Holger Rune’s mother has given an update on the Danish star’s situation in Qatar amid conflict in the Middle East as she revealed her son had been “really scared.”
Former world No 4 Rune is with his team in Doha, where he has been based to work his way back to fitness since suffering an Achilles injury in October. The 22-year-old has been visiting the Aspetar sports hospital in Doha to rehabilitate.
On Saturday morning, the United States and Israel launched joint air strikes on various locations in Iran. Iran retaliated by attacking US bases in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Like other affected nations, Qatar has closed its airspace, leading to the cancellation of all flights.
According to Danish outlet TV2 Sport, Rune and his team had been due to leave Doha on a flight to Los Angeles on Sunday morning, but they remain stuck Qatar’s capital.
In an interview with TV2 Sport, Aneke Rune — who is the Dane’s manager — spoke about their “brutal” experience in Doha.
“It’s been a wild night. We didn’t get much sleep,” said Rune’s mother.
“It all seems more brutal at night with the fireballs in the sky and repeated explosions.
“We spent a lot of time at the reception, and they are super sweet, so in the end we went to our rooms and slept.
“But Holger was really scared last night. There’s a lot of brutal news and pictures of attacks all around us.
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“Our flight is, of course, cancelled, and we now have no idea when we can get out. We have to try to go shopping and stock up.”
Aneke Rune also explained that the tennis star’s team had not heard anything from Danish officials.
“I know that the election campaign has started at home, but it is quite sad that there is absolutely no response from Denmark to citizens trapped in the Middle East,” she continued.
“I can see on X that the UK and other countries have a special number that their citizens can call for advice and guidance, which was communicated via Qatar Airways.
“We are on the famous Dane list, but we have not heard anything. We know that there are huge traffic jams in Oman to get out of their airport, which is the only place where flights depart from the Middle East at the time of writing.
“But since there have been continued attacks this morning, and missile debris is falling from the sky, it is not exactly 12-15 hours in traffic jams that you want to be trapped in.”
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