Patrick Mouratoglou says Holger Rune's torn Achilles tendon injury is "the worst thing" that can happen to a player, but insists not everything is necessarily negative as the French coach believes difficult times canlead to something beautiful.
The most heartbreaking tennis scene of last week occurred at the Stockholm Open, when Rune hobbled to his bench and with tears in his eyes. During his conversation with the physiotherapist, the world No. 10 said in a shaky voice that he heard "a pop" in his Achilles tendon. That instantly led to the public fearing the worst - and after the Dane retired from the match and had an MRI - it was confirmed that his Achilles tendon was fully broken on the proximal part.
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At the start of this week, Rune announced that he went under to knife to fix the issue. Now, a lengthy recovery is ahead of the 2022 Paris Masters champion.
Mouratoglou, who had three stints with Rune between 2022 and 2024, shared his thoughts on the unfortunate situation.
Mouratoglou: Right now, it is the worst thing... But it could later turn out to be the best thing
It's the worst thing that can happen to a professional player. But maybe in two years, Holger will think, It's the best thing that could have happened to me.' I always say that in the most difficult moments, thats where the most interesting things happen, most of the time," Mouratoglou said in a video posted on his Instagram.
After making his point clear, Mouratoglou added that Rune will now have time to discover some other things in life.
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When the players are in a difficult time, I know their mindset can change a little bit, and thats the moment that you can make some changes that will affect positively their career, immensely. When I tell you, I lived it myself, in the very difficult moments, thats where I make the biggest changes, for me," the French coach added.
Although Rune is still in the earliest stages of his recovery, he is widely expected to miss at least the first part of the 2026 season.
