There was a major injury in tennis on Saturday as Holger Rune of Denmark tore his Achilles tendon in the semifinals of the Stockholm Open against Ugo Humbert of France. Rune had won the first set 6-4, and the match was tied in the second set at two games apiece when he told his physiotherapist that he heard his Achilles “pop” according to Wendi Oliveros of sportscasting.com.
Rune was seen in Stockholm in tears, knowing how serious of an injury this possibly was. There is now a possibility that Rune will miss the entire 2026 season and may not return to the court until 2027.
The last time we saw a major injury like this was Alexander Zverev of Germany. Zverev tore several ligaments in his ankle at the 2022 French Open and was out for the next six months.
Rune is currently ranked 10th in the world, despite never having reached a grand slam semifinal. He has reached three grand slam quarterfinals. The final eight appearances came at the French Open in 2022 and 2023, and Wimbledon in 2023.
In his ATP career, Rune has won five ATP events. They came at the 2022 Bavarian Open in Munich, Germany, where he beat Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands (ironically van de Zandschulp withdrew due to chest pains), the 2022 Stockholm Open, where he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-4, 6-4, the 2022 Paris Masters, where he beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, the 2023 Bavarian Open, where he beat van de Zandschulp in the final again, this time, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6, and the 2025 Barcelona Open, where he beat current world number one Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, 7-6, 6-2.
