Denmark’s Holger Rune has expressed his anger after being
forced to retire from the Mexican Open. The 21-year-old’s journey in the competition
ended on Thursday when he couldn’t complete the match against America’s Brandon
Nakashima.

The final score of the match was 3-0. It was later revealed
that Rune was actually forced to retire from the contest. The development was confirmed by the player in a statement released on the social media platform, where he expressed anger about what happened and revealed that he did not take part in the competition because of food poisoning.

“Furious and so sad at the same time,” Rune said in a post
on social media platform X, previous known as Twitter. “Had a food poisoning
and was unable to play today. One of my favorite places is Mexico and I love
this tournament @AbiertoTelcel. Absolutely not the way I wanted it to end.”

The defeat is a serious blow for Rune, who has been going
through a difficult phase in the 2025 season. His first competition in the
ongoing season was the Brisbane International, where he lost in the first round to Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka in straight sets with a score of 7-5 and 6-3.

He then moved to Melbourne and featured in the first Grand Slam
of the year — the Australian Open. In that competition, he lost to reigning
world number one Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the fourth round with a score of 6-3,
3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Rune’s next competition was the ATP event in Rotterdam. There,
he lost in the second round to Spain’s Pedro Martinez of Spain in straight sets
with a score of 6-4, 6-1.

Before coming to Mexico,
the 21-year-old, who was once regarded as the next big thing, featured in the
Argentina Open but crashed in the first round after losing to Argentina’s Mariano
Navone in straight sets with a score of 6-1, 7-6.