Holger Rune withdraws from the Brussels ATP 250 with a back problem

Holger Rune’s comeback has hit another stop. The Dane announced on X on Sunday that he was pulling out of the ATP 250 in Brussels: “Unfortunately, I won”’t be able to play in Brussels as planned. My back has seized up, but fortunately, scans have confirmed that it”’s nothing serious. So 2-3 days rest. Just really annoying and unfortunate timing.”

The problem has nothing to do with the Achilles tendon rupture that kept him off the tour for eleven months. Rune had been back in competition for only a few weeks, and the Brussels field was his next planned stop. This time the scans ruled out anything serious, and the stop is short: two to three days of rest.

A missed date, not a relapse

At this stage of a comeback, the unit that counts is the match played: every match re-tests the body, the footwork, the serve, before it even counts as a result. The Dane now sits 195th in the world, and every draw he misses pushes back the moment he finds his rhythm in real conditions. Two or three days of rest settle the back; they do not give back the matches the Brussels draw promised him.

The substance of his message is reassuring: back scanned, nothing serious, an absence counted in days. His frustration is understandable: after eleven months out, the calendar had only just started paying him back. His message does not say when he returns.