Fils, who beat Alexander Zverev in the final.
In that match, Rune had to retire after being down a set and a break, and his Olympic participation is now in serious doubt. He retired from that Hamburg Open match because of a knee injury; however, the knee isn't the biggest concern right now.
According to his mother, Aneke Rune, who talked to the Danish media, his wrist is a problem. Apparently, Rune has had a wrist injury since the Italian Open in Rome, which was quite a long time ago.
If we know anything about wrist injuries, it's that they generally don't get better without proper rest. He hasn't been resting at all, as he's been playing tennis consistently. Unfortunately, wrist injuries have become really common in recent years as the balls used have become heavier and heavier.
Playing on a bad wrist with these heavy balls was certainly a curious decision, but maybe it's not a stress-related injury, as Aneke explained that his physical trainer actually injured his wrist.
"We will have to see here in the next few days if it gets better. It is actually the wrist that is the biggest challenge right now. It has hurt since Rome, where the physical trainer unfortunately injured him."
Getting injured by a physical trainer is very unfortunate, but Rune's chances of competing in Paris don't look too positive at the moment. Initial scans weren't very promising, but they're going to get second opinions and decide then.
"Unfortunately, it does not look promising after the first medical opinion after the review of the scan of the wrist. We are waiting for two tennis-specific doctors who will give a second opinion tomorrow (Monday). Tennis wrists look different from regular wrists, so we’ll hold out hope for one more day."
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