Rune, Ruud, Zverev All Food Poisoned And Out Of Mexican Open In Acapulco
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Fans at the 2025 Mexican Open in Acapulco witnessed a really bizarre evening of tennis. Almost all of the seeded players lost or withdrew because of food poisoning.
All of the seeded players made it through the first round in Acapulco. It was a great start for them, but also for the tournament organizers, because having all the top players in the second round means more attractive matches.
But Wednesday, which was the day of the second-round action, proved to be a real disaster. It all started even before the scheduled play began. The third-seeded Tommy Paul withdrew from his second-round match against Marcos Giron, citing stomach issues.
But he wasn't the only one. Holger Rune started well in Acapulco, and he wanted to follow up on his success also in the second round. His opponent was Brandon Nakashima, and the young Dane didn't get off to a good start.
Rune was broken in the second game, and he quickly fell behind 0-3 in the first set. He retired from the match already after three games of play, and after the match, the Danish player announced that the reason for his retirement was also stomach-related.
"Furious and so sad at the same time. Had a food poisoning and was unable to play today. One of my favorite places is Mexico and I love this tournament. Absolutely not the way I wanted it to end."
Only shortly after Rune's retirement, another player announced withdrawal. Casper Ruud couldn't play against home wild card Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, citing a "stomach illness" as a reason for his withdrawal.
"I’m so sorry I had to pull out tonight. I was hoping to overcome this stomach illness that showed up yesterday and tried everything I could to be able to play tonight, until the very last moment. Hoping to come back stronger in a couple of days and come back here to Mexico next year. Thanks for now, Acapulco!"
Paradoxically, Ruud joked about food poisoning last year. He stated that if he has a winning streak in 2025, he would avoid eating food that wasn't properly cleaned.
"Next year if I'm on kind of a winning streak I'm not gonna eat vegetables that are not cleaned good enough."
But these three players were not the only ones having issues, even though they were the only three players who chose to withdraw or retire from their match.
According to the reports from the tournament venue, the top-seeded Alexander Zverev struggled with a stomach issue was well. The German player lost to Learner Tien, who beat him in two sets, 6-3, 6-4, to reach the quarter-finals at the ATP 500 event in Acapulco.
Alex Michelsen, who lost to Denis Shapovalov 4-6, 3-6, should have also struggled with some kind of a stomach issue, as per the report from Canadian tennis journalist Stephen Boughton.
Although Zverev and Michelsen have yet to confirm their health struggles, considering the large number of players struggling with a stomach illness, it's really not hard to believe that they were among them.
Another journalist, Ben Rothenberg, who is present at the venue, confirmed that he's been struggling with an illness as well. That only confirms that the Mexican Open has a huge problem this year.
"For what it's worth, I've also been sick since Monday night here, and it has not been fun, but this job is less physically demanding than playing tour-level tennis."
