Holger Rune slams ATP on social media post gone bad

Holger Rune was bounced out of the Monte-Carlo Masters by Jannik Sinner in three sets. Rune played almost as well against the Italian as anyone else has in 2024. He should be commended for that. But the Dane should not be commended for mocking the crowd who jeered him for taking too long to serve and after Rune was handed a time violation.

Novak Djokovic plays with a crowd sometimes when the people watching are obviously pulling against him, but Holger Rune is no Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is a 24-time Grand Slam winner and has been ranked No. 1 on the ATP tour for more than 420 weeks. The Serb has earned the right to be a bit more interactive with the crowd than Rune has.

Because of a hand gesture Rune made while the crowd cheered him, he was handed a code of conduct violation. This did not affect the player very much as he went on to hold serve and win the second set before falling in the third. Again, he played well, but Rune is beginning to get a bit of a reputation for being a bit too arrogant for what his ranking would allow.

Holger Rune stays miffed at the ATP after his Monte-Carlo Masters loss to Jannik Sinner

But Rune did not stop his disputes with the chair umpire or the tournament overall after the match ended. The ATP's official X/Twitter handle posted a video of a point of the match and added the words, "May the force be with you, Jannik Sinner." To this, Rune took offense and lambasted the post - which, to be fair, was more about an appreciation of Sinner's tennis than anything negative about Rune.

Rune wrote in a social media response, "Meaning what...(ATP)? Not that you gave me the best conditions in the first place having to play 2 matches the day before ending late, leaving almost no recovery time. Chair Umpire making crucial mistakes and giving wrong warning that disturbed the game. May the force be with you...Jesus Christ."

First of all, many players at many different events are forced to play two matches during the course of one day due to unexpected weather issues or delays in how long matches take. The WTA has to deal with this seemingly more than the ATP, so maybe Rune is not aware of that.

Also, Rune won the set in which he complained about the chair umpire. The real truth is that Rune lost because he was not as good as Jannik Sinner. Maybe Rune should just work on his game a bit more and have less time for social media.

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