Sawt Falasteen - Rune 'not ready' to put a date on tennis return

The 23-year-old insisted, however, he still has "great confidence" in his ability to bounce back and beat the world's top two Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.

"Before, maybe you have a few problems here and there and you make them a bigger deal than they maybe are," said the Dane.

"And now you understand, okay, this is a real tough moment and this is hard to come back from. But I always have big faith in myself that I'm able to come back from anything."

A Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2023, Rune pulled out of the coming championships a few days ago and has now dropped to 63 in the world.

There is no sign of an immediate return but he hints that it may not be far off.

"Things are looking good now so it's really when I feel ready, I'll be back," he said.

"I'm not going to put a date on it. It's when I'm ready.

"Things are evolving well. We are playing points now and everything. And my knee and Achilles are both holding up well.

"So it's a process. We're not there yet, but we're close."

Rune regrets the heavy playing load he took on last year, saying it was "too tough".

He went straight from the US Open to training in Monaco, then to the Davis Cup on clay, followed by the Laver Cup on hard court in San Francisco, then Japan, China and finally Stockholm, where he got injured in the semi-finals.

"Everything in a row was just too much for me. And I think at the end my body got the answer of that.

"Obviously now, coming back from an injury, I feel no pressure really.

"I just want to go out there and enjoy myself, enjoy being back and try to be the biggest beast I can and deliver.

"I want to come back better than before."

The plan when he does return will be to focus on the Grand Slams and Masters 1000.

"That's the level I want to be playing at," he explained.

And he is not intimidated by the dominance of Sinner and Alcaraz.

"I know I can beat both of them. I've done it. The last time I played Carlos, I won. I just need to learn how to do it every week."

W.Mansour--SF-PST