Australian Open 2025 – “He came back playing on fire…”: Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner’s key medical timeout

Holger Rune didn't really like it. His round of 16 loss to Jannik Sinner 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 did not take place according to the rules of the art. There were too many interruptions. And these setbacks broke the rhythm of the match. Upsetting the Dane against the world number 1. “We had 45 minutes of break in the whole match, it was very, very long“, regretted the native of Gentofte at the end of this match”odd“.

Among the lot, there was the long break of more than 20 minutes imposed at the start of the fourth set, while the net gave way on a service from Sinner. A fact of play independent of any will. “It's very rare. There's nothing you can do about it. We had to be patient“, recognized Rune. But what bothered him more was the medical timeout taken by the number 1 in the third set, at 3 to 2 for Sinner who had just saved a break point.

At this point in the match, the Dane was on an interesting streak after winning the second set. But this 12-minute break changed everything. “It's normal that he was checked to make sure he was okay. But it took longer than I expected. It was a little brutal in the middle of the set, said the Dane. I was on a good roll at that time. So, yeah, it wasn't the worst time for him…”

While Sinner returned to the locker room, Holger Rune remained in the heat of Melbourne (more than 30 degrees this Monday). “It was very, very humid and very hot today. Sitting in the heat for 10-12 minutes, I was baking in the sun. It's a bit difficult“, launched the world number 13. And if he was no longer as sharp afterwards, Jannik Sinner found himself with all his breaks. “Il came back playing fire, I don't know what they did”slipped the 21-year-old Dane, who also called on the physiotherapist at the end of the third round.

And if he hopes to learn anything from this match – “Next time I'll have to be smarter and wait outside the court.” -, Holger Rune does not want to throw away everything from this meeting either. And from his Australian Open, when he believes he is reaping the fruits of his work with Lars Christensen, his trainer who returned to his side in October: “I'm disappointed not to have been able to go further, but I'm happy with the work I'm doing with my team. It's good to be back with Lars. We achieved better results than I have achieved in recent years. So, it's a good feeling. It's only been three months and I feel like I'm playing better and better.” Enough to forget all these untimely interruptions.