Holger Rune is out of the 2023 Madrid Open but his third-round match was more than just about tennis.
The 20-year-old Dane took on Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in an epic contest for a fourth-round spot at the ATP 1000 event in Madrid. After more than three hours, the Spaniard won in three sets, but it was the incident from the first set that got everyone talking.
After a bad call from the hawk eye, Davidovich Fokina wanted to discuss the ball mark with a supervisor, while Rune was ready to play and went onto the court, closely approaching the ball mark, which got the Spanish crowd going.
Speaking to Danish TV 2 Sport after the match, the young Dane congratulated to his opponent, who deserved to be applauded for his victory, but also explained why he approached the situation in a way that he approached it.
"I really just want to play tennis and not discuss a mark for ten minutes. It is Hawkeye who decides whether the ball is in or out, so there is not much to do, but again – I just want to play tennis."
One of the things that Rune was asked about was also being booed. While it's often appreciated from tennis fans to show emotions, the tennis community isn't really in favour of booing players in between the first and second serve, and similar moments, as seen in last night's match.
"It's part of the game. He is a home player. Like I said, I just want to play tennis, but he spent a lot of time discussing that mark at first. That's the way it is."
One of the funnier moments of the match was when the umpire, Carlos Bernardes, attempted to give a pep talk to the youngster and explain why it's impossible to control some crowds, such as the one in Madrid.
Despite losing the match at an event where he surely wanted to have a deep run, the 20-year-old remains focused on his main goal for the clay-court part of the season, and that's the Grand Slam tournament in Paris, the Roland Garros.
"It can't go your way every time. It has gone my way quite a few times now, so I can be happy about that. And I can be happy that I fought to the last ball. I stayed focused. Again – my goal is to be as sharp for the French Open as possible."
Rune, who is often seen working hard on the practice courts and in the gym, is now going to take some time off to recover for the upcoming Italian Open in Rome, which begins on May 10th, 2023, and then be as sharp as possible for the Roland Garros.
"The plan is probably just to relax a bit and recover the body. It's been a busy few weeks, but also some really cool weeks, so I'm looking forward to coming back again. But now there is of course a bit of relaxation, and then it's back to training."
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