You Won’t Believe What Happened in the Tennis World – 20-Year-Old ‘Mr. S*lly’ Holger Rune Sparks Controversy Over Sportsmanship, Coach’s Earful
Every day feels like a part of a movie in Holger Rune’s life. The drama element is never absent when he is on the court. The young Dane at only 20 years of age has already had feuds with Casper Ruud, Stan Wawrinka, and Jannik Sinner. Another Italian youngster has made his way to the illustrious list now.
Things got heated up between Holger Rune and Lorenzo Musetti during their quarterfinal encounter at Queen’s Club last week. The Dane was unhappy that Musetti directed an overhead shot back at him while having an open court. However, the Italian’s coach believes that Rune was the culprit and that Musetti’s smash was unintentional.
Musetti’s coach fires back at Holger Rune
Lorenzo Musetti’s coach, Simone Tartarini shifted the blame back on the world number 6. Aside from defending Musetti’s overhead, he also accused the Dane of taking a fake medical time-out. He said via Tennis Fever, “Rune is the typical ‘Mr. Silly’. He clearly called the MTO on purpose to make Lorenzo lose his concentration…Lorenzo apologized several times for that smash, and he didn’t do it on purpose, but we’ve understood what kind of player Rune is.”
Lorenzo Musetti’s coach on Rune. 👇
“Rune is the typical ‘Mr. Silly’. He clearly called the MTO on purpose to make Lorenzo lose his concentration…Lorenzo apologized several times for that smash, and he didn’t do it on purpose, but we’ve understood what kind of player Rune is”. pic.twitter.com/5phGX7M1Ew
— Relevant Tennis (@RelevantTennis) June 27, 2023
These are some serious accusations from the Italians. Rune took the medical time-out when he was 1-4 down in the opening set. He then went on to win five games in a row and bag the set. Musetti ended up losing in straight sets and his coach believes that the medical time-out ruined his concentration.
However, this was not the first instance of a medical time-out elevating Rune’s level. He registered one of the most impressive comebacks wins in his career in Rome last month after the time-out.
Post Medical time-out burst helps Rune win the Scandinavian derby
Holger Rune locked horns with Casper Ruud in the semi-finals of Rome Masters last month. The Dane was down a set and a break when he requested a medical time-out. The speed of his groundstrokes saw a significant improvement thereby uplifting his overall level.
Holger Rune comes back from 2-4 down in the 2nd set to beat Casper Ruud for the first time in five meetings, 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-2 and reach the Rome final in his debut at the event.
3rd career Masters 1000 final, 2nd during this clay season. pic.twitter.com/EUCPVyzCeW
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) May 20, 2023
Some players often regroup themselves in the short break provided by the timeout and go on to play their best tennis. Rune is one of them and it is natural that he brings his best level in the games following time-outs.
