Strange scenes at Mexican Open Acapulco as Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev all food poisoned and out of tournament
ATP
During the night at Mexican Open Acapulco, almost all of the seeded players and top names lost but not for the want of trying in some cases as almost all lost or withdraw due to food poisoning.
It is a nightmare for tournament organisers at Mexican Open Acapulco because all of the top names were into the second round but in the case of Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev, they didn't make it out. It was a disaster in the end as third seeded Tommy Paul started the train.
He withdrew from his second round match against Marcos Giron citing stomach issues. But he wasn't the only one as Holger Rune faced off against Brandon Nakashima and despite a good start, he was broken in the second game and retired from the match after three games. He announced the reason for his defeat also was stomach related.
"Furious and so sad at the same time. Had a food poisoning and was unable to play today. One of my favorite places is Mexico and I love this tournament. Absolutely not the way I wanted it to end," he penned after his defeat and there were more names to bite the dust.
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Shortly after that, Casper Ruud didn't even make it to the court. He couldn't play against home wild card Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez citing a stomach illness so basically the same as his rivals. "I’m so sorry I had to pull out tonight. I was hoping to overcome this stomach illness that showed up yesterday and tried everything I could to be able to play tonight, until the very last moment. Hoping to come back stronger in a couple of days and come back here to Mexico next year. Thanks for now, Acapulco!"
Alexander Zverev was then dumped out of the tournament by Learner Tien who beat him in two sets 6-3, 6-4 to reach the Quarter-Finals and the top seed was supposedly while not confirmed by the man himself to be suffering with a stomach problem too. Alex Michelsen also has supposedly been struggling and lost to Denis Shapovalov. it will be last man standing for sure in Acapulco this week with the Quarter-Finals set but with all the top names gone and likely some lingering effects still.
Ben Rothenberg who is a prominent journalist and is on site also said he is struggling with illness so it goes not only for the players but those in the media too.
Tien DREAM 🙌
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 27, 2025
The moment 19-year-old Learner Tien took out top-seeded Alexander Zverev in Acapulco. #AMT2025 pic.twitter.com/pUpOlPX1fG
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