The 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters was full of cold handshakes and one of them was between Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune.
For some time, one of the main talking points was the third-round meeting between Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev. The Russian won the match but his opponent wasn't happy afterward and the handshake made it very clear as Zverev even called his opponent 'one of the most unfair players'.
Another cold handshake came in the second semifinal match as two prodigies met in an epic clash. Rune defeated Sinner and an engagement with the crowd helped him to pull through. But the Italian wasn't really ready to embrace in a warm conversation after the match as the handshake proved to be a very cold one.
The young Dane offered his hand slowly walking to his opponent, but Sinner only quickly shook his opponent's hand and stormed off the Court Rainier III. After the match, the Italian was naturally asked about the moment and he answered only shortly:
"No, I don't want to comment."
Sinner was short in answers for almost all questions asked. He was close to reaching his first ATP 1000 clay-court final but came just short. Asked about how disappointed he is after such a match, he said:
"Very disappointed."
The Italian talked a bit more when he described the conditions and the rain delay, which didn't really help him.
"For sure it has changed when we went out of the court and with the rain, and after was much slower, for sure. You know, it was for both of us. The beginning was a lot windy. I managed very well the situation. Then after the rain delay, I had difficult time to go in the match. Yeah, that third set was just little roller coaster and went his way."