Holger Rune’s mum launches blistering attack on ATP Tour after Achilles injury nightmare

Holger Rune’s mother has slammed “unreasonable” and “unacceptable” ATP Tour tournament requirements after the Dane sustained a serious injury in Stockholm last week.

World No 10 Rune pulled up injured midway through his semi-final match versus Ugo Humbert at the ATP 250 event last Saturday, with the 22-year-old forced to retire despite leading his French opponent by a set.

It was immediately feared that the Dane had suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury, and those fears were ultimately confirmed by the five-time ATP Tour champion — who revealed that his Achilles was “fully broken”.

Rune now faces a significant spell away from the game as he looks to recover from the serious injury, with the best estimates suggesting a layoff of anywhere between six to 12 months.

The 22-year-old is repeatedly supported by his mum, Aneke. across tournaments throughout the year, and she was present in Stockholm for her son’s season-ending injury.

And, speaking to Danish website B.T, she did not hold back in her criticism of “impossible” ATP Tour requirements across the year.

“There have simply been too many mandatory tournaments,” claimed Aneke. “Tournaments that the players are obliged to participate in, and where they are severely penalised financially by not playing them all. The players simply do not have time to recover properly throughout the season.

“What could have been a week off with light training and recharging is now a hectic tournament week with matches every other day, while there are mandatory media events for every single tournament. There is no rest — neither physically nor mentally.

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“You also have to build on it throughout the entire season. You have to include training weeks where you can work physically and optimise your game, and prevent injuries. It’s a lot for the body.

“For completely normal, healthy, well-trained bodies, it’s almost impossible to be sharp in everything that is expected of tennis players over the course of a year.”

ATP players are currently expected to play a set of key ‘mandatory’ events to make up their ATP Ranking, led by the four Grand Slam tournaments.

These are then led by the eight mandatory Masters 1000 tournaments, and then a further seven events across the Masters tournament in Monte Carlo, and then ATP 500 and 250 tournaments.

Players are expected to play 19 events in total to contribute to their ranking, and 20 if they qualify for the ATP Finals, with various ‘bonus pools’ of prize money available for the most successful players at Masters 1000 and ATP 500-level events across the year.

An individual player’s share of prize money from the bonus pools is reduced if they skip too many ‘mandatory’ events.

Excluding the Davis Cup and Laver Cup, Rune competed in a staggering 20 ATP-level events in 2025, and would have played in both the Swiss Indoors and Paris Masters to complete the year.

Rune did not miss any of the first eight Masters 1000 events of the year and competed in five separate ATP 500 events.

While conceding that her son did not have to worry too much about money from the bonus pool, Aneke Rune further claimed that the “unreasonable” penalties imposed by the ATP would impact several players.

She added: “There are unreasonable penalties for a cancellation, you should instead focus on increasing the quality of the game by having fresh and rested players on the field.

“If you want to make financial reductions, do it as a percentage in relation to the amount they have played and reported cancellations. Instead of robbing them of everything.

“Now Holger is the latest victim in the line of injured players. With an injury that most often comes due to fatigue. It is unacceptable that you do not take the players’ well-being into account to a greater extent — but just put more and more pressure on them.

“Holger is facing a long period without earnings. Fortunately, he has done well over the years, and he has managed his finances well by having good savings, so he is not in need.

“But not all players are top-10 in the world, and many may not have the same savings. And then the drastic reductions in their bonuses mean a lot. I think this is something that ATP can adapt immediately.”

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