One of the key data points of the 2025 tennis season was Holger Rune’s season-ending injury in Stockholm, where he ruptured his left Achilles tendon. The injury not only immediately closed his 2025 campaign but also put much of his 2026 season, if not his career, in jeopardy.
Now, around three months after the heartbreaking setback, the former top-five player in the world has provided an update on what might come next for the once highly touted youngster.
Holger Rune Offers an Update
Life Away From the Court
In an interview with Marca, Rune outlined his recovery process, what he has learned from it, and when he hopes to return to competitive tennis. When asked what life has been like without being able to play the game he loves and focusing solely on recovery, the Dane explained:
“The first few weeks after the surgery flew by, partly because I’m not used to being home so much, and it was the end of the season. I kept myself entertained watching Netflix and relaxing with my leg up. I don’t remember ever going more than a week without playing tennis, so yes, at some point I just needed to hit some balls.”
No Rush Back as Rehab Continues
Now, almost three months into his rehabilitation, Rune is focusing more and more on smaller, step-by-step goals rather than setting a fixed date for his anticipated return to a tennis court.
“With the Achilles tendon, it’s complicated. It’s not like a muscle where you can monitor its progress with an ultrasound and see that it’s fine; the tendon has to be strong… I’m currently trying to walk again after almost two months of not doing so. I can’t venture to say where or when I’ll return. They say that being patient at the beginning will make things go faster in the end. I hope to regain the mobility a tennis player needs by mid-February, and from then on, gradually work my way back to my previous level.”
As part of his recovery, Rune travelled to Doha to train at Aspetar, a world-leading specialised orthopaedic and sports medicine hospital. There, he has been provided with a physical trainer and a physiotherapist who specialise in this type of rehabilitation.
Rune’s next immediate goal is to be able to “walk normally, without a limp,” before gradually increasing his workload around February 12 — a date that would mark four months post-surgery.
Whether one is a fan or not of the charismatic and at times dramatic Dane, tennis needs players and characters like Rune to continue evolving and realizing his true potential, as he has already done by challenging the best in tennis at such a young age.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane – USA TODAY Sports
