Fans at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier were furious after Holger Rune retired due to injury in his semi-final against Borna Coric. His tournament was brought to a premature end when he suffered an injury to his arm while two sets down to the Croatian opponent.

Coric, ranked No. 37, led 6-3, 4-1 when Rune pulled out of the contest. He approached the net to shake hands with Coric but as those in attendance discovered that the match would be ending early, they voiced their displeasure at Rune’s decision by booing him.

The young Dane was hampered by an injury to his right forearm throughout as he was unable to serve to his normal level. He put approximately half of his first serves in, typically a big weapon in Rune’s game, as Coric was able to take advantage and a medical timeout in the second set did not remedy the injury concern. Coric advanced to face Alexander Bublik in the final.

Rune will hope that the injury does not keep out long-term, potentially a double blow after recently parting ways with Roger Federer’s former coach Severin Luthi. He joined the Dane’s team in mid-December and travelled to the Australian Open, but their partnership was dissolved this week due to scheduling issues.

Luthi, in his first gig since Federer retired in 2022, joined Boris Becker as part of a super-coaching team but quickly parted ways after joining Rune in his box in Melbourne when he reached the Australian Open second round. Rune’s mum and manager Aneke announced the split with Luthi this week, with the coach confirming Aneke’s claims that the timing was “not right”.

He explained: “If you notice this, then I say, we would rather separate now than in six months.” He did not appear bitter over the short-lived time as Rune’s coach, claiming their time together was “anything but a quick fix.

He added: “I think about things like this carefully, maybe sometimes too carefully. I’m glad I was able to have this experience – it was my first job after Roger Federer’s retirement. That will help me personally.”

Aneke confirmed that Becker would continue in his position and Kenneth Carlsen plans step up to fill the boots of Luthi. “I just want to inform you that from now on Holger will only have Boris and Kenneth in his coaching staff,” Rune’s mother said.

“Don’t want to make a big deal out of it, but the timing with Severin was clearly not right. It would be too few weeks for Severin to be able to cover for the continuity that Holger needs. With the pairing of Boris and Kenneth, Holger gets the flow he wants for his development and stability.