The man who once declared his goal was to break Rafael Nadal’s Roland Garros record of 14 grand slam titles on red clay, has imploded since his 16 64 67 36 loss to Casper Ruud at the Roland Garros quarterfinal.
That loss especially stung the 19 year old ranked 28 because of the public reaction after the duel, regarding Rune’s rude handshake at the net with Ruud and some post match drama.
Rune has not recovered. He lost first round at his next six ATP tournaments to the likes of Carreno Busta in Halle, Peniston in Eastbourne, Giron at Wimbledon, Huesler at Bastad, Griekspoor at Hamburg and Zapata Miralles in Umag.
Rune, who received a first round bye, managed to beat another slumping player in the second round in Benoit Paire, but today Rune lost again wildcard world no. 99 JJ Wolfe 75 46 63.
Rune is now 1-7 in his last eight matches and 17-18 on the year.
It’s been stunning to see such a young rising force as Rune just completely crumble after the hard fought defeat to Ruud in Paris. Perhaps the post match confrontation with Ruud in the locker room and the media drama which followed the controversy has somewhat traumatized young Rune, similar to what happened to young Novak Djokovic after his physical and verbal confrontation in the US Open locker room with Andy Roddick in 2008.
It remains to be seen if Rune can recover from this horrid slump of losing tennis and get back on track to becoming a Grand Slam champion, which some tennis observers have predicted.
Citi Open · Holger Rune · Roland Garros
