Holger Rune withdraws from Hamburg Open and French Open during Achilles recovery

Holger Rune's Achilles recovery has already cost him the entire clay swing, with the Dane withdrawing from the Bitpanda Hamburg Open and Roland-Garros and pushing his comeback toward the grass season in June. For a player whose ranking climb has been built on pace, movement and heavy court coverage, the decision marks a major checkpoint in how seriously the injury is affecting both his timetable and his place among tennis’s next wave.

Rune was forced out of the Stockholm semifinals against Ugo Humbert on October 18, 2025, while leading 6-4, 2-2. He later said on Instagram that his Achilles was “full broken” and that he needed surgery the following week. Since then, his camp has taken a cautious approach, reflecting the standard fear around Achilles repairs: the tendon is central to the first step, split-second balance and explosive recovery that elite baseliners rely on most.

The absence now stretches across the most important weeks of his clay season. The Hamburg ATP 500 is scheduled for May 17-23 in Hamburg, Germany, with prize money of €2,219,670. Roland-Garros runs from May 18 to June 7, and the men’s singles main draw begins on May 24. By pulling out of both, Rune will miss the surface where he has posted some of his strongest results and where he had once looked positioned to add momentum before the summer.

That matters because Rune’s record on clay has been one of the clearest markers of his ceiling. He reached the Roland-Garros quarter-finals in 2022 and 2023, then advanced to the fourth round in 2025 before losing to Lorenzo Musetti. He also won his fifth tour-level title in Barcelona in 2025, beating Carlos Alcaraz in the final, a result that underscored how dangerous he could be on the surface against the very best.

The withdrawal also represents a setback in a comeback that had been edging forward. ATP had reported on April 9 that Rune hoped to return in Hamburg and was still on the Rome entry list, but the latest update shifted his target to the grass-court season in June. Rune’s ATP profile lists a career-high ranking of world No. 4, and at 13-4 at Roland-Garros, he had been one of the younger players most capable of challenging the established clay-court order.

For Hamburg and Paris alike, Rune’s absence changes the draw. It leaves Alexander Zverev and other contenders with one fewer explosive threat on clay, while Rune is left trying to rebuild not just fitness, but the timing and confidence that Achilles injuries can steal from a contender’s prime.