Holger Rune had to deal with the loud crowd in his third-round win at the 2023 Italian Open in Rome, and he was successful.
The young Dane is becoming a very popular figure on the ATP Tour and all of his matches are closely watched. Most recently, Rune took on Fabio Fognini in the third round of the 2023 Italian Open and the match was marked by a controversy even before it started.
When Rune entered the court a group of fans started booing, creating a really unpleasant experience for the 20-year-old. However, familiar with wild crowds, the Dane was able to win the match and advance to the next round of the 2023 Italian Open in Rome.
Yet, the incident that marked the start of the third-round match interested everyone, and it wasn't a surprise that Rune was asked about it after the match. In an on-court interview after the match, it appeared that the youngster knew exactly who the people were trying to make him lose his focus.
"You know actually, it was a couple of guys who tried to make me lose focus behind the court. But yeah guys, it didn’t work. I stayed in the zone."
However, that didn't happen and after the incident, Rune was ready for the crowd to support his opponent as he was playing against an Italian in Italy. The world no. 7 responded with a focused play and that was enough for him to set up a fourth-round clash with the qualifier Alexei Popyrin from Australia.
"It was just you know support for him during the match, of course it got closer in the first set and they were [starting] to get wild, as I said before in the match. But again, I played good. You know, I was staying focused and that's all matters."
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