Rune left the court in tears after being forced to retire from his semifinal match at the Stockholm Open last week against Ugo Humbert as he suffered a complete rupture of his Achilles tendon.
During the latest episode of Eurosport Italia’s podcast Schiaffo al Volo, Jacopo Lo Monaco and Simone Eterno discussed Rune’s serious injury, but the talk became somewhat controversial after Lo Monaco described it as ‘the best thing that could happen” to the Dane.
Lo Monaco suggested that Rune could use the injury break positively, calling it ‘the best thing that could have happened to him.
“He’s dropped in the world rankings compared to last year, and even more compared to two years ago. So, he’s taking it the right way; maybe it’s the best thing that could have happened to him,” he said in the podcast.
The Italian journalist’s description of the injury as ‘the best thing that could happen’ was subsequently strongly criticized by Berettini.
"It's truly frightening. To think that an injury of this magnitude could be the best thing to happen to a 22-year-old player ranked 11th in the world is either in bad faith or shows a very limited understanding of this sport and sports in general."
Competitive maturity, or the lack thereof, is gained over time, through defeats, victories, matches lost on match points, or perhaps wins achieved while playing poorly. This is an injury that can radically change a player's life, let alone their career at this level. I always listen and hardly ever comment, but what I've heard is madness," Berettini wrote in the comments.
"Behind this injury, there is suffering, mental and physical, doubts, and moments so dark they could compromise the mental health of a very young boy."
"Maybe I'm getting carried away, maybe I know what it means to see certain things slip away without even having a chance to try to stop them, maybe I know how difficult it is to recover from an injury, but I'm sure that upon reflection, you too will realize that these words don't reflect who you are."
"I might be wrong, but I believe the necessary change in Italian sports culture also involves this—how things are told and how certain topics are analyzed."
"Prioritizing a player's potential results over their health is probably not the right way to watch and comment on sports. That said, Holger will come back stronger than before, but believe me, no athlete in the world would want to suffer such an injury, even if told there was a small chance to improve their career-best ranking," Berrettini stated.