No player has had a more difficult schedule at the Monte Carlo Masters 2024 so far than Holger Rune. With rains spoiling play on Wednesday, Rune had to play his second-round and third-round battles on Thursday. The Danish youngster uptil Friday played 3 matches within a span of 24 hours and that made tennis fans express their anger on social media.
Holger Rune’s second-round tie against India’s Sumit Nagal was among the final matches on Wednesday. However, with constant rainfall, the match was postponed to Thursday. But instead of finishing the second round battle first, the organizers already began a few of the third round battles. Ultimately, the gruelling three-set battle against Nagal concluded around 1:30 PM local time.
Receiving merely 90 minutes of rest, the 20-year-old began his third-round matchup against Grigor Dimitrov. With Rune defeating Dimitrov 7-6, 3-6, 7-6 in a three-hour thriller, the Dane was involved in another intense battle against World No.2 Jannik Sinner at the time of writing this report. Sinner won the first set 6-4 but Rune saved two match points in the second set to win the tie-breaker and stay alive in the match.
Additionally, Rune is also set to play his doubles quarterfinals contest at 2:30 PM local time after the Sinner match.
People also spoke about the possibility of Holger Rune withdrawing from the tournament in the same way that Jannik Sinner pulled out of the Paris Masters 2023. After the Italian finished one of his matches way past midnight, the organizers had his third-round battle scheduled against Alex de Minaur less than 12 hours later.
Withdrawing in protest will not help Rune make his case. Instead, the youngster seems to be doing the right thing by riding on the momentum he has gained. While the lack of rest has to be a huge disadvantage, Rune will take motivation from the fact that he already defeated Sinner last year at the same tournament.
However, it won’t be surprising to see the Dane not participate in his quarterfinal bout against the Marcelo Melo-Alexander Zverev duo. If it were to happen, his doubles partner Taylor Fritz would certainly be unhappy. But, also primarily being a single’s player, the American is likely to respect Rune’s decision.
