Holger Rune caught in 'disgusting' drama at Madrid Open: 'Zero class'
The fiery 20-year-old was in a running battle with the crowd in ugly scenes.
Fiery young Danish star Holger Rune once again drew the ire of the crowd in bizarre scenes at the Madrid Open with the 20-year-old booed over a mid-match argument. Rune has been in sensational form to start the clay court season having reached the final of Monte Carlo, before winning the Bavarian International last week.
However, the youngster was rattled in front of a raucous Madrid Open crowd as he lost to Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6 5-7 7-6 in controversial circumstances. Rune has always enjoyed a rollercoaster relationship with fans and other players on the court.
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And his temperament in the heat of battle appeared to frustrate the Spanish crowd during the first set. With the scores tight, Rune hit a second serve that was called good.
Davidovich Fokina was convinced it was out and the chair umpire also hinted the ball was out. However, the electronic line called it in. This prompted Davidovich Fokina to approach the chair umpire and call for the match supervisor.
As the two argued over the call, Rune went over to the mark on the other side of the net and his foot appeared to go very close to where the ball landed. This prompted fans to react with anger with many angry Rune was trying to 'erase' the mark.
Rune's actions fired up the crowd. The Danish player was heckled from this point onwards with fans cheering faults and double faults during the match.
This sparked an argument with the chair umpire as the crowd rallied behind Davidovich Fokina. "If you just play tennis, they don't do anything else," he said to Rune, who complained about the crowd.
The chair umpire was trying to help Rune in the running battle with the crowd, but also 'accused' him of erasing the mark. Rune was unhappy with the situation.
"I am just trying to help you to get through this. I have experience here, that you can not play if they start to do. For them, what you did was erase the mark. There was no reason for that," the chair umpire added.
However, viewers had sympathy for Rune. Many felt the crowd over stepped the mark in cheering against Rune during his faults. The Madrid Open crowd's behaviour was labelled 'disgusting' and 'pathetic'.
Outrageous behavior from the Spanish crowd screaming and applauding after every missed first serve by Holger Rune.
Zero class... Disgusting and disrespectful pic.twitter.com/CYFtie1xgY— Holger Rune News (@running_rune) April 30, 2023
Holger Rune is being booed between 1st & 2nd serves. This is not okay.
The crowd has every right to cheer for Davidovich Fokina, but booing & distracting while someone is trying to play tennis is wrong
Keep tennis compassionate.
pic.twitter.com/74udYHgOSk— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 30, 2023
In a match finished after 1am in Madrid, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina gets one of the most special wins of his career, beating #7 Holger Rune 7-6(1), 5-7, 7-6(5), in 3h05, to reach the last 16 in Madrid.
What a match!— José Morgado (@josemorgado) April 30, 2023
Video of what happened with Holger Rune & Davidovich
It isn’t clear whether Holger wiped away on the mark or not from this angle, but at the very least, he stepped close to it.
This all went down while Fokina was pleading his case with the supervisor
pic.twitter.com/uCWuI9VXDv— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 30, 2023
Heartbreaking loss 💔
Holger loses a dramatic marathon match vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and the wild Madrid crowd 6-7(1), 7-5, 6-7(5) at 1:07 am in the morning.
After 3 hours of incredible fight, the crowd boos Rune on his way to the locker room... Pathetic and uncivilized pic.twitter.com/stxtpvP4k9— Holger Rune News (@running_rune) April 30, 2023
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In the Davidovich vs Holger Rune match, Holger hit a serve that looked clearly long. When Fokina asked to see the mark, the screen showed this
Meanwhile, Hawkeye says the serve was long.
Ostapenko said it first 😂 pic.twitter.com/nBgtRyqRa5— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) April 30, 2023
Crowd cheering obnoxiously loud after you miss a first serve is tough tho
— Double Fault 🎾 (@DoubleFaultBets) April 30, 2023
Rune went on to lose the match as Davidovich Fokina used the crowds energy to help him home with the contest finishing at 1:07am local time.
Carloz Alcaraz advances at the Madrid Open
Elsewhere, World No.2 Carlos Alcaraz made it easier on himself second time round at the Madrid Open, reaching the round of 16 with a straight-sets victory over Grigor Dimitrov. After struggling to a three-set win in his opener against unseeded Emil Ruusuvuori, Alcaraz improved to get past Dimitrov 6-2 7-5 and stay on track to defend his title on home soil.
Alcaraz was still not at his best but sealed the victory by converting four of his six break opportunities against the 26th-seeded Bulgarian. The world No.2 Spaniard - top seed in Madrid - was broken only once, in the second set. He finished with 16 winners and four unforced errors.
"We didn't do some things well in that first match and it was clear that we had to get back to doing what we know, which is to go on attack," Alcaraz said. The Spaniard won the Barcelona Open in emphatic fashion last week and will most likely enter Roland Garros as strong favourite considering the injuries to Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.
with AAP
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