Former world No 4 Rune underwent surgery in October after confirming his Achilles was “fully broken”, having suffered the brutal injury in his semi-final match with Ugo Humbert at the Stockholm Open.
Some predicted that Rune could be out of action for as long as a year due to the difficulty of Achilles injuries.
However, during an interview with Marca in early January, Rune was positive about the progress he was making on the road to recovery and gave a firm answer when asked if the 2026 season was “a lost cause.”
“Not at all, my ambitions are the same. And we’ll see what happens. I’m sure I’ll be hungry,” Rune said.
Peter Bastiansen, a former Danish ATP player turned pundit, claimed Rune is aiming to play two clay-court tournaments before competing at Roland Garros – a plan he described as “crazy.”
“It seems that the rehab is going as it should. His goal is to be playing at the French Open, which I still think is a crazy idea,” Bastiansen told SpilXperten.
“But knowing Holger and all the energy he puts in, it’s positive that he’s starting to get back into tennis. I know the plan is to play two lead-up tournaments before Roland Garros.
“It’s extremely positive that Holger is starting to show himself at tournaments. He was at the tournament in Doha, and of course he’s also doing his rehabilitation in Qatar.
“Now he’s getting back into it, feeling the kind of grind that comes with being an experienced ATP player.”
Speaking to the same outlet, Rune’s mother Aneke did not set a return date for the 22-year-old.
“We can’t set a date, even though we would like to. It depends entirely on his progress week by week physically,” Aneke Rune said.
“We’re missing one more physical block, and after that he will enter the transition phase, and exactly when that starts and how long it will take, we simply can’t know.
“We are closer than we were a month ago, that’s probably the only thing I can say with certainty.”
