Holger Rune’s mother Aneke opens up about injury that led to Dane's withdrawal from Montpellier Open SF

Holger Rune's mother Aneke has shared insights into her son’s arm injury that forced him to retire from the 2024 Montpellier Open semifinal match.

Rune had a promising start to the 2024 season, reaching the final in the Brisbane International. However, he couldn't sustain his momentum and lost in the second round in four sets to unseeded Arthur Cazaux at the Australian Open.

At the Montpellier Open, the Dane had beaten Pablo Llamas Ruiz and Michael Mmoh, in straight sets in previous rounds, and was facing Borna Coric in the semifinals. But after 1-4 down in the second set, Rune decided to retire from the match, citing pain in his arm.

In a recent episode of 'The Craig Shapiro Tennis podcast', Aneke discussed the nature and extent of her son’s injury. She explained that although there was no initial plan to play in Montpellier, they accepted a wild card offer to ensure more match practice.

"There wasn't a plan to play in Montpellier, but then we were contacted for a wild card. It would be a lot with three and a half weeks without any matches when you only had two matches in Melbourne. So it makes sense to have a little more match there, also because you practiced on a lot of stuff in the preseason and you really want to go and try all this stuff," Aneke said (at 08:50).

According to Aneke, Holger Rune, who was eager to test preseason adjustments, experienced arm and elbow pain, leading to his withdrawal.

"It's still the beginning of the year and you're not supposed to peak in January or February. But he [Holger Rune] was eager to try the stuff he practiced, so we said yes to this. And unfortunately, he [Holger Rune] has had this pain in the arm and the elbow. So he had to withdraw," she added.

Aneke further stated that while there is some worry, she's not overly concerned. She said that the World No. 7 usually encounters issues due to sudden movements or technical errors.

"Normally I'm not super worried. I mean of course you're worried," Aneke said (at 09:35). "But he's young, he's super healthy, he has a very good body. So when there is something with Holger, it's because he's doing something or either he did a wrong movement and something happened all of a sudden, or it's because he did something technically wrong."

"So normally if you get some rest and recovery and you try to locate why is this happening? Could be in a surf movement or something, then we normally do get it quite easy," she added.

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Holger Rune's mother Aneke steps down from press manager role as Dane joins management group IMG

Holger Rune and mother Aneke at the 2022 BMW Open

Holger Rune recently joined the American sports management company IMG following his mother Aneke stepping down from her role as his press manager.

Aneke announced that she was giving up her role as his press manager and thanked the media for their interest in Rune. She also said she had other projects to focus on and that she would leave the media responsibilities to IMG.

"It's no secret that there's increasing attention around Holger, and we love that, but there are so many other things I need to attend to, and I have several projects that require my focus. Therefore, I have assessed and decided that it's best to delegate the communication of information so that you (journalists) don't feel overlooked," Aneke Rune said while speaking to TV 2 sports.

"I feel confident entrusting the task to IMG, ensuring they will provide the necessary information about Holger in the future, and then I'll have a bit more time to handle the other things I'm involved in,” she added.

IMG's official Instagram account made a post on Tuesday, February 6, announcing the collaboration with Holger Rune.

"Welcome to the family, @holgerrune!" the post was captioned.