Rune's physical trainer reveals his plan: "We are leaving the door open to many things"
World No. 15, Holger Rune is likely to miss most of the next season. Suffering from a terrible injury, a complete Achilles tendon rupture during his semi-final against Ugo Humbert at the Stockholm tournament last month, the Dane was operated on before starting his rehabilitation immediately.
His physical trainer, Mario Panichi, revealed the plan he had in mind for his return, and has already considered a date for a possible first tournament in 2026.
Panichi hopes to see Rune for the North American hard court tour
"We don't want to rush things because we know it's better to be cautious, in order to then forget what happened. For us, the (rehabilitation) schedule will be more or less six months.
I think it's better to wait for the hard court tour (in North America) and not play on grass, but we will see during the rehabilitation process what will happen. We are leaving the door open to many things, and we will evaluate with the doctors and the rest of the team what we are going to do.
Holger (Rune) is not the most instinctive player I have known. He is a guy who, contrary to the impression he gives on a court, thinks a lot. He doesn't do it much on a court, but he does off the court.
We can work on that. He has the talent, he has a nice touch on the ball but he can also hit hard. At first, this puzzle was messy. When he needed to be solid, he wasn't. When he needed to dare, he stuck to his principles.
I knew he was a great athlete, and now that I am with him, I have the proof. He is the strongest athlete I have known in terms of explosiveness. He is a monster at that level. But he doesn't use his athletic strengths enough on the court at the right time for now. He must find the balance between his body and his mind. It's a challenge, but I am confident," Panichi stated for JLM Podcast.
