In Madrid it is still a Holger Rune show. In the second round match of the 1000 tournament, the Dane achieved a hard-fought victory against the Argentine Navone. A suffering dictated not only by an opponent who knew how to put him in difficulty on the pitch, but also by other external factors. The number 11 seed, in fact, accused the tournament organization of sabotaging him. “The tournament is trying to cheat me, they didn’t put a string on my racket,” Rune tells the chair umpire towards the conclusion of the deciding set. The Danish number one, however, is no stranger to controversy: it is no coincidence that he is the new “bad boy” of the ATP circuit. In fact, the past, even the recent one, tells us of clashes against the organizers of tournaments, against the public, against his own opponents: a flame that never goes out.
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The controversy in Madrid follows that of Monte Carlo only by just over a week. Following the defeat in the quarter-finals against Jannik Sinner, Rune published a controversial post on social media against the ATP: “They didn’t put me in the best conditions, they didn’t give me enough rest. And the chair umpire made a wrong call crucial”. The initial reference was to the five hours he had to play the day before, beating two opponents in two different rounds. It’s not the first time Rune has lashed out at tournament organizers. US Open 2023, defeat in the first round followed by poisonous sentences for the choice of court: “It’s strange to see the number four in the world confined to Court 5”, the Dane always writes on social media. The collection, however, is long: the provocations and refereeing controversies in Monte Carlo against Sinner in 2023, complete with boos from the public as they left; the fury in Rome of the same year, in the match against Djokovic (“Are you joking? They pay you for making mistakes?” the Dane shouted at the chair umpire).
THE CLASHES
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Rune therefore has a certain aptitude for creating controversy, on and off the pitch. Not only that: he often ends up at the center of controversy for some of his behavior. Like in Madrid 2023: by erasing the mark of a ball contested by Davidovich Fokina, he was booed by the public for his unsportsmanlike manner. At Roland Garros, in 2022, he sparks with Ruud after a cold handshake: Holger said that his opponent was unsportsmanlike, between unwanted chatter on the court and unwanted shouts of celebration in the locker rooms. A fame that in 2022, in Paris-Bercy, had christened Stan Wawrinka. “Stop being such a baby,” the Swiss would have said to the Dane in another not entirely friendly handshake. One thing is certain: Rune hasn’t stopped creating entertainment.
