Holger Rune Withdraws From 2025 Rio Open After Another Setback
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Next week's 2025 Rio Open suffered a blow after Holger Rune withdrew from the ATP 500 tournament in Brazil.
Rune planned to play at the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires and Rio Open. His time in Buenos Aires was cut short quicker than he would have hoped, losing to home favorite Mariano Navone in the opening round.
Although Navone deserves credit for his performance, Rune was not himself throughout the match. The Dane played nowhere near as well as he can, allowing Navone to win more comfortably than he probably expected.
After the match, Rune spoke about influenza he had last week. On reflection, the young ATP star thinks he returned too quickly and should have taken more time to rest instead of playing at the Argentina Open.
Apologizing to the Argentinian fans is great humility on Rune's part. However, he should not feel bad about not being at 100%. The 21-year-old gave his best under the circumstances but could not find his best tennis.
Rune's want to get proper rest is why he withdrew from the Rio Open. He will not play on clay again until the European season on the dirt starting in April and can now recover for the Sunshine Double on hardcourts in the U.S. in March.
Although the Golden Swing on clay in Argentina is an integral part of the season and gets superb support from the fans, Rune wanting to rest and not push himself further is understandable because several big tournaments are upcoming in the next few months.
The 2025 Indian Wells Open and Miami Open in March are both Masters 1000 tournaments. They will be followed by three more Masters events in Monte Carlo, Madrid, and Rome before the French Open at Roland Garros.
Like all players near the top, Rune undoubtedly wants to produce his best tennis at the Grand Slams most of all, and then the Masters 1000 tournaments. That means ATP 500 events like the Rio Open must be skipped if not feeling 100%.
Being fully fit is crucial to Rune's chances of performing better throughout 2025 than in 2024. Although the Dane picked up a decent number of match victories throughout the 2024 season, he did not win a title at any level.
Despite those struggles (by his high standards), Rune does not think he needs to change his game to become more successful. Instead, the 2022 Paris Masters champion is confident that his hard work will result in better results.
Although Rune's withdrawal is disappointing for the Rio Open organizers, they will still have world No. 2 Alexander Zverev, who has committed to playing at the tournament next week.
Zverev had never competed in the Golden Swing before, but the 27-year-old recently revealed that he wanted to try playing on clay with a new racket, which he started using in the closing stages of the 2024 ATP season.
The German admitted that his biggest goal is triumphing at the French Open. Like Rune, Zverev has yet to win his maiden Grand Slam, and he thinks the French Open might be his best chance of securing glory at a major.
