"Furious and so sad at the same time": Holger Rune forced to retire from Mexico Open

Denmark’s Holger Rune has expressed his anger after being forced to retire from the Mexican Open. The 21-year-old’s journey in the competition ended on Thursday when he couldn’t complete the match against America’s Brandon Nakashima.

The final score of the match was 3-0. It was later revealed that Rune was actually forced to retire from the contest. The development was confirmed by the player in a statement released on the social media platform, where he expressed anger about what happened and revealed that he did not take part in the competition because of food poisoning.  

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“Furious and so sad at the same time,” Rune said in a post on social media platform X, previous known as Twitter. “Had a food poisoning and was unable to play today. One of my favorite places is Mexico and I love this tournament @AbiertoTelcel. Absolutely not the way I wanted it to end.”

The defeat is a serious blow for Rune, who has been going through a difficult phase in the 2025 season. His first competition in the ongoing season was the Brisbane International, where he lost in the first round to Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka in straight sets with a score of 7-5 and 6-3.

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He then moved to Melbourne and featured in the first Grand Slam of the year — the Australian Open. In that competition, he lost to reigning world number one Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the fourth round with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Rune’s next competition was the ATP event in Rotterdam. There, he lost in the second round to Spain’s Pedro Martinez of Spain in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-1.

Before coming to Mexico, the 21-year-old, who was once regarded as the next big thing, featured in the Argentina Open but crashed in the first round after losing to Argentina’s Mariano Navone in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 7-6.

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