Veronika Kudermetova 'ashamed' that her brutal words about Holger Rune became public

Monday, 05 January 2026 at 23:45

byJordan Reynolds

Veronika Kudermetova has claimed that her comments about receiving messages from Holger Rune were not meant to be public and that she is upset about them becoming known.

Kudermetova is generally a pretty reserved character on and off the court. That made her comments about Rune a few months ago particularly surprising, since it led to much attention on her and the Dane.

During an appearance on Elena Vesnina's Spring is Calling Podcast, Kudermeotva, while laughing with Vesnina, mentioned that Rune had messaged her with interest, and she told him she was too old and had a husband.

Although many did not take it too seriously and found the story funny, some on social media ridiculed Rune and portrayed him as a desperate guy. The 22-year-old publicly replied in a friendly manner, but whether it impacted him privately is uncertain.

In a recent interview with Tatar Inform, Kudermetova said she asked for that part of her conversation with Vesnina to be kept private and not included in the released podcast, and that she felt sorry for Rune afterward.

"Actually, I was really upset for a long time after that interview because it came out so ugly and wrong. It was just a personal conversation between Lena Vesnina and me while we were setting up the cameras before the interview, and I didn't think it would be included in the final episode."

"So, the story about Rune was off-camera. I even asked them not to include that fragment. But the podcast ended up airing, and it was quite provocative. On the other other hand, I knew I'd said nothing of the sort."

"Rune texted me, and I replied that I had a husband. We both laughed, and that was it. The problem was that it became public knowledge, all the media covered it, and it turned into an ugly situation. Later, when I saw Rune at tournaments, I felt so ashamed in front of him. I wanted to go up to him and apologize."

Kudermetova is not the only WTA player with such a story about Rune. Anna Kalinskaya, Jannik Sinner's ex-girlfriend, claimed he repeatedly texted her and that he had done so with multiple others.

Vesnina has been left unhappy by Kudermetova's words. In a statement to Tennis.com, she said her team would never leave in something a guest explicitly asked to be cut, nor would she post about it.

"My interview with Veronika was one of the first I had done for my podcast last year. I would have never posted anything that my guest had a problem with or asked for me to remove, nor would my production team have put it on the air."

Establishing who is correct will probably always prove impossible. Kudermetova panicking about the comments and finding an excuse for what happened, or her genuinely asking for the remarks about Rune not to be put on air are both plausible possibilities.

Currently, Rune has the much more pressing concern of a severe Achilles injury, which he sustained in the closing stages of 2025. He is expected to be sidelined for several more months.