Holger Rune was at the center of controversy at the 2023 Madrid Open and he also had to go through a talk with the umpire Carlos Bernardes.
The tennis world witnessed another gripping drama unfold at the 2023 Madrid Open when the young Dane faced off against Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. While the match was already highly anticipated, the events that transpired during the seventh game of the first set added fuel to the fire, sparking discussions about the efficacy of the hawk-eye technology on clay courts.
Holger Rune was leading 40-0 and seemed set to win the game after Davidovich Fokina missed the return following Rune's second serve. However, the Spaniard called for a hawk-eye review, convinced that the ball was out.
The hawk-eye verdict was in Rune's favor, prompting a frustrated Davidovich Fokina to request a supervisor as he clearly saw the ball out. The supervisor's arrival did little to appease Davidovich Fokina, who continued to express his discontent with the technology's use on clay courts, as was recently announced by the ATP.
The controversy didn't end there. As Davidovich Fokina and the umpire conversed, Rune went to check the ball mark, and that irked the home crowd as they assumed that he erased it. This action incited the Madrid crowd, who began relentlessly booing the young Dane throughout the match.
Sensing the mounting tension, experienced chair umpire Carlos Bernardes took it upon himself to give Rune a quick speech during the changeover. Bernardes' words of wisdom highlighted the delicate balance between engaging with the crowd and getting them to the point where the match is unplayable, and that was something that he was trying to explain to the 20-year-old.
"I'm going to tell you one thing and that's it for the whole match. I told you once in Monte-Carlo, but that was quiet. There are crowds that you can not control if you do things like that."
"If you just play tennis they don't do anything else. I'm just trying to help you to go through this because I have experience here that you can not play if they start to do it."
Eventually, Rune lost the late-nigh thriller to Davidovich Fokina in three sets and even when he was leaving the court, the crowd didn't show him respect and booed him off the Manolo Santana Stadium.
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