Holger Rune has admitted he played “extremely bad tennis” in a lopsided US Open defeat to Brandon Nakashima.

15th seed Rune was beaten convincingly in round one by home favourite Nakashima, with the American easing to a 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 victory over the Dane.

It was a second one-sided defeat to Nakashima for Rune, who had previously been beaten 6-0, 6-2 by the world No 50 at the Shanghai Masters in September 2023.

That in itself may be of concern but the result is also part of a worrying trend for the 21-year-old, who also fell in round one of the US Open last summer.

Rune reached back-to-back major quarter-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2023  but has failed to reach that stage at a Grand Slam since.

The Dane has not won a title since April 2023 and is now down at 15th in the ATP Rankings, just a year after reaching his career-high of the world No 4.

Taking to Twitter/X, on Tuesday night, he admitted that his recent results were not “satisfying”.

He wrote: “Big bummer yesterday.

“The best support, lots of happy tennis kids, perfect weather, perfect court and tournament and I played extremely bad tennis.

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“No offence to my opponent, but I managed only 39%!! first serves, tons of unforced errors, this is not what I or anyone should expect.

“I need to look into everything now. This is not satisfying for me or my fans. I will not let you down anymore.”

Rune’s career has been under the spotlight in recent months amid his drop in form, with his coaching situation in particular under scrutiny.

High-profile partnerships with Boris Becker and Severin Luthi were ultimately short-lived, and he has remained working with long-time coach Kenneth Carlsen and also his mum in recent months, with Patrick Mouratoglou working with him infrequently.

All eyes will now be on whether the 21-year-old does decide to start looking for a new figure to join his team, as he looks to end a slightly underwhelming 2024 campaign on high.

Rune reached the Brisbane final at the start of the season but lost that final to Grigor Dimitrov, and was then beaten in round two of the Australian Open by French wildcard Arthur Cazaux.

He fared better at the French Open and Wimbledon but ultimately suffered tough fourth round losses to Alexander Zverev and Novak Djokovic.

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